Jaguars DC Anthony Campanile on Travis Hunter's progress at CB: 'It's impressive to watch'
Jaguars DC Anthony Campanile on Travis Hunter's progress at CB: 'It's impressive to watch' Jaguars' DC Anthony Campanile discussed Travis Hunter's progress at CB following Wednesday's practice.
As offseason programs have progressed, Jacksonville Jaguars' second overall pick, Travis Hunter, continues to see his workload on defense during practice increase.
As defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile described after Wednesday's practice, helping Hunter learn two playbooks, the terminology on both sides of the ball, and play two positions is how quickly he picks up everything thrown at him.
"He just has a wealth of talent, and he's a super intelligent guy, which makes it super fun," Campanile said. "He's really quick on the uptake. So he's a fun guy to coach, to be around. I know his position coaches love coaching him, and it's pretty impressive to watch a guy do that."
The majority of Hunter's playing time on the practice field has come at wide receiver, which was the plan that Liam Coen and James Gladstone laid out following the NFL draft. But since arriving in Jacksonville, Hunter has been learning the defensive playbook, terminology, and in the meeting rooms.
Also a wide receiver, Hunter brings impressive ball skills to the cornerback position for Jacksonville. During his Heisman season in 2024 at Colorado, Hunter forced four interceptions and seven pass breakups on only 41 targets, according to PFF.
"It's cool. It's been really fun," Campanile said of having Hunter on defense. "But I also think the coaches, coach Milus, Drew Lascari, Anthony Perkins, Bill Sheridan, those guys have done a great job of just getting him up to speed on everything, and he's done a great job responding to it."
Where exactly Hunter fits into the cornerback rotation remains to be seen--we are still very early on in this process. But he could potentially see his playing time come during obvious passing situations, where his ball-hawking abilities can be on full display.
So far, Hunter has either practiced on offense or defense, depending on the day--not both at the same time. However, as Coen mentioned earlier in the week, that will change once training camp arrives.
"I think it really takes a sharp person to do that," Campanile said of Hunter picking up everything so quickly. "He's just blessed with a lot of intelligence and maturity. It is, it's impressive to watch, for sure."
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Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Jaguars Mandatory Minicamp wrap-up: Hunter plays both ways in final minicamp practice
On Thursday, the Jacksonville Jaguars wrapped up their inaugural Mandatory Minicamp under Liam Coen and James Gladstone. A shorter practice than Wednesday's public defensive dominance, Thursday featured a rebound of the offense as multiple Anthony Campanile curse words floated throughout the Miller Electric practice fields. Here are our takeaways wrapping up 2025 Mandatory Minicamp. Full media availability: Observations from Mandatory Minicamp Day 3: BTJ back in action Today's practice kicked off markedly different from Wednesday's highly competitive affair, with a little more 7-on-7 and a larger focus on special teams in the early periods. However, an easy early takeaway from practice was the visual confirmation that receiver Brian Thomas Jr.'s Wednesday tumble was truly a minor thing, with him corralling multiple 15+ yard catches in the early 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 periods. Advertisement All eyes on Hunter In your non-Brian Thomas Jr news, the Jaguars have finally given fans and media what they have been clamoring for: Travis Hunter playing on both sides of the ball within the same practice. Not only did Hunter start the day off on offense before later lining up on defense, but they also did it in style, sending him inside to change out of the offensive teal and into white (instead of just throwing a penny jersey over his teal outfit). The team is leaning into the gravity/aura that is Travis Hunter, as I'm sure fans are here for it. Coach Coen, when asked after practice, discussed the decision to finally unveil Hunter in his dual-role capacity and advised this was a natural part of Hunter's progression: 'That's definitely what we have to build towards for training camp, and then obviously in season, knowing that during practice, he's going to have to do both. He wants to do it. It's not as if it's something he can't handle. He wants to go and do that more. He wants more, and that's a good thing. But ultimately, we also have to protect him from himself at times as well, and make sure we get out of this phase healthy, but that is absolutely the plan moving forward.' In today's practice, Hunter secured 3 catches in the teams period, with most of them being the catch-and-run variety. On defense, his receiver was only targeted once, with him playing zone on the short catch and making the immediate stop. Overall, it was a sharp day for the rookie WR/CB with no noticeable errors or opportunities. Throughout this offseason, much ado has been made about players' weights and the change in the teams' weight training processes. Per Coen, Hunter is towards the top of the team in his physical growth this offseason. 'I think he's physically grown. You looked at, we had the weight room goals and accomplishments that we had this spring, and he was up there with some of the guys who have put on the most muscle mass since getting here this spring. So, I think I've seen a little bit of physical growth, specifically in his upper half, and also just, it's a lot of volume, man. It's a lot of volume. This is not an offense specifically that you just go out, line up and play. There's a lot of shifts and motions and two play calls, sometimes three play calls. So, it is a lot, and then him having to obviously do defense as well. You see the type of guy that he is. He's in here early, he stays late, and wants to work. He loves the game. The growth will continue. I think we'll see a little bit more of a jump once we get into training camp as well.' Advertisement The last widely recognized 'Ironman' player in the NFL (someone who plays significant, starter-level snaps on both offense and defense) was Chuck Bednarik of the 1950s Philadelphia Eagles. If Hunter were to play real, substantive, rotational offensive and defensive snaps for the Jaguars, it would be truly historic — likely the first serious Ironman role in the NFL in over 60 years. The initial learning and growth phase of the offseason is complete. Short-term goals met. Enjoy your time on the lake (or river), Travis. Don't call it a comeback For the rest of the Jaguars' offense, Thursday was a much cleaner day with a more balanced showing from the offense after Wednesday's defensive shellacking. Coen stated similar after practice: 'I thought it was just less balls on the ground in general, less procedures, less flags thrown on the ground today from our lovely referees that came from the NFL. That was great. Once those refs come, NFL guys come, it's real. They're throwing the real flags. It was great having those guys in the building and hearing their reasons why, so that definitely helped clean it up a little bit. Specifically offensively, I felt like it was just a better overall day. We wanted to leave here with good momentum and confidence that these guys can go and have and take through the offseason program.' Advertisement However, with Rookie Minicamp, OTAs, and Minicamp in the books, Coen noted that the next goal for the team is resting up, but also making sure they are prepared in the coming weeks to hit the ground running for Training Camp (both physically and mentally): 'The work doesn't stop. Go enjoy family and get away from it a little bit, but we've got a lot of work to do this summer. We've got to come back in the best possible physical shape that we can be in coming into training camp, not use training camp to get in shape. That's got to be something that we're hitting the ground running and able to just go once we get in here. And they've got a lot of studying to do. They've got a lot of material to continue to cover, so that again, we're not starting back at square one when we come back in training camp. We will, in fact, go back to install one, but install one may be a little heavier than install one this spring. So, ultimately, they've got some work to do this summer, and that was the message.' Trevor Lawrence: Fashion sleeve or nah? After QB Trevor Lawrence's productive Thursday practice, he was asked about the use of his compression sleeve on his throwing shoulder over the past practices, which Coach Coen previously advised was precautionary due to general soreness. Lawrence provided his perspective on the fashion choice to the media: 'You have to think about I hadn't thrown before OTAs since December, so it was about four months of not throwing. I don't know the last time, I couldn't tell you the last time I didn't throw for four months. I guess four years ago, when I got surgery. I think just going from that to, I started throwing a couple of weeks before we started the offseason program, but then we jumped into practice and heavy volume. I think just over time, obviously, you have to adjust and get in shape for that, so just a little bit of soreness. The compression helps just relieve some of that, but that's all it is so nothing I'm concerned about.' Both Lawrence and Coen touched on Trevor's seemingly immediate chemistry with WR Dyami Brown this offseason, with Trevor raving about Brown's speed, ability to take the top off the defense, but also his football IQ: 'He's a really smart football player. He's picked up the system really quickly. He's always in the right spot. I think that's something about him, I don't know if you guys watched plenty of practices, he's gotten the ball a lot because it seems like he's always in the right spot. He always has a feel for the zone, like where to sit, where to throttle, kind of those voids. I just think he's really smart and I'm really excited about adding him to the offense, to the weapons that we already have.' Advertisement Coen, in his availability, also raved when discussing Dyami's skill set and his ability to be more than what folks have seen from him to date: 'I think when you watched him last year and you saw a little bit more of a ball in hand/deep threat. You didn't really see him work the intermediate that much, and I think over the course of this spring, Trevor and him have gained a little bit of a chemistry on some of those intermediate in- breakers, curls, maybe out-cuts, I just think that they have a little bit of chemistry in that that was part of the selling point to have him come here was, man, we really want to continue to diversify your route tree and have you do more. You're not just a screen, jet sweep, vertical threat. We want to continue to diversify his route tree, and I think that those two have built a little bit of chemistry out here.' Secondary competition updates CB Jarrian Jones continues to put together a solid offseason resume, with an extremely nice pass breakup on a deep in-breaking route from Dyami Brown. CB Deantre Prince, not to be outdone, followed that play up with a great play on the ball from Nick Mullens, nearly pulling in the interception on the sideline throw to WR Trenton Irwin. It wasn't only the cornerbacks to get in on the action, however. In addition to the solid secondary play by Jarrian and Deantre, rookie linebacker Jack Kiser also showed off his Senior Bowl defensive back coverage skills, securing a nice pass breakup in the teams period. Clutch Cam (Little) Cam 'The Cannon' Little went five-of-five on field goals on Thursday during the teams period, with a long of around 57 yards. Coen wrapped up his presser, discussing the sophomore kicker out of the University of Arkansas. 'He's a stud. You should see him hit a golf ball; it's the same that you see out here. He's explosive. The ball jumps off of his foot. He's got multiple different kicks in his repertoire in the kickoff game as well, which obviously we know with the new rule changes will be really imperative for us to be able to take advantage of some of those rules with the different types of kicks and styles of play. He's been great. Been really consistent, and he's really fun to be around.' Advertisement That's it from us until late July/early August's Training Camp dates are announced! Who are you most looking forward to seeing in pads? Who's your favorite underdog fighting for a roster spot? Let us know in the comments! More from
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Jaguars' Jarrian Jones reacts to the Madden 26 cover The Jaguars' Jarrian Jones recently discussed the Madden 26 cover. Jacksonville Jaguars' cornerback Jarrian Jones is on the cover of Madden 26. Well, sort of. Featured on the cover of the game is Philadelphia Eagles' running back Saquon Barkley, leaping backwards over Jones, who was attempting to make a tackle during the two teams' Week 9 matchup last season. Jones, however, doesn't mind that this is how he made his way onto the cover of Madden. As he said recently, it was a great play by Barkley. "(Expletive) was kind of hard, for real," Jones said when asked about the Madden cover. "I've seen it. I don't have Twitter, so I seen it on Instagram. I was like, damn, they didn't put my number on there. The play was fire to me. Everybody DM'd me like I was going to be mad or something. I don't give a damn. He made a good play, it is what it is." While it is known that the player under the hurdling Barkley is Jones, on the actual Madden cover is a player with a black helmet, but no Jaguars logo, and a white uniform, but no No. 22 for Jones. When asked if he wanted his name on the jersey on the Madden cover, Jones said with a smile: "They got to pay me for it. That's why I say that. They have to pay more for it. But I don't care, really. I don't really play Madden anyways." Heading into his second NFL season, Jones will be spending more time lined up outside, but defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile is looking to maximize Jones' versatility and is "really fired up" about what he's seeing from him during offseason programs.
