As DB/WR, Buffs' Hunter Could Put Himself In Heisman Conversation
April 06, 2023 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Colorado's Travis Hunter has made it clear that winning a Heisman Trophy is one of his collegiate goals.
Of course, that is the aim of plenty of college players — but Hunter just might be putting himself in position to attract his share of attention in that realm. If he can follow through with what he's trying to build this spring in the Buffaloes' workouts, he could legitimately put his name in the mix next fall.
The 6-foot-1, 165-pound Hunter came out of high school in Georgia two years ago not only as the nation's consensus top-rated defensive back but also as some recruiting services' top-rated overall prospect.
He then shocked the college football world by electing to cast his lot with Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders at Jackson State instead of accepting one of the multitude of offers he received from some of the nation's elite Power Five programs.
Now, he has followed Coach Prime to Colorado. While he will almost certainly be a starting cornerback next fall when the Buffs open their season, he's also aiming to be a big contributor at wide receiver. He has taken the majority of his practice reps on offense this spring.
"Right now the focus is on learning the offensive playbook because defense really comes natural to me," Hunter said after Thursday's practice, the Buffs' seventh of the spring. "It's just easier for me to go and play defense and learn the playbook faster on offense … Once I learn the playbook, then I go back to defense, learn the defense playbook and then go both ways, no matter what."
While Hunter's goal may be a Heisman, the fact of the matter is that pure defensive players don't win the award. In fact, only once in the era of platoon football — since 1961 — has a defensive player collected the coveted trophy. Even that player, Michigan's Charles Woodson, won the honor in 1997 because he managed to play wide receiver along with his full-time role as a cornerback for the Wolverines.
Woodson had an impact on both sides of the ball for Michigan. He finished his junior season with seven interceptions, and he added 11 pass receptions for 231 yards and two touchdowns. He also had three rushes for 15 yards and a score, completed one pass, and had 33 punt returns for 283 yards and a touchdown.
That versatility earned him the Heisman as he finished ahead of Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning.
Hunter has the potential to put up those same kinds of numbers on offense and defense (although he isn't a return specialist).
Last year at JSU, Hunter displayed his versatility as a true freshman. While injuries limited him to just eight games, he still finished with 20 tackles, 10 pass breakups and two interceptions on defense. Meanwhile, he played sparingly as a wide receiver, but still finished with 18 catches for 188 yards and four touchdowns.
Clearly, he developed a special chemistry with quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who also made the move from JSU to Colorado. Now, that chemistry is showing up on a regular basis in spring ball.
It also hasn't hurt that the offensive coordinator from Jackson State, Brett Bartolone, became another "transfer" to Colorado. He is now the Buffaloes' wide receiver coach and is working with Hunter on a daily basis.
"He's a natural receiver and he's obviously a very gifted athlete," Bartolone said. "One thing about Travis a lot of people don't understand is that he's a very coachable dude. His attention to detail is great. He's great in meetings, he asks great questions and he works his butt off on the field. So he's a pleasure to coach."
Hunter no doubt has some work to do to get his game up to a Power Five level on the offensive side of the ball. In Sean Lewis' offense, receivers are required to read defenses and adjust their routes accordingly — and still make sure they are in perfect sync with the quarterback.
So far, Bartolone said, Hunter is ahead of schedule.
"I think he's further along than I would think at this point with understanding coverage and understanding football IQ and the coverage dictating where he needs to be," Bartolone said. "For him, there's certain situations, maybe leverage of a DB and he needs to get to a certain leverage, a certain depth. His football IQ is really high. He understands coverage. He understands all those things. For me, it's just carving out the small little details for him to understand within this offense that makes sense."
Hunter is confident he can make the necessary adjustments.
"You have a lot of techniques you have to learn, so I learned a lot of techniques since I've been here," Hunter said. "Just a lot of things that we had to learn in order to get open."
While the Buffs do have a handful of returning receivers, including Montana Lemonious-Craig, newcomers will no doubt have a major role next fall. Along with Hunter, transfer Jimmy Horn Jr. has also quickly shown the ability to be an impact player.
"We have a young receiver room so pretty much all of us are on the same page," Hunter said. "We are trying to teach and help each other as best as we can."
While it's obviously far too early to make even an educated guess as to how next year's Heisman race will shake out, this much we do know — both Hunter and Shedeur Sanders are finding their names on the preseason lists of candidates.
"It maybe makes me want to play more on both sides of the ball," Hunter said. "It makes me want to go out and dominate each time I get on the field."
For the record, Colorado has just one Heisman winner in its annals. Running back Rashaan Salaam claimed the award in 1994.
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