On Saturday, the national audience was introduced to the next big thing in college football: two-way star Travis Hunter of the Colorado Buffaloes.
Hunter is the former No. 1 recruit in the class of 2022, and he de-committed from Florida State to join Deion Sanders at the unlikely landing spot of Jackson State.
Now he’s playing on Saturdays with Coach Prime in Colorado and jumping off the screen as both a wide receiver and defensive back as he helped lead the Buffaloes to a shocking upset win over No. 17 TCU.
Travis Hunter (12) of the Colorado Buffaloes makes a leaping catch as a receiver on third down. Getty Images
Coach Deion Sanders poses with quarterback Shedeur Sanders and defensive back and receiver Travis Hunter. Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesPlaying both ways is something that has been done in the past, including by future NFL stars Champ Bailey and Charles Woodson, with the latter winning the Heisman Trophy in 1997.
Bailey would somehow only come in seventh place to win the Heisman Trophy in 1998, despite playing lock-down cornerback while bringing in 47 catches for 744 yards and five touchdowns, and he even rushed for 84 yards.
Colorado Buffaloes cornerback Travis Hunter, who also plays wide receiver. Denver Post via Getty ImagesWoodson rushed for 21 yards and brought in 238 receiving yards with three offensive touchdowns for the Wolverines, while also returning a punt for a touchdown.
Defensively, he recorded 47 tackles, one sack, and eight interceptions in 1997.
There’s also fellow Michigan Wolverines star Jabrill Peppers, who played a little bit of running back, h-back, receiver, and wildcat quarterback on offense while playing linebacker and safety on the Wolverines defense.
He also returned punts and kicks and finished fifth in the 2016 Heisman voting.
Travis Hunter makes a diving interception on defense. Denver Post via Getty ImagesBut Hunter played nearly every snap for the Buffaloes on Saturday (129 of them), according to Pro Football Focus, while he caught 11 passes for 129 yards and drew three defensive pass interference calls.
Hunter also made an insane diving interception at the goal line, leading to Coach Sanders saying, “If we hit those [two deep balls], the Heisman is in his crib chilling right now.”
The Buffaloes star is currently on pace to put gaudy numbers as a duel threat that rivals that of MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani.
Sanders likely sees a little bit of himself in Hunter, as the star coach played 50 percent of offensive snaps and 80 percent of defensive snaps for the Dallas Cowboys in 1996.
Hunter was 300/1 to win the Heisman Trophy on FanDuel Sportsbook entering the day on Saturday but is now just 18/1 in just 24 hours on Caesars Sportsbook, the sixth-shortest odds of any player on the board.
