Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / Press Pass | Liam Coen on Travis Hunter Injury, Stepping up in His Absence

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Press Pass | Liam Coen on Travis Hunter Injury, Stepping up in His Absence · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Just a quick update.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Travis Hunter was injured during practice on Thursday. He will
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: be placed on I R here shortly. We'll miss at
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: least four games. We're currently assessing the injury just to
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: determine the best course of action moving forward for Travis
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: and and for the team.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: How I mean, obviously huge blow, But I mean, what's
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: your initial thoughts?
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: You know, feel phil bad for the guy, you know,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: for the kid, for our team, for the for everything.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: But you know he's in.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Good spirits right now and minor setback for a major comeback.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: You know, that's just the way it's got to be.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: He's got to step up the receiver.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know, but you know, necessarily specific, right,
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: it's the whole crew go out and and let's go perform.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Right We've we've you know, go back to training camp
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: days that Travis was on defense is you know, Diami
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: VT and Parker rolling at the receiver.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Positions and did some really good things.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: So I have a lot of confidence in these guys
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: that it's a great opportunity for all of us to
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: work through a little adversity and the guys to go
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: out and perform at a high level.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Person right now.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's definitely not ideal timing, not that any injuries
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: ever ideal timing. But got to believe his his mental
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: the makeup, his general attitude towards life and how things,
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: how he handles dealing with specific situations. I have a
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: lot of belief in Travis as a person, as a
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: competitor to come back better than ever like him.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Who's I mean managed you positions? How much does that
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: shake up against your roster?
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: You're not talking about just the guy something that receiver now,
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: you look at.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: That corner heavy at corner in terms of how many
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: we carried during the game. So really it's not going
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: to affect that much in terms of a number standpoint
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: at corner. You know, we're good there in terms of
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: the numbers. Now, receiver position, you know, will elevate a
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: couple guys this week in terms of getting back ready
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: to play, have a backup f and be able to
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: supplement you know some of those guys.
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: You guys could certainly be playing well into January. Do
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: you feel like there's a chance that eventually Travis will
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: be back or is.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: It still that I don't know, you know, we're just
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: we're still assessing we haven't gotten all of other information.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: This all kind of got going last night, you know,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: when we got some information. So we're still waiting on
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: further information to be able to determine how long it
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: could be.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, kind switching gears a little bit. But Greg new
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: some has he earned a bigger role now that he's
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: been here for a few weeks.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: So you had talked with Greg yesterday actually pre practice,
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: and man, he just feels so much more comfortable with
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: the calls, the communication in the back end with those guys,
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: the comfort level of playing in the system a little
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: bit longer. Man, He's he definitely has a lot of
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: confidence right now. And I was like, man, just hey,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: now that you feel that way, I mean, everybody knows
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: it's hard to just step in and play at any position,
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: but especially back there where it's got to be you know,
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: the goldfish mentality of the next play and keep rolling.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Got a lot of confidence in Greg right now. I
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: think he's going to continue to ascend along.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: I was still waiting to see on that right now.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: We'll have a better feel today on the grass and
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: see where we're at.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: Uh yeah, probably not.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: Right now, Yeah, Man, Antoni know has I thought he
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: had a really good week of practice. Guy obviously made
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: a huge play for us at Houston. Has been a
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: big part of our dime packages throughout the year, being
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: able to move him around in different positions in terms
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: of playing that linebacker the safety. A lot of talent
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: and he knows, hey, man I got I got a
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: great opportunity here and have a lot of confidence in him,
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: great athlete, long rangey and the more he gets comfortable
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: with the communication back there and playing with Dewey and
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: those guys in the back end, I think you look
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: for Antonio to have a good week and step up
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: this week as well.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: The depth beyond Antonio, how would you evaluate the rest
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: of the safety position, especially if Eric.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: Can't go on So, yeah, we'll see, you know, if
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Eric's able to go or not.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: You know, we're still kind of working through it.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: But you know, Khalif and Rayon Lane are back there
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: being able to run. Had a great week of practice
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: as well. Khalif still been getting onboarded within the systems,
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: done a great job staying here late, working through the details,
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: working with Perk a ton so got got confidence in
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: those guys and they know what's at stake as well.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there were some tweaks that had to be made,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: for sure.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: But I really do It's not like anything like this
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: is ever seamless, right, But we have dealt with in
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: training camp all the way through all spring of days
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: that he was on defense, the offense didn't have him
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: and vice versa, and so we've operated. Now I'm not
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: saying it's, uh, it's ever easy, but I do believe
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: and have a lot of confidence that we man go out, guys,
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: let's go, let it rip, play, have fun, cut it loose,
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: and it's on us obviously to put them in a
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: position to be successful.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: And you know, the plan has to do with that.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: So there was a little tweaking that that had to
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: be done, but honestly, the guys all handled the great
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: I mean has missed kick in three weeks, you know.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: So he hit the ball better than I mean, not better.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: He's been hitting the ball really well in practice.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: He has.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: He's you definitely felt, I mean, he's he never is
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: a guy that walks around with with little confidence, you know,
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: I mean really he's he's got confidence and and everybody
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: has confidence in him. So I think it's just an
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: opportunity of going getting an op in the game, getting
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: that thing through the uprights, and feeling good again. I
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: mean that's just the reality. I mean, he was kicking
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: the heck out of the thing yesterday so excited about
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: the out for camp.
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: An opportunity is this for Brian Thomas Junior. I mean,
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: he hasn't had to start he probably wanted, but now
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: with not having Travis, this is a huge chance for
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: him to sort of say he let me, let me
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: help carry you guys a little bit here.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: I really think watching this week's practice, feeling BT out
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: there specifically Wednesday or Wednesday Thursday, you know, not as
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: much to count of the bonus day, he practiced the
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: best I've ever I've seen him practice. I mean that
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: truly believe that told him that, and uh really expect him.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: To show up and make some huge plays for us
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: as we go.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: And look, it's not to have to go and be
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: anybody but the best version of BETJ and that's gonna
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: be damn good enough.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: Strict time to force you got to be a little
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: bit more aggressive.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Than you know.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: I think we'll we'll we'll look at assess you know,
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: some of those situations. But again, I got confidence in
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: the guys that we have and you know, getting them
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: these opportunities, and sometimes it's like, man, guys, it's just
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: let's just go play ball.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Right, Let's just go execute what we know how to
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: go execute at a high level.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: Have a lot of faith in these guys to be
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: able to step up and regardless of the situation, it's
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: never fun dealing with it.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: And I know those guys feel for trap.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: But they know what's at what's at stake in terms
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: of the op opportunity that they all have. And but
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: I don't think they're all going to go looking out
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: like they they've got to go be anything but the
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: best version of themselves.
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: That you've kind of been through something like this four back,
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: you know the rams a little bit.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we talked, you know, we definitely, James and I
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: and Tony talked about that a little bit, especially last
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: year in Tampa losing Mike and Chris, and it is
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: truly a next man up mentality. You feel terrible, right,
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: you feel pretty crappy about how it goes down, but
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: ultimately it's next man up opportunity and we've got a
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: job to do. And uh, this is a great chance
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: for us to get back on track, go out on
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: the road, cross the country again, and go try to
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: put our best product on the field. Because at the
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: end of the day, uh, you know, it's about the
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: the w.
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: You talked about before getting back to the run game.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Just when you lose a pass schedule like that, how
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: how much does that emphasize it sort of if at all?
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think that was we want to
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: get back to being balanced, right, It's like we're not
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: going to just force one thing or the other, uh
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: and bang our heads against the wall. So that's been
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: a part of our thought process regardless of what this
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: just occurred.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: So you know, you lose a guy that's been able
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: to make some plays for you with the ball in
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: his hands, which is you know, always a challenge. But look,
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: you know from us as as coaches and players, that's
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: the time where you really got to make sure you're
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: putting them in a great position to be successful. And look, man,
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: we got to go make some plays that when we're
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: out there and our numbers called. But you know, we
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: want to be able to get back to that balance.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: Regardless of the Travis thing.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Maybe when you start rethinking personel groupings moving forward because
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: of injuries like that.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there's only so many ones you can use, right,
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: I mean, you get eleven, twelve, twenty one, you know,
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: so we're obviously at the two tight ends still, right,
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: you know, at the moment in terms of looking at
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: working through some of that. But now I don't think
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: it'll alter too much, right, Like, you're ultimately gonna live
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: in those personnel groupings until otherwise, and it won't affect
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: too much.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: I don't think.
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: Good.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much on