The last two training camp practices for Travis Hunter have come at wide receiver. But before that, he had a very impressive performance on Sunday, lining up at cornerback for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
During that most recent practice at cornerback, those impressive ball skills that Hunter routinely flashed during his time at Colorado were on display as he had multiple pass breakups in that one training camp practice alone.
As GM James Gladstone described over the offseason, the reason that Hunter saw more time at wide receiver in OTAs and minicamp was that the team views cornerback as his more natural position. And Hunter’s play on Sunday showcased that.
Following Tuesday’s practice, which was the first time that defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile had spoken to the media since Hunter’s performance on Sunday, he shared what he’s seen from Hunter at the cornerback position.
“As we all know, he’s a great athlete,” Campanile said. “But you see him doing the extra work out here with coach Milus and coach Perkins. So he’s really taking advantage of the meeting time and the on-field time with those guys.
“Like I call them the feet-meets or the walkthroughs, he’s really doing a great job focusing, and then you see his athleticism, able to make plays on the ball in the air, so that gets everybody excited. Really pleased with Travis and the effort he’s given doing this on both sides of the ball.”
From the sounds of it, Hunter will play cornerback once more this week prior to the Jaguars‘ offense vs. defense scrimmage on Friday evening. In that mock game, Hunter will play both sides of the ball within the same practice for the first time, according to ESPN.
As Liam Coen detailed recently, how things unfold in the scrimmage will play a role in determining what Hunter’s practice schedule looks like moving forward.
The end goal at this time for the Jaguars is to have Hunter practicing at receiver and cornerback on the same day regularly, since that will have to be the norm in season.
“Anytime you can get a great athlete like that out there, you’re really, really excited,” Campanile added, “but it’s really just the work he’s done, that’s what really gets us excited because he’s working double-time and he’s done an awesome job with it.”
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Jaguars training camp: Campanile on Travis Hunter’s progress at CB