Former Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter finally secured his first career NFL interception on Sunday, but video of the play went viral online for a reason other than it being a milestone for the Jacksonville Jaguars defensive back.
Hunter spun the football on the ground to engage in a celebratory dance following the interception of New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye.
A ball boy dressed in a hat with a NFL logo on the sideline then picked up the football before Hunter’s Jaguars teammate Josh Hines-Allen approached the ball boy to presumably collect the ball and give it back to Hunter.
The ball boy would not give Hines-Allen the football back, sparking off a brief tussle with the 6-foot-5 pass rusher near one of the tunnels at Everbank Stadium. Video of the incident can be seen below.
“Hey, you can’t touch me!” the ball boy said during the interaction, which was later broken up by Jaguars equipment manager George Pellicer.
The ball boy was also heard on the video accusing Hines-Allen of pushing him while the Jaguars defender attempted to grab the football out of his hand.
Hines-Allen eventually retreated to the Jaguars bench area without the football, while the ball boy and Pellicer appeared to continue a heated discussion on the sideline.
The unidentified ball boy is a New England Patriots employee, TMZ Sports Michael Babcock reported on Monday.
“The staffer needs to be fired IMMEDIATELY,” X user @sluggahjells wrote about the ball boy.
“The ball boy acting like he’s guarding nuclear codes over a football is genuinely unhinged,” X user @pixiedreamyxo added.
“Drake Maye could learn a thing or two — great ball security,” X user @jneary94 joked.
The situation was also addressed by Jaguars head coach Liam Coen in his Monday press conference, although it is unclear if Hunter got the game-used ball from his interception back; the NFL requires players to pay a fee in order to keep official game-used balls, according to ESPN.
“I was just talking about it,” Coen said. “I haven’t gotten a clean answer. We’ve been in communication with those guys over there. I think they’ve gotten it sorted out; I can’t say for certain if we got the actual ball or not.”
“I know there was something that went on there. I think it’s all squared away. We’ll get it taken care of.”
Hunter did not seemed too concerned with getting the ball back following the Jaguars’ 35-6 win, as he was focused on fact he made an important play to help his team come out on top.
“Interceptions are great to catch, but I was focused on winning the game and continuing to focus on the next play,” Hunter said.
“I know (Drake Maye) tried me a couple times (with some throws), so I was just in there saying, ‘I’m getting too close to the ball. I’ve got to get me one,'” the former Colorado star added. “So we just continued to just do what the coaches schemed up for us and we just played our best part of it.”
The Jaguars (2-1) sit atop the AFC South division three weeks into the NFL season, while the other three teams looking up at them all have at least two losses.
Jacksonville travels to Cincinnati on Sunday for a meeting with the Bengals, who are also 2-1 after suffering their first loss of the year to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 3.
