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April 25, 2025 • 18 mins
Jaguars 2025 first-round draft pick Travis Hunter meets with media following his arrival to Jacksonville. Watch the 2025 NFL Draft April 24-26 on NFL Network, ESPN and ABC. Jaguars Day 1 2025 NFL Draft coverage is presented by Cadillac.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Travis Hunter is a Jacksonville Jaguar, and really what comes
to mind for me right thinking about the sport of
football and really the power of the game itself, right,
it's capacity to ignite belief, right, belief in ourselves, belief
in others, right, belief in achieving what many may deem impossible.

(00:23):
Travis Hunter, he embodies belief right. He's a rare person,
he's a rare player, but he's also a reminder that
the boundaries of the game of football were built to
be challenged, and so the decision to select him was
actually a statement, a statement for how we plan to

(00:45):
move who we are, and we want him to be
nothing more than him because when he is, he elevates
the space around him, from the football field, to the city,
to the game of football itself. Travis Hunter is who
we've been hunting up. Couldn't be more jacked to be

(01:07):
sitting right here beside him and introduce you all to
the man of the hour.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Thank you James. As we get into the Q and
A here with the media, please direct your questions to
Liam James or Travis and identify yourselves and we can
begin the learning process. Also mentioning your.

Speaker 3 (01:30):
Affiliation too, if you could.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
And so let's begin.

Speaker 3 (01:34):
Who's got the first question?

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Let's go with Mark.

Speaker 4 (01:45):
This is for Travis Mark Long with the Associated Press.
How'd you get the football?

Speaker 3 (01:49):
How I get the football?

Speaker 4 (01:49):
How'd you get the football?

Speaker 3 (01:50):
Walk in the building and took it from coach?

Speaker 4 (01:54):
He took it from him.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
Yeah, he was over there playing with the football. Was like,
let me hold that.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
So you've had it for how long now?

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Since I walking in the building.

Speaker 4 (02:04):
So what's what's been a whirlwind last night today? What's
what's kind of take me through, take us through what
the last twelve hours, fifteen hours been like?

Speaker 3 (02:14):
It's been excited. I normally go to sleep on planes,
but I stayed up the whole time, just licking out
the window. Why so well, I just excited to get
here and be able to come back home and you know,
be able to you know, get to work.

Speaker 5 (02:28):
Jeane Travis, Jean Fornett from the Times Union. Everybody you
know regurgitates all your stats, receiving yards, interceptions, all that stuff.
What probably a lot of people don't realize is that
you're a four point zero student, and there's not many
high end first round draft picks that have that kind

(02:49):
of GPA. So I'm wondering where does it I'm assuming
you've been a very good student for a very long time.
Where where does that mindset come from. Is it a
matter of just feeling like that's a challenge just like
a game, or is it a mindset that was sort
of passed on to you from a family member about
the importance of being well rounded.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
Just the mindset of trying to be the best at
everything I do. You know, I don't want nobody to
do or have a step ahead of me. So I
just want to be the best at everything that's including work.
I hope I can go back and walk to stage.
May Eighth's go to Demetris Demetris for ture havis a
Demetris Harvey with the Floida Times Union.

Speaker 6 (03:27):
We we've heard you talk about a lot of coaches
that have helped you in the past. Obviously coach Prime
and your coaches over at Colorado JSU, but you know,
talk about coach Drew Johnson. Just what was he able
to do for you sort of laying the foundation for
you as a player.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
He helped me out a lot. You know, I got
my footwork right, you know, really you didn't have to
put the dog in me. I was born with it
in me. So he got my footwork right, you know,
he just he just helped me out a lot with
my feet work and how to understand the game.

Speaker 6 (03:55):
And you've talked about this a lot. How much you
love your family, how much you you you you want
to be with them and help them and do anything
you can. Just you know, how how have you been
how has it been with your family during these times?
How have they sort of motivated you to help you
get here where you are today?

Speaker 3 (04:11):
I have my little brother, you know, he motivates me
because he's trying to, you know, be better than me. So
I got to make I gotta set the bar high.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
Let's go to John and then mea for Travis.

Speaker 7 (04:22):
John Hipple is on that side, Travis, Just what does
it mean to you seeing, you know, a team have
that kind of commitment and faith to go up and
get you and do what they have to do and
have you be their guide the whole process.

Speaker 3 (04:33):
I mean, it gives me a sense of they believe
in me. You know, they trust everything that I've done
this far. So I just got to go out them
and prove them right.

Speaker 8 (04:42):
For Travis Mea O'Brien ten excel, great to meet you
in person. Favorite class he took it Colorado or Jackson State?

Speaker 3 (04:50):
Favorite class? I couldn't really tell you I have a
favorit class because I just got the work done.

Speaker 8 (04:58):
But do you have like a favorite subject like growing up?

Speaker 3 (05:02):
Or my favorite subject growing up was math. I'm super
super good at math, but not really. I don't have
a really favorite class, a favorite suspect.

Speaker 8 (05:10):
Okay, one more on the school front for you. Walk
us through this idea of you were born in West
Palm Beach, you were once upon a time almost going
to go to Florida State, to come back to Florida.
Is there this sense of maybe destiny? And what have
the emotions of specifically coming here meant to you in
the last twenty four hours.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
It meant that I can fish year round, it's hot here,
and I get to see family all the time. Two big.

Speaker 9 (05:43):
Travis Tony Wickers were locked on jaguarsh. We'll give you
hypothetical real quick because of your competitiveness. It's more than seven.
You break the huddle is one on one and Travis
Travis Hunter to wide receiver sees Travis hundred the corner
across from her, and the ball's coming your way. Which
one of y'all comes down with?

Speaker 3 (06:00):
Travis hunder.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Really good answer. All right, Brent, it's.

Speaker 10 (06:10):
A correct answer. Brett Martino from CBS forty seven, Fox
thirty Action Sports shacks Travis, you changed or helped change
jackson State? Gonna put them on the map Colorado? Help change?
How can you help change Jacksonville and the trajectory of
this organization.

Speaker 3 (06:29):
I'm gonna just say I'm gonna come out and do
my job. I'm not gonna say I'm gonna change anything.
I don't want to set the expectation too high, so
I'm gonna just come in and do my job. Man,
Hopefully we changed the atmosphere.

Speaker 10 (06:39):
I'll give you another hypothetical. What's it like having Brian
Thomas Junior on one side of the field and you
on the other side of the field. How would you
defend that as a defensive coordinator or a cornerback.

Speaker 3 (06:49):
I'm not gonna let them know how to defend that,
so I can say.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
Let's go behind Alessandra and then we'll work our way down.

Speaker 3 (06:58):
All right, let's go to your rock.

Speaker 11 (07:00):
Just go Sorry, Mike Drocco with ESPN, Travis, what do
you think about what James said a few minutes ago
about you being not only drift pick all that, but
a statement for this franchise and the rest of the week.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
What I think about it was a great choice. I
just got to come do my job.

Speaker 12 (07:18):
Hayes Hey, Travis, congratulations Hayes Carling with ten ten XL
Brian Thomas Jr. Had such an amazing rookie season. How
much can you learn from him? And have you got
a chance to talk to him yet? And how big
will he be in your development in terms of getting
some advice from him on how he was able to
really get acclimated to the NFL so quickly.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
He would be big for me. You know, he did
a great job his rookie season. We got a lot
to I got a lot to improve and prove under myself.
So I'm gonna asks him a lot of questions. He'll
probably get annoyed because I'm asking so much questions, But
I wanted a bit. I want to be the best.
I want to be better than him, So I'm gonna
try to soak up all the knowledge that he allows
me to take from him.

Speaker 13 (07:59):
Travis can dulations I'm all said for popery up news
for jackson Last night, James said that you're one of
the few players that can actually change the sport itself.
So I'm wondering what you think when you hear your
new GM say that.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
It's a blessing. But I still do my job.

Speaker 13 (08:14):
And have you been able to talk to or meet
any of the other Jaguars players?

Speaker 3 (08:17):
Yeah, I thought that. Trevor Lawrence, what do you What.

Speaker 13 (08:19):
Did you guys talk about it? Can you hear that.

Speaker 3 (08:22):
He's just ready to work?

Speaker 2 (08:23):
So straight back?

Speaker 14 (08:26):
Travis will Brown, Jacksonville Today, w JCT Public Media. You've
been in Jacksonville before, when Jackson State came here against
Cookman in twenty two. You were a freshman on that team.
Presuming that was one of the first times you had
a chance to be in an NFL stadium, What was
it like to even though you didn't play in that game,
what was it like to be in this atmosphere, be
in Jacksonville. And I think there's a video floating around

(08:49):
social that said you could envision yourself being here, So
describe being able to envision something and making it come
to pass.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
It's just a blessing. You know, to see it come
full circles meant three years since I said that. So
I'm just happy to be here and be able to
walk on the field again.

Speaker 8 (09:05):
One follow up, Travis, referencing your time in Colorado four
win season that first season you were out in Boulder.
Obviously the Jaguars just won four games. What did you
learn about yourself during that season and what did you
share with your teammates that maybe you can bring here
to Jacksonville.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
Just got to lock in more, you know, got to
be willing to put in an extra work, and that's
what we did, you know, bring everybody together, and we
want a lot more games by doing it.

Speaker 2 (09:31):
We're going to go back one Brett.

Speaker 10 (09:36):
I've heard you say a couple of times. Now, Travis,
do your job. Just do your job. What does that
look like? What does that mean? What is your job?

Speaker 3 (09:44):
My job is to come out and be Travis Center,
come out and play how they how they envision me
to play, and you know, exceed all the expectations.

Speaker 10 (09:51):
Liam, speaking of envisioning, now that this became official last night,
I'm sure you've conjured up some things in your mind
for the last couple of months or a couple of weeks,
whatever it is. But how much is your mind moving
over the last twelve to fifteen hours of what you
can do on the offensive side of the ball?

Speaker 15 (10:10):
Yeah, the offensive mind, and you starts to get extremely excited, right,
and then you have to switch back to being Hey,
I'm a head football coach, and we know that he's
going to be able to do both. We feel that
in our bones we're going to set that up that
way from a schedule, from an operation standpoint, the way
that we're going to operate for him, to set him

(10:31):
up to have the most success that he can, in
fact then help the Jacksonville Jaguars become the best version
of ourselves. And that's been something we've been excited about
talking through for the last month. And to meet him
here again in person today and being around him only
just validates that.

Speaker 2 (10:47):
Rock BENJ.

Speaker 11 (10:48):
William I'm assuming there's going to be that inevitable tug
of war between you and Coach Camp about getting him
as much as possible does the head coach automatically win that?

Speaker 9 (10:57):
Have you guys sort of like talked that through yet already?

Speaker 15 (10:59):
We have, we've we've we've you know, had those conversations
and you know, we have to be fluid. We kind
of mentioned this last night in terms of from a
scheduling standpoint, all those things we have it laid out,
but we also have to have the ability to be
agile and be fluid on specific days. If we didn't
feel like you got enough work on one side of
the ball the previous day, then we need to be

(11:21):
able to move forward and get them those reps the
next day. So, you know, I think both Camp and
I and Grant are all on the same page about, Hey,
how how is this thing going to work? What do
we want it to look like, what we wanted to
look like, what it look like at Colorado, And that's
that would be pretty good for us.

Speaker 5 (11:40):
Gee please, Travis. You know, obviously coming into the NFL,
just that in itself is enough motivation for you to
do your best. I'm wondering, is there any extra motivation
because the Jaguars sacrificed a lot of draft capital just
to move up three spots to get you.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
Yeah, it's definitely a lot of motivation. You know, the
sacrifice a lot to get me. That means they believe
in me, and that just validates that I need to
go out here and just do my job.

Speaker 4 (12:09):
Travis, you mentioned last night that you were house hunting
that you looked. Did you find something already?

Speaker 3 (12:14):
No, I'm still looking, but I found a couple of houses.

Speaker 15 (12:17):
And what does it.

Speaker 4 (12:18):
Look What does this the rest of this weekend or
next week look look like for you in terms of
getting acclimated and adjusted and settled.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
Probably just grabbed the playbook, get my boats shipped down here,
and get on the water.

Speaker 4 (12:31):
And then James, you guys talked about getting sports science involved.
Does that can you can you give a rookie extra
time if he's going to play one hundred snaps? Do
you give him extra rest during the week to get
him ready for the next hundred snaps?

Speaker 9 (12:45):
How does that work?

Speaker 3 (12:46):
Yeah, there's a lot of layers to that.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
Certainly we have to operate within you know, all measures
and compliance with lead mandates. But at the same time, yeah,
there's a certain level of recovery and preparation in order
to take on the workload that he's about to sort
of take on. And I can I can say, right,
I think the first question came from Jeene today around

(13:08):
the football, right, I think you know it was you Okay, Yeah,
it just don't mix that you you guys again, you
may have. I don't know who was that.

Speaker 3 (13:16):
Asked about the ball.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
You know it sure is, But I don't know who
it was that asked about the football last night. But
it didn't take long for Travis to produce his first takeaway, right,
So it's gonna it's gonna be a fun go if
that's what we see here on the horizon. But again,
it's got a lot of layers to the sports science
front and making sure that uh, you know, we're operating
on all cylinders.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
Justin Travis.

Speaker 16 (13:40):
Last night, James talked about being bold and having confidence
and kind of lacking fear and not letting that, you know,
mold his life. I wanted to ask you about your
confidence coming in. You said you want to play both ways.
They want you to play both ways. Where did that
confidence come from and how long did it take you
to kind.

Speaker 3 (13:56):
Of develop it. I kind of developed more confidence out
of younger start playing football when I was four. I
have older cousins, so they used to bully me and
I was the youngest out there playing football with him.
So I had to get that confidence. I'm not gonna
let y'all bully me and push me around. So that's
just how I go about life. I'm not gonna let
anybody push me around tell me what I can't do.
I'm just go out and show.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
Okay, we're gonna do a couple more. Let's go down
to Haze if we can with that, mic.

Speaker 12 (14:18):
Please, James, you mentioned something last night that Travis asked
some really good questions that showed his football curiosity. Can
you give us some details on kind of things that
those conversations.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
Yeah, you know, the details around him.

Speaker 1 (14:34):
I don't know that are top of mind, but I
do know the sensation that you get when you experience
somebody who has a growth mindset and you see it
unfold in front of you. And the way in which
that Travis was going about that conversation was certainly something
that sparked, you know, a little bit of an alarm
that was, Oh, he's somebody who wants to learn and

(14:54):
he's interested in getting more information and knowing that he
doesn't have every answer. And that's something that we talked
about a little bit more today. And the more experience
that you get, the harder it becomes to remain curious,
and so keeping that curiosity at the surface of your
mind so that that's not something you ever lose, knowing

(15:16):
that there's always means of improving.

Speaker 10 (15:19):
James, are you trying, Are you guys trying not to
put a number from a snap standpoint, or do you
guys have a number in mind that he could handle.

Speaker 1 (15:27):
I haven't scoped out a number specifically. I think we're
going to get through this initial onboarding window here throughout
the off season program and see where we end up
by the end of that before ever come into some
concrete count there.

Speaker 10 (15:42):
Travis, it sounds like, or it seems like, from the
outside looking in, you're such a gifted athlete that things
have come so easy for you. Do you expect that
to be the case at the NFL level? And if not,
how do you balance all the successes with some ups
and downs in adversity that could it?

Speaker 3 (16:01):
I don't think anything's comes easy to me, you know,
I kind of I gotta work for it, you know,
I had to work for the play both sides of
the ball, even being with coach prom y'all just happen
to see the the perfect end. But I did a
lot of work to, you know, to get to where
I'm at. So I'm gonna continue to put in the
work and continue to grind, and I'm gonna just continue
to do what I do.

Speaker 10 (16:20):
Do you get married next month?

Speaker 3 (16:22):
Yes? What what's this?

Speaker 10 (16:25):
What's all of that like compared to all of this
that's going on right now?

Speaker 3 (16:30):
I kind of just you know, let my fiancee hand
it out and I just you know, go to work.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
Okay, we're gonna wrap it up with two quickies, John
and then Jeane, and then we're gonna cut James.

Speaker 7 (16:42):
You mentioned last night, just the energy Travis brings to
any space that he's in. Is that something you're already
sensing kind of inside facility, inside the fan based community,
et cetera.

Speaker 1 (16:51):
Uh, you know what, I don't think it takes much
to see that Travis has gravitational pull. You know, he's uh,
he's got a smile that will light up a room,
and yeah, there it is, Let it shine. But it
is certainly something that most everybody that I've come in
contact with who has experienced a session with Travis says

(17:13):
very similar things.

Speaker 5 (17:15):
Ji for microphone, I'm sorry if you want to if
you care, both care to address this. Both of you
have come from the NFC, so you probably don't pay
as much attention to the AFC teams when you're working
in the FC. The AFC South has not been regarded
as a very tough division in recent years. How much

(17:37):
do you think the investments all four teams have made
in quarterbacks might change that trajectory in the next two, three,
five years.

Speaker 15 (17:45):
Yeah, it definitely could. I mean, you can see there's
there's been a tangible investment in some in that position
in this division. You know whether that leads to a
little bit more of the known passing situations, getting the
ball in the air a little bit more, But for us,
it's more, okay, how do we continue to be explosive
on the offensive side of the ball for us and

(18:07):
then also get people that can take the ball away
from the other team on defense, and in this league
you have to get takeaways and to affect the quarterbacks
that are in this league now, you have to be
able to rush them and you have to be able
to get your hands on the football. So we're excited
about that opportunity.

Speaker 5 (18:26):
Real quick, Travis, did you play any other sports in
high school beyond football? And could you give us your
wedding date?

Speaker 3 (18:34):
My wedding is private. But I did play basketball when
I first moved to Georgia. I played basketball my eighth
grade through high school. Thank you.

Speaker 2 (18:44):
Okay, let's put the rap on the Q and A
right there.
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