After drafting Travis Hunter with the second overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft, the Jacksonville Jaguars never reached out to Deion Sanders, Hunter’s college coach, for any sort of insight.
And Sanders took notice.
“Even a guy like Travis Hunter, being drafted to Jacksonville, and I’ve had him for the last three,” Sanders told Garrett Bush on The Barbershop podcast, via Pro Football Talk. “Don’t you think you would want to talk to me to let me know, to ask me how — what gets him going and what backs him off and, and what, like, you wouldn’t want to know that?”
Sanders was Hunter’s coach for three seasons at Jackson State and Colorado, as Hunter navigated playing both ways at the college level.
During his final season, Hunter would win the Heisman Trophy after coming away with four interceptions and seven pass breakups in coverage, while logging 96 receptions, 1,258 yards, and 15 touchdowns on offense.
Prior to Hunter’s season-ending injury in his rookie year with the Jaguars, he appeared poised for a breakout at receiver, scoring his first touchdown in Week 7 while also eclipsing the 100-yard mark.
This year, Hunter will continue to play both ways, but it sounds like he will see more opportunities at cornerback than he did last season, presumably starting opposite of Montaric Brown.
From the jump, the Jaguars have had their own detailed plan for how they planned to utilize Hunter and the strategy behind maximizing his two-way abilities. That said, Jacksonville has also remained fluid and quick to adjust as needed.
Once Hunter is healthy, we will see how that plan shakes out.
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Jaguars never reached out about Travis Hunter, says Deion Sanders