Current:Home > ScamsTravis Hunter, the 2 -CapitalSource
Travis Hunter, the 2
View
Date:2025-04-17 06:17:53
The AP Top 25 college football pollis back every week throughout the season!
Get the poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here.
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Travis Hunter is a throwback-type player — an elite receiver one moment, a lockdown cornerback the next — who rarely leaves the fieldand has a knack for making big plays all over it.
The Colorado Buffaloes’ two-way standout ( see: unicorn) even celebrates at an elite level,unveiling imaginative dance moves following touchdowns and interceptions, some of which include the Heisman Trophy pose. It’s one of the many awardshe’s in line to win.
Hunter is the The Associated Press college football player of the year, receiving 26 of 43 votes Thursday from a panel of AP Top 25 voters. Boise State tailback Ashton Jeanty finished second with 16 votes and Arizona State running back Cameron Skattebo received one vote.
“Couldn’t do what I do without my team,” Hunter said in an email on a trip to Las Vegas for an awards ceremony. “So I view being up for these awards as team awards.”
A player with his particular set of skills doesn’t come around that often. He’s a flashback to the days of Charles Woodson at Michigan or Champ Bailey at Georgia. Or even his coach, Deion Sanders, a two-way star in the NFL.
The prospect of significant playing time on both sides of the ball is what led Hunter to join Sanders at Jackson State and why he followed Sanders to Boulder.
“Coach Prime was the only coach who would consider allowing me to do what I’m doing,” said Hunter, who’s expected to be a top-five pick next spring in the NFL draft, possibly even the No. 1 overall selection. “He did it and knows what it takes — how much you have to be ready on both sides of the ball.”
Want to fuel Hunter? Simply tell him he can’t.
“I’m motivated when people tell me I can’t do something,” Hunter said. “That I can’t dominate on both sides of the ball. I want to be an example for others that anything is possible. Keep pursuing your dreams.”
Hunter helped the 20th-ranked Buffaloesto a 9-3 record this season and a berth in the Alamo Bowl against No. 17 BYU (10-2) on Dec. 28. He played 688 defensive snaps and 672 more on offense — the lone Power Four conference player with 30-plus snaps on both sides of the ball, according to Colorado research.
Hunter has already won a second straight Paul Hornungaward as the game’s most versatile player. He’s up for the Walter Camp (player of the year), Maxwell(most outstanding player), the Biletnikoff (best receiver) and Bednarik (top defensive player) awards.
And, of course, the Heisman, where he’s the odds-on favorite to win over Jeanty this weekend. Hunter can join the late Rashaan Salaam as the only Colorado players to capture the Heisman. Salaam won it in 1994 after rushing for 2,055 yards.
Hunter wasn’t a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, which goes to the nation’s top defensive back. That drew the wrath of Sanders, who earned the award with Florida State in 1988 and vowed to give his trophy to Hunter.
Hunter’s high school coach, Lenny Gregory, knew he had a special player the summer of Hunter’s freshman year. Gregory, then the coach at Collins Hill in Georgia, had a conditioning test for his players — run six 200-yard dashes with a minute rest in between. Defensive backs had to complete each in under 32 seconds.
Hunter never even got winded. He played safety/cornerback and receiver as a freshman and helped Collins Hill to a state title his senior season.
“I remember just talking to colleges the spring of his ninth-grade year and telling coaches that this kid’s going to be the No. 1 player in the country,” recounted Gregory, who’s now the coach at Gordon Central High in Calhoun, Georgia. “They’d look at him and laugh at me, ‘What are you talking about? This scrawny kid? He’s not big enough.’ I was like, ‘Just watch. Just watch.’”
Hunter finished the regular season with 92 catches for 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns as a receiver. On defense, he had four interceptions, broke up 11 passes and forced one crucial fumble, which secured an OT win over Baylor.
Overall, Hunter had 92 receptions and allowed 22. He hauled in 14 receiving TDs and allowed just one. He was responsible for 53 first downs and gave up just six. He was targeted 119 times by Shedeur Sanders & Co. but only 39 times by opposing QBs.
Hunter’s likely final game in Boulder, a rout of Oklahoma State, was a three-touchdown, one-interception performance.
“I’m used to seeing him do all this spectacular stuff,” Shedeur Sanders said. “I’m used to all this stuff — you all are just now seeing it on national stage.”
___
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-polland https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
veryGood! (112)
Related
- Tropical weather brings record rainfall. Experts share how to stay safe in floods.
- 'Senseless act of violence': Alabama mother of 4 kidnapped, found dead in car; man charged
- The Rock confirms he isn't done with WWE, has eyes set on WrestleMania 41 in 2025
- 4 family members plead not guilty in abduction and abuse of a malnourished Iowa teen
- Carolinas bracing for second landfall from Tropical Storm Debby: Live updates
- Large dust devil captured by storm chaser as it passes through Route 66 in Arizona: Watch
- Shawn Johnson Details Emergency Room Visit With 2-Year-Old Son Jett After Fall
- Sisay Lemma stuns Evans Chebet in men's Boston Marathon; Hellen Obiri win women's title
- Taylor Swift makes surprise visit to Kansas City children’s hospital
- Union settles extended strike with Pittsburgh newspaper, while journalists, other unions remain out
Ranking
- Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
- These businesses are offering Tax Day discounts and freebies
- Salman Rushdie’s ‘Knife’ is unflinching about his brutal stabbing and uncanny in its vital spirit
- WEALTH FORGE INSTITUTE- A PRACTITIONER FOR THE BENEFIT OF SOCIETY
- Can Bill Belichick turn North Carolina into a winner? At 72, he's chasing one last high
- U.S. stamp prices are rising, but still a bargain compared with other countries
- Ex-youth center worker testifies that top bosses would never take kids’ word over staff
- Cold case: 1968 slaying of Florida milkman, WWII vet solved after suspect ID’d, authorities say
Recommendation
Jury selection set for Monday for ex-politician accused of killing Las Vegas investigative reporter
Timeline of events: Bodies found in connection to missing Kansas women, 4 people arrested
In war saga ‘The Sympathizer,’ Vietnamese voices are no longer stuck in the background
Authorities recover fourth body from Key Bridge wreckage in Baltimore
Sonya Massey's family keeps eyes on 'full justice' one month after shooting
Man killed, 9 others injured in shooting during Arkansas block party
‘Goal’ Palmer scores four in 6-0 demolition of dismal Everton
Starbucks releases 'swicy' refresher beverages built off sweet heat trend