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Jaguars open training camp with a healthy Travis Hunter and hopes of back-to-back playoff berths

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Jaguars open training camp with a healthy Travis Hunter and hopes of back-to-back playoff berths
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Jaguars open training camp with a healthy Travis Hunter and hopes of back-to-back playoff berths

2026-07-30 02:38 Last Updated At:02:50

JACKSVONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Coach Liam Coen saw the ball on the ground more than he would have liked Wednesday when the Jacksonville Jaguars opened training camp. He also saw two-way player Travis Hunter make sharp cuts on defense and aggressive moves at receiver, a welcome sight.

What caught his attention was a team that looked poised to move forward, a rarity for a franchise that hasn't had consecutive 10-win seasons in 27 years.

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Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, (16) throws a pass during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Kelly Jordan)

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, (16) throws a pass during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Kelly Jordan)

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, (16) throws a pass during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Kelly Jordan)

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, (16) throws a pass during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Kelly Jordan)

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen talks to the media during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Kelly Jordan)

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen talks to the media during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Kelly Jordan)

Jacksonville Jaguars quartback Trevor Lawrence (16), stretches during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Kelly Jordan)

Jacksonville Jaguars quartback Trevor Lawrence (16), stretches during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Kelly Jordan)

Jackonville Jaguars wide receiver and corner back Travis Hunter (12) runs drils during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Kelly Jordan)

Jackonville Jaguars wide receiver and corner back Travis Hunter (12) runs drils during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Kelly Jordan)

That also was the last time the Jaguars made back-to-back postseason appearances.

“We haven't done anything to rest on our laurels here,” said Coen, whose first year with the Jaguars brought an AFC South title and a 13-4 season that ended with a 27-24 loss to the Buffalo Bills in a wild-card playoff game. "Last year was about finding an edge and creating an edge. And now we are attacking these edges with a relentless pursuit.

“And at the end of the day, we want to go play anywhere, anytime, anybody, doesn't matter,” he said. “Our mindset is we got to go prove it and go earn it because consistency is the truest measure of performance.”

Changes have been relatively minor since the season ended six months ago — running back Travis Etienne went to the New Orleans Saints and linebacker Devin Lloyd is now with Carolina. The coaching staff returns, and quarterback Trevor Lawrence has a year behind him in Coen's scheme.

Lawrence is coming off six months of getting stronger instead of recovering from injuries after a relatively healthy 2025. Coen said Lawrence, a No. 1 pick entering his sixth year, has spent time at a local high school with the receivers, though that didn't translate to the first day of camp.

“I thought it was a little sloppy in terms of drops and some inaccuracy, just not throwing and probably catching a ton with each other,” Coen said. “I don't like to see the ball on the ground as much as it probably was today. But I was pleased with some of the back and forth, and some of the hits in the run game as well.”

Hunter, the No. 2 pick in 2025, made it through only two months of his rookie season when he tore right knee ligaments in practice and was done for the year. He was limited in the spring, and was full speed on the first day of camp.

“Just good to see him back out there and he looks good,” Lawrence said. "He’s flying around. Seeing him play both sides is just always pretty cool. Just excited that he’s back on the field.”

Hunter had one drop in traffic when he leapt between a pair of defenders, slamming the ball to the ground in frustration when the play was over. He also made a sharp cut at cornerback that nearly led to a pick on a broken route.

“I was pleased to see him go up with no fear and just go up and try to make a great play,” Coen said.

Running back Chris Rodriguez, one of the few offseason acquisitions, was back on the field after a surgery on his left foot from an injury the first day of voluntary workouts. Rodriguez was signed to a two-year deal to bolster the running game with the departure of Etienne.

Coen, the offensive coordinator at Kentucky when Rodriguez played there, said his contributions would not be tangible until full contact with the bruiser of a back.

“What he brings to this team, I don’t think any of us are going to see throughout the entire training camp, honestly,” Coen said. “Until we play tackle football, it’s going to be very difficult for all of us here to gain a true appreciation for who he is and what he does.”

The only injury of note was to linebacker Jack Kiser, who grabbed his right knee on the fourth play and was helped off the field. Coen said Kiser would have an MRI and he was hopeful of a quick recovery. “He wasn't screaming or freaking out in pain,” Coen said.

Coen also said the Jaguars hosted receiver Zay Jones ahead of training camp. Jones, a second-round pick of the Buffalo Bills in 2016, spent two years with the Jaguars before they released him in April 2024. He played only 19 games with the Arizona Cardinals the last two years because of injuries.

“We'll see how things progress, but it was really good to get to meet him,” Coen said.

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Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, (16) throws a pass during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Kelly Jordan)

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, (16) throws a pass during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Kelly Jordan)

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, (16) throws a pass during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Kelly Jordan)

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, (16) throws a pass during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Kelly Jordan)

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen talks to the media during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Kelly Jordan)

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen talks to the media during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Kelly Jordan)

Jacksonville Jaguars quartback Trevor Lawrence (16), stretches during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Kelly Jordan)

Jacksonville Jaguars quartback Trevor Lawrence (16), stretches during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Kelly Jordan)

Jackonville Jaguars wide receiver and corner back Travis Hunter (12) runs drils during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Kelly Jordan)

Jackonville Jaguars wide receiver and corner back Travis Hunter (12) runs drils during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Kelly Jordan)

DETROIT (AP) — Two people who attended a prestigious Michigan fine arts school reported conduct of a sexual nature by Jeffrey Epstein, a major donor, according to an investigation that also uncovered dozens of allegations spanning decades against nearly 50 other people.

Interlochen Center for the Arts operates a summer camp and performing arts school that draws students from around the world. It hired a law firm in 2024 to investigate reports of sexual abuse by faculty and staff. Subsequently, it expanded the work to include information about Epstein, the 66-year-old financier who killed himself in jail in 2019.

Interlochen removed Epstein's name from a lodge after he was convicted of sex offenses in Florida in 2008. The building, renamed the Green Lake Lodge, was recently demolished after the U.S. Justice Department released millions of pages about him that had been compiled over the years.

Sanghavi Law Office says it collected 70 accounts from alumni alleging “physical conduct of a sexual nature” by 47 faculty and staff members affiliated with Interlochen from the 1950s through the 2010s, most before 2000.

“The information gathered during this investigation is, simply, devastating,” the 97-page report says, noting that alumni reported grooming, flirting, sexual touching and sex.

Interlochen said it has provided names of people accused of misconduct to Grand Traverse County authorities in northern Michigan to determine what steps, if any, might be taken. None are currently employed there, and more than a third are dead.

“We are deeply sorry for the harm experienced by members of our community and extend our apologies to those impacted by abuse at Interlochen,” president Trey Davey and board chair Barrett Rollins said in a letter to the community posted online.

“While the vast majority of the incidents described in the investigation took place many decades ago, and reports of abuse at Interlochen have significantly decreased over the past 25 years, the passage of time does not diminish the experiences of our alumni,” they said. “Sexual abuse committed by an adult in a position of power or trust against a student is wrong, then and now.”

Interlochen today “is fundamentally different from the institution described in this report,” Davey and Rollins wrote, with comprehensive safety policies and a changed culture.

Epstein, who played the bassoon, was an Interlochen camper in 1967. He donated more than $400,000 to the school between 1990 and 2003.

Two women told investigators that Epstein engaged in conduct of a sexual nature with them, one of them at the Interlochen lodge that bore his name.

He brushed against her body “over her clothes, in a manner in which he indicated was accidental,” according to the report.

Epstein also paid for her to visit him in New York while she was a student. She said “every time he was ‘handsy’ with her, she would freeze until he would stop,” the report states.

The other woman said she gave Epstein a massage at his home, according to the report, and he may have asked her to remove her top. She never had any further contact with Epstein or his girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Outside of the school investigation, at least two Interlochen alumnae made allegations of grooming and abuse against Epstein and Maxwell, according to federal records and media reports. Their identities were not made public.

One testified against Maxwell in 2021 when she was convicted of sex trafficking. It’s unclear whether those women spoke to the law firm hired for the Interlochen investigation.

FILE - Documents that were included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files are photographed on Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File)

FILE - Documents that were included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files are photographed on Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File)

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