Whereabouts of Travis Hunter's first interception ball unknown after bizarre interaction between Josh Hines-Allen, furious ball boy
Hopefully for everyone involved, they can resolve case of the missing milestone ball without further incident.
Travis Hunter secured the first interception of his NFL career on Sunday.
As for where the ball is from that milestone moment, that's not quite clear.
The whereabouts of the ball remained unknown on Monday following a bizarre post-interception interaction between Hunter's Jacksonville Jaguars teammate Josh Hines-Allen and a furious ball boy.
Hunter, the former first-round pick and Heisman Trophy-winner out of Colorado, secured his first career interception in the third game of his second NFL season on Sunday, a 35-6 Jaguars win over the New England Patriots .
He picked Drake Maye off in the back of the end zone , then celebrated with his teammates by spinning the ball on the turf. A ball boy picked the ball up, and Hines-Allen attempted to retrieve it from him, presumably to secure it for Hunter.
From there, chaos ensued. It was captured on camera by News 13 sports reporter Brandon Greene.
'You can't touch me, you can't touch me!'
Hines-Allen reached out to grab the ball from the unidentified ball boy's arms, touching his upper body in the process. The ball boy stiff-armed Hines-Allen and refused to give up the ball.
"You can't touch me, you can't touch me," the ball boy said.
As Jaguars equipment manager George Pellicer approached, the ball boy walked away from Hines-Allen. Hines-Allen continued to attempt to retrieve the ball.
Pellicer then intervened, and the ball boy continued protest.
"He pushed me," he said. "He can't do that."
Hines-Allen then retreated from his pursuit of the ball, which remained in the ball boy's possession as the ball boy spoke with Pellicer. It's unclear where the ball ended up from there.
Liam Coen doesn't know where the ball is
As of Monday, Jaguars head coach Liam Coen didn't know where it was. He was asked about the ball during his Monday video news conference.
"I don't know," Coen said with a smirk when asked if Hunter got the ball. "I was just talking about it, and I haven't gotten a clean answer. I think 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 have the actual ball or not. I know there was something that went on there, but think it's all squared away. I think they'll get it taken care of."
As of Monday, Hunter hadn't publicly addressed the case of the missing ball.
It's not clear from the video whether the ball boy works for the Jaguars or the Patriots, but this should be a simple issue to settle, regardless.
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