Jay Gruden raises unique Jacksonville concern about Travis Hunter playing two positions

Jay Gruden’s unique advice to Travis Hunter about Florida

On his entertaining Twitter/X account, Jay Gruden, a former NFL head coach and offensive coordinator, raised a unique weather-based concern about Hunter’s ability to play both ways, particularly when at home with Jacksonville:

Gruden has some experience of which he’s speaking; while he was the head coach for the Washington Commanders, most of his coaching experience, as well as his education, took place in Florida, with coaching stops with Tampa Bay and UFL side Florida Tuskers before a one-year stint with the Jaguars as offensive coordinator in 2020 under the ill-fated reign of Doug Marrone. He last worked in the NFL as a ‘consultant’ for the Los Angeles Rams in 2022.

Hunter has already battled the elements in his career

It’s good advice. After all, we should all stay hydrated (if you’re reading this, go get some water, it’s hot out there), and that’s particularly acute in somewhere like Florida, where both heat and humidity threaten your equilibrium as a player.

However, Hunter is no stranger to strange elements and conditions for playing football — after all, his college career was spent in Boulder, Colorado, with the team’s home stadium of Folsom Field sitting at an elevation of 5360 feet, aka more than a mile above sea level. That certainly brought to bear some altitude-related questions, but didn’t seem to affect Hunter as he easily won the Heisman Trophy during his time in Boulder, and he played both ways then, too.

Hunter will need the hydration if Liam Coen’s plans come to fruition, however, with Coen earmarking him for 80% of offensive snaps, according to his comments on the Rich Eisen Show on Thursday:

Break out that premium quality h2o, I say.