AFC Notes: Travis Hunter, Jim Irsay, Colts, Jaguars, Texans

Colts

Colts HC Shane Steichen said the team plans to make a special run in order to honor late owner Jim Irsay this season.

“I’d like to start off with condolences to the entire Irsay family — prayers and thoughts with them during this time,” Steichen said, via PFT. “A lot of you guys knew Mr. Irsay really well and covered this team for a long time. I was with him for two years. Phenomenal human being. You guys know how generous he was. I told the team last week, every time I talked to him in the building, on the phone, every time, he would always tell me at the end, ‘Coach, whatever you need for this team and this organization. We’ve got you.’ That was the man he was. We’re going to honor this season for Jim, and we’re going to win for Jim this year.”

Jaguars

Jaguars DC Anthony Campanile highly praised first-round WR/CB Travis Hunter, saying he’s done a great job retaining information. 

“He’s a really, really bright guy,” Campanile said, via John Oehser of the team’s site. “Everybody has been really impressed with his ability to retain the information. He has been out there with us on defense. He was on offense [Tuesday]. He has done a great job with that. I can’t imagine another guy being any better suited to handle that.”

Jaguars HC Liam Coen said Hunter has been doing well with their defensive unit. 

“He’s still learning,” Coen said. “He has been learning a ton defensively and offensively, as we know. It wasn’t a ton of 11 on 11, seven on seven. It was more fundamentals, techniques, communication. That was what kind of last Wednesday was. He has been learning with those guys and meeting with them extra as he has needed to.”

Coen mentioned they are avoiding having Hunter participate on both offense and defense on the same day at OTAs. 

“We won’t put him in that situation to have him do that, although I’m sure he’d probably want to,” Coen said. “He still meets defensively every day that he’s on offense, so he’s getting the mental part of it and is able to catch up on some of the communication, some of the corrections off the film from the defensive side of the ball. He’s getting a lot of the mental and it would probably be unfair to put him out on the grass and do both and ask him to go do that and see success.”

Texans

Texans’ second-round WR Jayden Higgins started his collegiate career at Eastern Kentucky before transferring to Iowa State in 2023. Higgins was raised in Florida, but his personal coach, Ed Gant, said the schools of his home state overlooked the receiver. 

“You can see the growth from when he was small, and it shows where he comes from, his journey and the grind he puts into his work,’” Gant said, via Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2. “Jayden put in so much work. I tried to tell Miami, ‘There’s this great kid in your backyard. You need to see him. You just don’t find a 6-4 kid who can move this way.’ The Florida schools overlooked him, and that kind of put a spark into him.”

Higgins was focused on being a basketball player until transferring to his high school, Westminster Christian. He thinks playing basketball taught him how to navigate tight spaces. 

“Basketball was definitely huge for me,” Higgins said. “Just being able to move in tight spaces, knowing how to set people up, knowing how to use your leverage to win and really just being mobile, being elusive and shifty.”

Now in Houston, Higgins is focused on becoming the “best version of myself.” 

“For me, at the end of the day, it’s always been a look at yourself in the mirror type of thing,” Higgins said. “I’m just trying to be the best version of myself. I’m going to pick certain people’s brain and see what they do well and try to take it. I’m trying to be the best version of myself and show that when you’re out there on the field.”