“Is Travis Hunter Big Enough to Play Both Sides?”: Curious Shaquille O’Neal Asks Calvin Johnson for His Expert Opinion

Travis Hunter, though not selected No. 1 overall, was certainly the phenom coming out of this year’s draft class. His exceptional two-way ability is unlike anything seen before — at least not in the way or to the extent he does it. Naturally, veteran players like “Megatron” Calvin Johnson can’t wait to see how it all plays out in the big league for the Colorado star.

While chatting with Shaquille O’Neal and his co-host Adam Lefkoe on The Big Podcast, Megatron was asked which wide receiver prospect he was most excited about in this year’s rookie class.

Having played the position for nine years in the big league, he didn’t have to think before saying it’s Travis Hunter who has all his attention.

Johnson further stated that he’s eager to see how the player makes the impossible seem possible — and how the team handles the business behind it.

“That’s easy this year, man, [it’s] Travis Hunter. I’m so curious as to how the coaching staff, that whatever team he goes to, is going to allow him to play if they’re going to give him the freedom, the range, to play both sides of the ball,” said the former Lion.

“How are they going to manage that and all that? So very excited, the young man has phenomenal ball skills, so if he’s playing DB, he’s going to make plays on the ball. So I’m excited to see what he brings to the next level,” Johnson added.

Clearly, for a team to allow their star player to get more exposed is not good for business — but that’s what’s unique about Hunter. Having said that, Shaquille O’Neal was still curious whether Hunter had the physicality to make a substantial impact on both sides of the ball.

“Is he big enough to play both sides?” Shaq asked Calvin Johnson curiously.

However, Johnson did not have a quick answer to it since he was not aware of Hunter’s measurements. He said, “I was wondering what his weight was, because I mean that does you know weigh into the equation.”

That’s when co-host Adam Lefkoe chimed in, “He came in at 6 feet, 188lb at the Combine.” Having heard Travis’ weight category, Calvin became a little skeptical of his impact on the defense.

“He’s light, but would that prevent him from getting up on big receivers? To be told. If I was playing against him, I know that would be something I would lean into. If I can lean into him, I can push him around. If I can lean on him at 240 and he’s 180,185, 188, then he can have a long day.”

That clear assessment of Travis’ DB skills does seem to hold true in theory, but we’ve seen Hunter do insane things in college. It’s only a matter of time before all that theory is put to the test.