JACKSONVILLE – This was a good, intense day – another day forward.

The Jaguars on Tuesday opened 2025 mandatory minicamp at the Miller Electric Center. It was a day on which rookie Travis Hunter practiced on defense, and a day Head Coach Liam Coen said was perhaps a bit more competitive than previous offseason practices.

The build toward the regular season continues, and so does the improvement.

"We upped the level competition," Coen said following practice Tuesday, "but you didn't see a million people banging into each other or guys getting banged up. And it was cleaner."

This week's three-day minicamp is different from the team's 10 organized team activities the past three weeks in the sense that attendance is mandatory. It's the same in the sense that practices are unpadded with the emphasis on teaching and learning – with comparatively little emphasis on evaluation.

"There are definitely a lot of details the guys are working at and are getting down," offensive coordinator Grant Udinski said.

Udinski, in his first season as an NFL coordinator, called the offensive progress throughout the offseason steady and "incremental."

"It's day by day and then you kind of look back after a week or two weeks or three weeks and recognize how much you really moved from that initial starting point," Udinski said. "It's hard to notice some of that progress on a day-to-day basis because it is so incremental.

"It's one percent, two percent, three percent here and there, but when you add it up at the end, you turn around and you have something to be proud about."

Jaguars veterans will be off following Thursday's minicamp Day 3, with 2025 Training Camp – the first time players will practice in pads since the end of last season – beginning in late July. Coen said the "uptick" in competition from OTAs to minicamp was intentional, with OTAs often having a walkthrough feel.

"We're trying to simulate a little bit more game-like competition, game-like situations, put them in some more pressure, let the mind go a little bit more as the fatigue starts to set in and try to create as much sameness as we can to a game," Coen said. "We've had phenomenal attendance throughout the entire offseason. I really appreciate that from our guys, the amount that they've been here voluntarily.

"But you definitely felt it a little bit more yesterday in the team meeting where you truly have everybody all in there together, you're going over the schedule of the week and the expectations. I just felt a little bit more of a serious approach in some ways to these next few days.

"That's what the goal is here for these three days: get them into a rhythm and routine of what we're going to kind of do for training camp and have everybody in here together."

Hunter, the No. 2 overall selection in the 2025 NFL Draft, practiced at cornerback Tuesday – the first time he has done so this offseason during a practice open to the media. Hunter, who is expected to play offense full-time and defense extensively for the Jaguars, had worked on offense during previous open practices.

"I'd have to go back and watch the tape and see how he actually performed, but on defense as a DB, usually if they're not calling your name, it's typically a good thing," Coen said of Hunter. "He has done a nice job in terms of communicating with the guys.

"From a terminology and defensive communication, he did a good job. He integrates himself so well with those guys no matter what.

"He has had some progress, for sure."

Hunter previously practiced on defense during multiple sessions not open to the media, and he is expected to practice more on offense than defense during training camp and the regular season.

"Both physically and mentally there has been some growth," Coen said. "He has done a great job. In the weight room, with the conditioning, he's doing multiple meetings a day. He's is in very good physical shape when it comes to just being able to run all day. That's something that ultimately, once your legs start to go, the mind starts to go.

"You don't really see that all that often with him. He just keeps going."

NOTABLE

• Quarterback Trevor Lawrencepracticed Tuesday with a protective sleeve on his right (throwing) arm because of what Coen called a "a little bit of just general soreness." Added Coen, "We threw a lot of balls last week. He feels good. He said it wasn't really an issue. Sometimes when you just have something to keep it warm it just helps any type of thrower. I think that was more just maintenance than anything that's really bothering him."