Playing both sides of the ball is now part of Travis Hunter's regular routine with the Jaguars

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Playing both sides of the ball is now part of Travis Hunter’s regular practice routine with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The 2024 Heisman Trophy winner and the second overall pick in this year’s NFL draft played offense and defense during training camp Tuesday. He wore a teal, No. 12 jersey at receiver and then threw on a white, loose-fitting, No. 12 penny when it was time to line up at cornerback.

“It’s funny seeing him (go) back and forth,” quarterback Trevor Lawrence said. “It’s pretty crazy. Never seen anything like it.”

Hunter had a minor issue with the sideline swap. Offensive teammates grabbed his baggy covering on several occasions, which helped them keep Hunter at bay during running plays; it won't be a problem during games since he won't have to change jerseys.

Hunter first switched back and forth during a scrimmage at EverBank Stadium on Saturday night, playing 17 snaps with the first-team offense and 21 with the first-team defense. He got similar work Tuesday, logging nine snaps on each side of the ball in 11-on-11 drills.

It’s the kind of versatility the Jaguars envisioned when they gave up a second-round pick and a 2026 first-rounder to move up three spots and select Hunter.

“It might not be every single day, but I would say it would probably be a little bit more normal than not,” coach Liam Coen said.

The Jaguars planned for months to get to the point where Hunter was working interchangeably on both sides. They used him solely at receiver to open organized team activities in May and then expanded his usage as the team stacked practices.

By the start of training camp last month, he was working a day on offense and then a day on defense.

But getting him to do both within minutes, sometimes seconds, was the next step in his NFL evolution.

“Hopefully, more offense,” Lawrence quipped. “Just the way he plays, the energy he plays with. Even just little things like interacting with the fans and the juice he brings into the stadium. That stuff does mean something.

“Not everyone necessarily has that personality, but he has something about him that’s just special. The energy he brings and the energy he plays with and the joy and all that stuff — the way he runs around — it’s fun to watch and it’s fun to play with a guy like that. I think he’s starting to play a lot faster now that he knows the system and can play free.”

Hunter gives the small-market franchise more star power than it’s had in decades — maybe ever.

He caught 96 passes for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns last season at Colorado and had 35 tackles, 11 pass breakups, eight forced incompletions and four interceptions while allowing just one touchdown.

The Jaguars intend to use him primarily as a slot receiver on offense and as an outside cornerback in certain packages on defense. It’s familiar territory for someone who played more snaps (1,461) than anyone else in college football in 2024.

It’s unclear how much — if at all — Hunter will play in Jacksonville’s preseason opener against Pittsburgh on Saturday. Coen and his staff are “still working through it.” He even texted Steelers coach Mike Tomlin on Monday night to “get on the same page” regarding starters.

Coen was an assistant with the Las Angeles Rams, who rarely played starters and even rested backups, and with Tampa Bay, which played starters in the preseason in hopes of getting “some quality work.”

“That is the ultimate debate,” Coen said. “It’s definitely a difficult decision that we’ve been wrestling back and forth with a little bit, but we’ll have a better idea (Wednesday).”

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Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Travis Hunter (12) runs during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 24, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Travis Hunter (12) runs through a drill during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Jacksonville Jaguars defensive back Travis Hunter, left, performs a drill during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Sunday, July 27, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Travis Hunter (12) smiles at photographers as he warms up during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Monday, July 28, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Travis Hunter (12) makes a reception in a defensive pass drill during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Sunday, July 27, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

MONROE, Wash. (AP) — A blast of arctic air swept south from Canada and spread into parts of the northern U.S. on Saturday, while residents of the Pacific Northwest braced for possible mudslides and levee failures from floodwaters that are expected to be slow to recede.

The catastrophic flooding forced thousands of people to evacuate, including Eddie Wicks and his wife, who live amid sunflowers and Christmas trees on a Washington state farm next to the Snoqualmie River. As they moved their two donkeys to higher ground and their eight goats to their outdoor kitchen, the water began to rise much quicker than anything they had experienced before.

As the water engulfed their home Thursday afternoon, deputies from the King County Sheriff’s Office marine rescue dive unit were able to rescue them and their dog, taking them on a boat the half-mile (800 meters) across their field, which had been transformed into a lake. The rescue was captured on video.

Another round of rain and wind is in store for the region as early as late Sunday, forecasters said.

“Bottom line at this point in time is we’re not done despite the sunny conditions that we have across western Washington at this point,” said Reid Wolcott, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.

“There is yet more still to come in terms of in terms of wind, in terms of rain, in terms in terms of flooding,” he said. “And Washingtonians need to be prepared for additional impacts, additional flooding, tree damage, power outages, etc.”

High winds expected at the end of the weekend and into the first part of week are a concern because the ground is extremely saturated, putting trees at risk of toppling, he said.

In Burlington, a farming community about an hour north of Seattle, the receding floodwaters allowed residents to assess damage and clean up their homes.

Friends and relatives helped empty Argentina Dominguez's home, filling trailers with soaked furniture, ripping carpet and mopping muddy floors.

“I know it’s materialistic stuff, but they were our stuff. It’s really hard. But we’re gonna try our best to like get through it all,” Dominguez said. “We’re just trying to get everything off the floor so we can start over.”

In Snohomish County, Washington, north of Seattle, emergency officials on Saturday led federal, state and local officials on a tour of the devastation.

“It’s obvious that thousands and thousands of Washingtonians and communities all across our state are in the process of digging out, and that’s going to be a challenging process,” Gov. Bob Ferguson said.

“It’s going to be expensive,” he said. “It’s going to be time consuming, and it’s going to be potentially dangerous at times. So I think we’re seeing here in Monroe is what we’re going to be seeing all across the state, and that’s what’s got our focus right now.”

As the Pacific Northwest begins to recover from the deluge, a separate weather system already brought dangerous wind-chill values — the combination of cold air temperatures and wind — to parts of the Upper Midwest.

Shortly before noon Saturday, it was minus 12 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 24 degrees Celsius) in Grand Forks, North Dakota, where the wind-chill value meant that it felt like minus 33 F (minus 36 C), the National Weather Service said.

For big cities like Minneapolis and Chicago, the coldest temperatures were expected late Saturday night into Sunday morning. In the Minneapolis area, low temperatures were expected to drop to around minus 15 F (minus 26 C), by early Sunday morning. Lows in the Chicago area are projected to be around 1 F(minus 17 C) by early Sunday, the weather service said.

The Arctic air mass was expected to continue pushing south and east over the weekend, expanding into Southern states by Sunday.

The National Weather Service on Saturday issued cold weather advisories that stretched as far south as the Alabama state capital city of Montgomery, where temperatures late Sunday night into Monday morning were expected to plummet to around 22 F (minus 6 C). To the east, lows in Savannah, Georgia, were expected to drop to around 24 F (minus 4 C) during the same time period.

The cold weather freezing much of the country came as residents in the Pacific Northwest endure more misery after several days of flooding. Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate towns in the region as an unusually strong atmospheric river dumped a foot (30 centimeters) or more of rain in parts of western and central Washington over several days and swelled rivers, inundating communities and prompting dramatic rescues from rooftops and vehicles.

Many animals were also evacuated as waters raged over horse pastures, barns and farmland. At the peak of evacuations, roughly 170 horses, 140 chickens and 90 goats saved from the floodwaters were being cared for at a county park north of Seattle, said Kara Underwood, division manager of Snohomish County Parks. Most of those animals were still at the park on Saturday, she said.

The record floodwaters slowly receded, but authorities warned that waters will remain high for days, and that there was still danger from potential levee failures or mudslides. There was also the threat of more rain forecast for Sunday. Officials conducted dozens of water rescues as debris and mudslides closed highways and raging torrents washed out roads and bridges.

Associated Press journalists Manuel Valdes in Burlington, Hallie Golden in Seattle and Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed.

Floodwaters surround a home after heavy rains led to historic flooding in the region Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Burlington, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Floodwaters cover a road after heavy rains led to historic flooding in the region Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Burlington, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Haji Higa, right, and Lydia Heglin, left, walk through floodwaters at their front door after heavy rains led to historic flooding in the region Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Burlington, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Francis Tarango mops inside her daughters' home damaged by floodwaters in Burlington, Wash., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)

"E-man" Trujillo uses a jet-ski to pull his children in a canoe as the family's horses graze on high ground in near their front door after heavy rains led to historic flooding in the region Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Burlington, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

"E-man" Trujillo, center, uses a jet-ski to tow a canoe with his children Liam, 6, far left, Julissa, 15, and Benjamin, 5, third from left, as their horses take refuge on the high ground at their front door after heavy rains led to historic flooding in the region Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Burlington, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Floodwater surrounds a home in Burlington, Wash., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)

Men remove a wet carpet from a house damaged by floodwaters in Burlington, Washington, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)

Vehicles are partially submerged after heavy rains led to historic flooding in the region, in Burlington, Wash., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)

Fracis Tarango mops inside her daughters' home damaged by floodwaters in Burlington, Wash., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)

A man pushes a truck through a neigbhorhood flooded by the Skagit River on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in Burlington. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)

An aerial view shows homes surrounded by floodwaters in Snohomish, Wash., Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)

Emergency crews, including National Guard soldiers, wort in a neighborhood flooded by the Skagit River on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in Burlington, Wash. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)