Colorado’s Travis Hunter: college football’s mind-warping dual threat is one of one

TThe Heisman Trophy is college football’s highest individual honor, an annual tribute to the best player in the world, and more often than not, it’s the nation’s best quarterback who takes home the award. But this could be the year that Colorado’s Travis Hunter breaks tradition.

Hunter is college football’s astonishing dual-threat, a game-changing wide receiver And cornerback. It’s not uncommon to see the nation’s best college football players playing offense and defense as high schoolers, especially when there aren’t enough bodies to fill every position on the roster. However, at the highest levels of the college game, “Ironman” players are limited to specialty roles on one side of the ball or the other. Why? Because why would you double the risk of injury? Why mess with convention?

But Deion Sanders, aka Colorado’s Coach Prime, has never been one to stick to convention. He is known to have set the standard for modern ironmen in professional sports at the turn of the century. He dominated the NFL as a shutdown cornerback, big-play receiver and kick returner, while also dazzling Major League Baseball with his prowess as a hitter and base runner. When Sanders made the transition to coaching college football in 2020 and went straight to work at Jackson State University, his first call was an all-out recruiting blitz for Hunter, the nation’s top high school recruit as a defensive back.

The thing is, Hunter had already verbally agreed to play at Florida State, the school where Sanders broke onto the national stage, with the express intention of following the coach’s two-way trajectory. College football experts were convinced that there was no way Sanders could deter Hunter from his promise to play for Jackson State — a historically black college that competes one division below Florida State. But it turned out that all the coach had to say to him was, “When you come here, you play both ways, right?” That is, unlike Florida State coach Mike Norvell, who envisioned using Hunter situationally on offense, Sanders expected him never to leave the field. That tidbit — along with the opportunity to catch passes from Coach Prime’s quarterback of choice, Shadeur Sanders — was enough to secure Hunter’s signature and seal a deal that turned college football on its head.

In 2023, his lone year at Jackson State, the nation finally got to see this 6-foot-2 bundle of fast-twitch muscle in action. What stood out more than the stats was the ease with which Hunter maintained his high level of play, both on offense and defense. When Jackson State played North Carolina Central in the 2022 Celebration Bowl, Black college football’s de facto national championship, I watched from Mercedes-Benz Stadium slack-jawed in the waning seconds of regulation as Hunter looked toward the pylon of the end zone sprinted, shut out his man and hauled in a 19-yard touchdown pass to enforce overtime. It was one of two TD grabs Hunter had in the game with a total of five tackles: Heisman-worthy stuff. Unfortunately for Hunter, the performance did not sway the votes of Heisman voters, who tend to overlook prospects from HBCU and other minor football programs in the NCAA’s second-tier Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).

When Coach Prime left Jackson State for Colorado after that game, taking his top recruits with him, there was a lot of discussion in the media and online about whether those players could hack at the next level and whether Hunter could continue to play both ways and could hold on for a while. the upcoming 2023 season. But Hunter quickly dispelled those doubts, staying on the field for a whopping 1,036 plays. In total, he finished with five receiving touchdowns, three interceptions and 30 tackles; that’s when he sits out a quarter of the season injured after being targeted and knocked out of a game. At the time, the ESPN TV reporter breaking the news likened his injury to “losing two players in one.” Without their best player, the Buffaloes have lost eight of their last nine games after a 3-0 start. Coach Prime can’t say he wasn’t warned.

This year, however, was a different story. Colorado won nine games, with Hunter playing 80% of the time (1,044 snaps). He leads the offense in (92), yards (1,152) and touchdowns (14) and the defense in interceptions (four) and pass breakups (11). Last Saturday against Oklahoma State, Hunter hauled in 10 passes for 116 yards and three touchdowns – And threw an interception on the game’s first drive. This all happened after Hunter was overlooked for the Thorpe Award (i.e. the trophy given to the nation’s best defensive back) while being heavily touted for Defensive Player of the Year (i.e. the Bednarik Award) .

“I give him mine,” said Sanders, who won the award in 1988 before becoming the first athlete to play in a Super Bowl and a World Series. “I’m not using it, I’m just sitting there collecting dust.” He went on to call the Thorpe snub “the most idiotic thing in college football.” It’s enough to make you wonder if it could complicate Hunter’s chances of winning the Heisman, too.

Since 2000, quarterbacks have won the Heisman 19 of the 23 years. Charles Woodson, the 1997 winner, is the only committed defensive player to break through. Like Hunter, Woodson is officially a cornerback, but what ultimately separated him from his peers was his production as a receiver and returner – even if he wasn’t nearly the threat that Hunter is. Unlike Hunter, however, Woodson played his entire college career at Michigan. An FCS player has never won the Heisman Trophy. What’s even more disheartening: With Colorado out of contention for conference play this week, Hunter will be forced to rest his defense.

In the meantime, Oregon’s Dillion Gabriel and Miami’s Cam Ward will continue hoping to keep the Heisman in the quarterbacks’ pockets, while Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty looks to recapture the award ahead of his running back brethren as he attempts to win the all- time to destroy college football history. hasty record. After all, Heisman voters are such prisoners of the moment. Come Sunday, it wouldn’t be a surprise if they remembered Hunter when he took the field again for a postseason bowl game. after the Heisman voting is closed.

That would be a huge shame. No player this year has been as impactful, exciting or deserving as Hunter – who, by the way, is also a straight-A student. He has proven himself so undeniably good at playing both sides of the ball that NFL scouts, the most skeptical group in football, have allowed themselves to entertain the idea of ​​Hunter playing both ways in the pros, where he projects as a top-three pick. That he managed to change so many people’s minds so quickly speaks to his everlasting impact on the game. The only thing missing now is the hardware.