INDIANAPOLIS – Travis Hunter’s time at the NFL Scouting Combine podium was filled with one-sentence answers, and the big question got a super-succinct reply.
He wants to play both cornerback and receiver, 100 percent. If the team that selects him doesn’t want that, it’s not for him to choose where his focus will be.
"They say, ‘nobody has ever done it the way I do it,’” he said. “I tell them, ‘I'm just different...’"
“In the NFL, I’ve got my own unique play style, I play both sides of the ball, nothing that many people in the NFL have done,” he said. “…Everybody knows I can light up the room just by walking in. I always have a smile on my face. I bring excitement.”
Given that statement, I think it's necessary to note he did not light up the room he was telling about lighting up rooms.
Hunter is in play for the Titans, who hold the No. 1 pick but could trade down, likely to still try to stay high enough to be in range for him.
They view him as a corner-first but Brian Callahan said Hunter certainly can play both ways.
“Yeah, that's very realistic,” he said. “I think he's a unique player, that there's not a whole lot of other players you could compare what he's done. There's not many guys that have played that many snaps on both sides of the ball. And you watch his tape and you see his ability to play both at a very high level.
"So, yeah, I think anybody that you talk to about him is going to say the same thing, that he's got the ability to play both. And I think you're going to find out where he fits if you were to get him. But he's got a really unique ability to do a lot of different things.”
He could be a great return man, but said he’s already got two jobs.
The Titans would start Hunter out at cornerback and that seems to be the more popular thinking. But Browns GM Andrew Berry said Hunter would be a receiver first in Cleveland, where they’d want to take advantage of his ball skills.
How did he manage the split role at Colorado, with position groups and offensive and defensive meetings conflicting?
“I did a lot of extra studying by myself and also going up into the coaches office when nobodys there,” he said.
Mel Kiper loves Hunter. He thinks Hunter is the class’ best cornerback—with the caveat that if Will Johnson runs a 4.45, he will be right there, too -- as well as the best receiver.
The best corner in Titans history isn’t as sure about Hunter as the top cornerback.
“I think he’s got to come in and play cornerback out of the gate, just come in and concentrate on it,” Samari Rolle said. “To please him, let him play a little offense. But I think if he just concentrates on corner, he’ll be fine.
"I think Will Johnson from Michigan is the best cornerback in the draft. He’s a Patrick Surtain Jr. clone. Everything -- size, ability to bend, turn and run, ball skills. I think he’s the best cornerback and I think Abdul Carter is the best player in the draft.”
The one broad criticism of Hunter on defense is his work in man-to-man, but Rolle thinks that can be a non-issue once he leans into it.
“I think that’s where he needs the biggest work,” Rolle said. “Being that he was playing both ways all the time, there is no way that you can get to hone in and craft the technique you need in order to be the player that you should be in the NFL. He will understand that and the best thing he does, his zone recognition, that is next level stuff -- how he is able to just see the whole picture come off his man, come out of his area, that’s next level stuff right there.”
Said Kiper: “There is nothing he is lacking. He flips his hips, he turns, he locates, he’s got incredible ball skills, he’s tough as nails, he’s got a great football IQ. Being a wide receiver helps him know the nuances of route-running and identifying coverages, that spatial awareness where everybody has to know where everybody is, he has that.
"Being a wide receiver he knows the coverages, where safeties and corners roll in coverage, he knows all that. Playing wide receiver gives him a little bit of a head start at corner, and vice versa. Playing both those positions makes him better at the other spot.”
Kiper likes him most as a receiver but he can see a sort of audition where a team checks him out and decides after getting him in house.
“I’d play him at wide receiver, I think that’s hit best position,” Kiper said. “Some would say lockdown corner. If you want him there, fine. Use him both places, primarily at wide receiver and sprinkled in at corner might be the 
way to go.”
“He's ready to go either way. His recover ability, he’s so instinctive, he can catch up at any turn. A more frustrated corner can’t locate the ball, he can. His ball skills are amazing and he’s faster than people think because he’s silky smooth. Let him play both spots and see where he’s great.”
Mike Borgonzi, who holds the keys to the draft, said he thinks Hunter can play both positions at a high level.
“He's a special player, yeah, for sure,” he said. “We were watching him, and I don't know if there's anybody that's actually done what he's done in modern-day football, playing both offense and defense during the course of a season. So he's definitely a special player.”
