Has Jaguars Football Ever Experienced Hoopla Bigger Than Travis Hunter?

These are exciting times in Duval, and the football world has surely noticed.

Since the Khan Family made a move in January going away from Head Coach Doug Pederson and General Manager Trent Baalke, inquiring minds have been checking in on the Jaguars more and more. After that, the franchise flirted with Lions OC Ben Johnson, landed on Liam Coen and James Gladstone in the capacity of Head Coach and GM, and brought in intriguing talent in free agency.

But since a surprising deal in the early goings of the NFL Draft, a storm of intrigue made landfall in North Florida and gawkers and talkers can't help themselves in talking endlessly about Travis Hunter,

Heisman Tropy Award recipient Travis Hunter courtesy of Colorado and Jackson State escaped the abyss that is Cleveland and became a Jag when Gladstone surrendered a bevy of picks including this year's No. 2 and next year's top choice. And it may have generate the most hype and conversation ever. In a recent installment of the Jacksonville Jaguars Insider Podcast, Jaguars on SI Beat Writer John Shipley spoke about the level of hype happening courtesy of Hunter.

"Travis Hunter one of the most interesting stories in all the National Football League. I truly can't remember the last time the Jaguars had a player, or even a group of players, who's amongst the most interesting stories in all the NFL, even 'Sacksonville", Jalen Ramsey etc. I don't think that got near the level of hype Travis Hunter and [the] attention that he's getting. I don't think Trevor Lawrence ever got the kind of attention he's getting. I don't think the 2022 run got it. Even Urban Meyer, and that was bad attention, mind you. It's to the point where no matter who you ask in the football realm, they have an opinion on Travis Hunter".

It's true. Everybody with a microphone in front of them or content to create is weighing in. It's so fascinating as a subject, why wouldn't team execs, former and current players, pundits and more discuss it ad nauseum. This is not merely a water cooler topic, it has the potential to have documentaries and coaching clinics dedicated to it.

While playing both ways is nothing new in the NFL, it hasn't been really attempted quite like this in the modern era.

"Everybody has a take on whether Travis Hunter will do what so many people are saying he can't do, what so many people are saying nobody can do," continued Shipley. "And mind you, if he does it, Travis Hunter will probably be the most influential player in the NFL not named Patrick Mahomes"

"In my opinion, if Travis Hunter is successful, I fully expect him to kind of start a new trend. With the next generation of athletes, of guys who try to play both ways, not everybody's gonna be able to do it, because not everybody's Travis Hunter. In fact, there's only one Travis Hunter. He is a very, very rare talent on and off the field. But because of that rare talent, and because of the ambitious endeavor that he is setting himself out on, you're going to see a lot of takes, a lot of thoughts about where he stands, what route he's taking in his career, and what the Jaguar should do with him."

Travis Hunter comes from a collegiate environment where his coach and mentor, Deion Sanders, was nicknamed 'Prime Time" for a reason. It didn't matter if you talked good about him or bad about him, just as long as you were talking about him, and he did more than his share of talking as well. It doesn't seem to matter to Travis Hunter either, but he seems content to let his onfield performance speak for him.

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