The Jacksonville Jaguars are proud owners of a 4-1 record after defeating the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football 31-28. While Jaguars linebacker Devin Lloyd stole the show with a 99-yard interception return for touchdown, rookie wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter also made quite the jaw-dropping play.
His leaping 44-yard catch was the first electric play of his career and it came at a great time in front of a national television audience. Hunter hadn’t had a play like that during the first four games of the season and many were waiting for him to breakout.
On the ManningCast Monday night on ESPN2, Eli Manning suggested maybe he was slower to develop because he didn’t practice wide receiver while at the University of Colorado. At least, he said that’s what Jaguars head coach Liam Coen told him.
“I talked to Liam Coen,” Manning said. “They said that when he was at Colorado, he practiced zero with the offense. He only practiced defense. They just kind of had a special system where they had signals. The coach would just signal the formation to him and then signal the route to him. So he just, like, improvised.
“He went out there and winged it as a receiver. So he’s still learning right now how to be a receiver.”
Liam Coen clarifies Eli’s Travis Hunter comments
Welp, that didn’t take long. Coen went on the Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday and addressed the comments made by Eli. He didn’t really double down, but he didn’t walk them back either.
“He (Hunter) practiced… on offense at Colorado,” Coen said. “It was just primarily on defense. Then that’s when he would go out and look for the signals from the sidelines, which is what they did. They were a no-huddle operation…He practiced on offense just not very much. It was just way more on defense.
“He got in the walk-throughs on offense,” Coen said. “Look…they made him a Heisman Trophy winner. He did that on his own. He did that with the help at Colorado. We’re hoping to continue to do that so that he can be the best version of himself.”
Not everyone agrees with Eli’s Travis Hunter assessment
Of course, a lot of people watch the ManningCast (believe it or not) so someone was bound to hear this and have an opinion. Whether or not he heard the comments on television, Deion Sanders, Jr. eventually responded to it on X. He didn’t accuse Eli of making it up, but he did basically say that Coen lied to him.
“Don’t let them lie to you Mr Manning, he practiced Wr & DB equally,” Sanders, Jr. posted.
Considering who his father is, Sanders, Jr. probably would know about such things. Maybe he doesn’t know Hunter’s favorite Jell-O flavor in the team cafeteria, but he’d know if the first two-way player to come out of college in 100 years actually practiced on both sides of the ball.
Darius Sanders, onwer Reach The People Media and frequent story teller of the Sanders family and the Colorado Buffaloes, also disputes what Coen allegedly told Eli.
“I’ve posted hundreds of videos that prove otherwise,” Darius posted on X.
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