Trevor Lawrence on why he doesn’t want Travis Hunter playing defense
The Jacksonville Jaguars selected Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter with their first round pick, and plan to play the rookie on both sides of the ball.
One of the stories of this preseason is going to center around the Jacksonville Jaguars and their first round selection in the NFL Draft, Travis Hunter. He plans on playing offense and defense in the league, like he did in college, but his quarterback isn’t too enthusiastic with the idea.
Lawrence back to 100%
The Jacksonville Jaguars franchise quarterback Trevor Lawrence is making a long awaited return from an injury that kept him out for the second half of last season. Now he’s back and looking to lead the Jags on a bounce back campaign after a 4-13 finish last year.
To turn things around at EverBank Stadium, he knows he’s going to need all hands on deck and that includes multifaceted rookie Travis Hunter. Hunter rose to fame at the University of Colorado for not just playing on both sides of the ball, but dominating both sides of the ball. He is looking to be one of the few players in the modern era to play on offense and defense, but his quarterback doesn’t sound like he’s in love with the idea.
When speaking with the media after practice on Wednesday, Lawrence said, ”he’s so talented, man, it’s hard to keep him off the field. Selfishly, I definitely want him on offense more. It’s almost like, ‘Do you wanna come catch touchdowns or do you wanna maybe break up a pass or two a game?’”
Countdown to Hunter’s debut
The rookie wide receiver is coming off a season in which he won the Heisman after catching 96 balls for 1,258 yards and scored 15 touchdowns for Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes. He also ad 35 tackles, one forced fumble and picked off four passes and had 11 pass deflections on the defensive side of the ball.
The Jags are going to need all the help they can get on both sides of the ball. They finished in the bottom third in yards per game and points per game on the offensive end and on the defensive end gave up the second most yards per game in the NFL.
It’s a lot of pressure to put on a rookie, who is going to be plenty busy in his first year in the NFL. The Jags’ plan is for Hunter to play him as much as he is physically able to play. The speed, and physicality at the next level is at a whole other level, and Hunter is likely to get his first taste of it as we get our first look at him in a Jags uniform when Jacksonville plays the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday night at 7 p.m. from EverBank Stadium.
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