Since the Jacksonville Jaguars drafted Travis Hunter, they’ve had a detailed plan in place of how they would onboard him on both the offensive and defensive sides of the football. But with that, GM James Gladstone and head coach Liam Coen have also mentioned the importance of being fluid and willing to adjust.
One example of that need to evolve, as Coen detailed following Wednesday’s training camp practice, came after offseason programs, when a needed tweak to Hunter’s practice schedule was identified.
“It evolved a little bit from the offseason program,” Coen said of Hunter’s schedule. “We saw there was a span where maybe he practiced on offense let’s call it a Thursday because we didn’t do anything on Fridays, and then he had Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then Monday he was on defense, that was like four days without doing anything on offense.
“Well, we learned that was too long. That’s too long to go without doing anything on the other side of the ball. So we learned something there.”
As was the plan, the majority of Hunter’s practice time during OTAs and minicamp came on offense, with cornerback being his more natural position, as GM James Gladstone put it. But now the next step in his development will be not only seeing more opportunities on defense, but regularly practicing on both offense and defense as well.
Within the first six or so training camp practices, said Coen, we will see Hunter on either offense or defense. After that, switching from one side to the other on the same day will become Hunter’s new norm.
There is no blueprint when it comes to getting Hunter acclimated to both sides of the ball. So the Jaguars have to remain fluid, identify quickly whether something is working or isn’t, and make changes if needed.
That’s been the plan since Day 1 and will continue to be moving forward.
“Within these blocks, where we’re three days on and then an off day, it allows us to map it out maybe a little bit cleaner and give him more opportunities,” Coen added. “Every single day that he is on one side of the ball, he will meet with the other side of the ball at least once maybe twice as well.
“So trying to not let that happen, where he goes offense, offense, then practices on defense but he hasn’t heard a single thing on the defensive side of the ball in two days. So we absolutely learned and I can absolutely see it continuing to evolve this training camp.”
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Jaguars training camp: How Travis Hunter’s schedule has evolved