A well-intentioned attempt to retrieve a piece of memorabilia for a teammate turned into a bizarre confrontation between an NFL player and a ball boy on Sunday.
Travis Hunter, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ top pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, had just done something fans in “Duval” have been waiting for: he got an interception.
Hunter spun the ball on the turf and ran off to celebrate with his teammates.
Speaking of teammates, Jags star linebacker Josh Hines-Allen thought that Hunter might want that ball as a keepsake of his first NFL pick and decided to retrieve it. The only problem was that an NFL ball boy had already picked it up.
Hines-Allen extended his hands and asked for the ball, but the ball collector refused. Hines-Allen then reached for the ball, earning a stiff arm from the sideline staffer, who shouted that the NFL player could not touch him.
“You can’t touch me! Hey! He pushed me!” the ball boy shouted.
Hines-Allen decided to have some fun with the NFL employee after warnings about touching him, and gave him a pat on the back. This only further excited the ball boy, who shouted the warnings even louder and tried to explain the situation to another staffer, who stepped between Hines-Allen and the ball.
As of this writing, it is unknown whether the ball ever reached Hunter. In the video, the ball boy never gives it up to Hines-Allen or any other member of the Jaguars team or staff.
He may not have realized the ball would be especially significant to Hunter. However, ball boys typically hand over the ball when players ask for it. It’s highly unusual and a bit weird for someone to physically resist giving a player the ball after being asked.
Hines-Allen shouldn’t have touched him, to be sure. But the ball boy could have also just given him the ball.