Travis Hunter Deserved the Heisman and I’ll Fight Anyone Who Says Otherwise
Let me just get this out of the way: Travis Hunter is the most talented football player I’ve ever watched. And I don’t say that lightly.
Two-way players aren’t supposed to exist anymore. The game is too fast. The specialization is too intense. Playing both ways is supposed to be a gimmick you do in high school before you commit to one position in college.
Travis Hunter said “nah, I’m built different” and then actually backed it up.
The receiving numbers alone would make him All-Conference. 94 catches. 1,258 yards. 14 touchdowns. He was Shedeur’s favorite target all year, running routes that made Big 12 cornerbacks look silly. There’s a catch he made against Arizona State — one-handed, falling backwards, in triple coverage — that I’ve watched probably fifteen times.
But THEN he also played corner. And not like “oh he’s out there being a body” corner. Elite corner. 48 tackles. 11 pass breakups. 4 interceptions. He shut down the other team’s best receiver in most games.
How is that possible? How does one human being have that much stamina, that much skill, that much awareness on both sides of the ball?
I went back and timed his snaps in the Kansas State game. He played 87 of 98 snaps. Eighty-seven. And he wasn’t just surviving — he was making plays in the fourth quarter when everyone else was gassed.
The Heisman discourse got annoying. People saying he only won because of the Deion narrative. People saying other players had better numbers. People saying two-way play is a gimmick that inflates his value.
Those people are wrong.
The two-way play isn’t inflating his value. It IS his value. He’s doing something nobody else in modern football is doing. And he’s doing it at an elite level on BOTH sides. That’s not a gimmick. That’s historic.
I’m not a Colorado fan. I don’t have any rooting interest in this. I’m just telling you what I saw when I watched the film: a generational talent doing things that shouldn’t be possible.
Jake’s note: The thing that kills me about Hunter is he makes it look EASY. Like he’s not even trying that hard. He catches a 40-yard bomb and his face doesn’t change. He picks off a pass in the end zone and just jogs off like it’s practice. The dude is ice cold. It’s terrifying.
Wherever Hunter goes in the NFL, that team is getting something special. He’s probably going to have to pick a side — offense or defense — because NFL coaches are creatures of habit. But even at one position, he’s going to be a star.
Congratulations, Travis. You earned it.
— Mike