When the Jacksonville Jaguars drafted Travis Hunter out of Colorado with the second overall pick back in April, one question was asked by all in attendance.
Would the Jaguars allow Hunter to play both wide receiver and cornerback full-time? If so, how long could he hold up doing it?
For two seasons with the Buffaloes, Hunter played both ways.
He piled up a lot of stats on both sides of the ball for sure. But he also missed a few games due to injury.
Colorado played 13 games in a season.
The Jaguars will play 17 games in 18 weeks.
There are also not a lot of Colorado State and Central Florida’s on Jacksonville’s schedule either.
The Hunter Is The Hunted
Hunter will be tested, especially if he does play both ways. He’s going to be hit early and often, even when on defense.
From the sounds of it, some players are already gearing up to give the Heisman Trophy winner a little extra when they meet on the field of play.
But aside from the physical wear and tear of a full NFL season, Hunter faces another uphill battle. Can he stay mentally sharp?
By playing both sides, he’ll have to learn two full playbooks, offense and defense as well as practice on both sides of the ball.
That could prove even more challenging. Fortunately, he had someone who could prepare him for it even before Jacksonville drafted him.
Prime Time’s Time
Former Dallas Cowboys cornerback, Deion Sanders, who coached Hunter at Colorado and at Jackson State, played both sides of the ball.
Just not full-time as Hunter is attempting to do.
For most of his 14 seasons, he played cornerback. He also returned kicks and occasionally lined up at receiver.
Until the 1996 season in Dallas.
That year, Sanders had 67 targets at receiver, catching 36 passes for 475 yards and one touchdown. He accounted for over half of his career totals in catches and yards in 1996.
Even then, he could only sustain that for the first 12 games.
He had just one target over the final four games and failed to catch that pass.
In 1997, he had one target and no catches for the entire season. The two-way experiment was officially over.
Can The Student Become The Master?
Hunter will be hard-pressed to do better than Sanders did.
In all likelihood, he might make it his first two years. But attrition and age are going to start taking a toll.
Assuming he can even stay on an NFL roster, at some point in the very near future, it is likely that Hunter will have to choose between the two.
Assuming the Jaguars don’t choose for him.
In the meantime, it will be one of many storylines to keep the season interesting.
