Robert Livingston, Deion Sanders' defensive coordinator at Colorado, probably won't have time to watch the Bengals' home opener Sunday against the Jaguars (1 p.m.-Cincinnati’s Local 12) at Paycor Stadium.

Not exactly prime time for one of college football's hottest assistants at the end of a short week. Just as well. Livingston has too much invested on both sidelines as the college coach for Jaguars rookie wunderkind Travis Hunter and a long-time Bengals' secondary coach.

"I plead the fifth," says Livingston, taking a breather from prepping to play Houston Friday night.

But even Livingston is curious about how many snaps his guy is going to get at cornerback against fellow Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow’s fleet of fleet receivers.

"How many did he play last week?" Livingston wonders.

Sunday may pit the NFL's best player in 2024, Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, against Hunter, college's best player in 2024.

"He can literally do it all, you know what I'm saying? And he's in a blessed opportunity to be in," Chase says. "Still in the NFL and still trying to find what position he wants to play. He's mad athletic."

New Jaguars head coach Liam Coen is keeping a lid on it all this week, but everyone figures it's going to be more than the six snaps Hunter took in the win over Carolina last week against the Panthers' pedestrian corps. Chase, the NFL Triple Crown champion, just emerged from a tussle with Browns Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward with two catches for 26 yards and is looking to get back in the race.

"If I'm looking at Travis Hunter tape and I'm looking at Denzel tape, I'm going to look at more Denzel tape than Travis Hunter tape just because Denzel is an All-Pro corner," Chase says. "Not saying he won't be one, but it's a little different right now."

That's what has everyone intrigued about the 6-1, 185-pound Hunter. Can he do both nearly 70 years after the last of the two-way regulars retired?

Bengals cornerback Dax Hill thinks he can.

"No doubt he can do it. I don't know for how long," Hill says.

Chase predicts, "I'm sure it won't be the same like college. They're probably going to take him off a couple of reps and throw him back in every other series, maybe."

Hunter took 42 snaps on offense for 64% of the plays as a wide receiver in that NFL debut against Carolina and had six catches for 33 yards.

Bengals safety Jordan Battle noted the one time Hunter did go deep, quarterback Trevor Lawrence was picked off by cornerback Jaycee Horn.

"They haven't really shown a lot," Hill says.

Chase has seen even less, but he's not going to look at Hunter's college tape to find out.

"That's not helpful at all," Chase says. "I'm not playing Colorado, I'm playing Jacksonville."

Livingston, who spent a dozen years with the Bengals as a scout and then a coach before Sanders brought him to Boulder last season and entrusted him with Hunter, offers a window into what these Bengals are dealing with on Sunday.

Hunter actually sounds like he's got the inexhaustible work ethic of Chase, as well as the sharp football intellect of Battle, a player Livingston scouted and coached. He can't say enough about Hunter

"He helped me make the transition. That's how special this guy is," says Livingston, who transitioned well enough to be rewarded this year as the highest-paid assistant in school history.

Livingston recalls a game they were down, 24-0, and there was one of those endless timeouts they have in the college game, and he was steaming. He wanted to blitz the world. Or at least do some whacky pressure. But there was time. His eyes settled on Hunter. He asked him what he would call.

"Cover Two," Hunter said.

Since there was still plenty of time left in the break (there always is), Livingston asked Hunter why that would be his call. Hunter explained he knew what the offense would do and how he would defeat it. So Livingston called Cover Two, Hunter went streaking downhill in the creases he told Livingston he would, and when he ran off the field after cutting down the ball carrier, he offered, "Told ya."

Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher has no idea how much he'll see Hunter. But he knows what he sees.

"Change of direction, ball skills, obviously rare for a guy on the defensive side of the ball," Pitcher says. "Those would be the two things, just as his ability to match and mirror and man coverage and then play the football and when he is targeted."

What the Bengals have seen on the Jags' tape is mostly Hunter at receiver, a dangerous speedster they try to put into gaps.

"He's good in space. They try to make it easy for him. Solid receiver," Hill says. "We have to tackle him. Get him down to the ground. They move a lot. They use a lot of window dressing. We have to be ready for the motions. They try to get him open quick."

Livingston saw that along with everyone else. In one game when the defense was on the bench, Livingston and Hunter were huddled over a concept when Hunter jumped up and said, "I'll be right back."

Livingston went back to his screen, immersed, when the stadium suddenly shrieked and shook. He looked up at the scoreboard and saw Hunter scoring a long one. After the roars and his celebration, Hunter made his way back to Livingston and asked, "What did I miss?"

The Bengals hope not to miss with a contingent of cornerbacks. Hill and Cam Taylor-Britt led the way last Sunday with 74 snaps. The next one was DJ Turner II with 46 that included his play of the day interception. After that, Josh “Fig,” Newton had 29 as defensive coordinator Al Golden unveiled his rotation.

"I don't look at them as young. I feel like these guys, with three, four years of experience, that's not young anymore," Golden says. "For me, young is first- and second-year. Not a lot of games under the belt. This is becoming a veteran group for us, where these guys, Dax and Cam and DJ, Jordan, Geno (Stone), those guys have played a lot of games, and so we have really high expectations for them. Fig hasn't played as much, but we still have high expectations for him. He's come in and acted like a veteran, so I don't look at it as a young group."

The Bengals have admiration for what Hunter is trying to do. Chase says he never had the desire to play both. Here's a guy who never comes off the field (he played 87% of the snaps in Cleveland) and says, "too much running."

Hill actually played both until he was a senior in high school.

"I wanted to focus on one side and maintain my body," Hill says.

Livingston says when Bengals fans see Hunter, he's got a comparison for them.

"Think about a guy like A.J. Green," Livingston says of the former Bengal who became the first wide receiver to go to his first seven Pro Bowls. "Rarely ever missed a practice. It's such a luxury for a coach when his best player is also one of his hardest workers, if not the hardest."

The Bengals have a guy like that in Chase, who is studying last year's Green Bay tape because of the roots of the new Jacksonville defense. If they meet, he says he won't play the veteran card.

"He's still a rookie, but he's a pure athlete, man. He could do it all," Chase says. "I've still got respect for him."