Colorado Buffaloes football coach Deion Sanders created a Heisman Trophy winner out of Travis Hunter by unleashing him on both sides of the ball. Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen is making Hunter an afterthought in the NFL by being too tentative to do the same.
Coach Prime called out Coen’s usage of Hunter through the season's first three weeks on one of the most-watched podcasts in the world, though he didn’t speak the first-year headman’s name in his criticism.
Sanders, as a good coach always does, didn’t leave it at just a scolding. Coach Prime explained to Coen how to deploy Hunter on both sides of the ball without tiring too much. And it wasn’t rocket science:
Stagger his practice days.
“They're not using him enough," Sanders said on Travis and Jason Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast. “I've seen it with my own eyes on an everyday basis for three straight years, so I know what he's capable of, and I know how you've got to take care of him. He never practices on Tuesday. He practices on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. He was ready to play a hundred and some snaps on Saturday, so you didn't need to use him on a Tuesday or a Monday. You don't use him like that.
“Travis is a big kid, man. He just loves the game, loves football, loves studying and the preparation. He always had at least five hours of study in each week because we kept that list, knowing how much everybody (is) studying. He is just a phenomenal athlete one of the greatest I've ever seen do both, simultaneously.”
To Coen’s defense, he may not want to give Hunter too much, too soon in the NFL, and risk an injury. The level of physicality is another world from the Big 12 and the old Pac-12. That’s one way to risk having the fanbase hate you, mishandling the No. 2 overall pick you traded a massive haul for.
Still, it’s clearly frustrating for Sanders to see someone misuse his “son,” who is ready for more than what’s being given to him at the pro level.