Travis Hunter is the first CU Buff in over a decade to get this honor
Aug 21, 2023, 11:38 AM
Normally an FCS player making 19 tackles and hauling in 18 catches wouldn’t be worth an FBS transfer let alone Heisman hype but nothing about Travis Hunter is normal.
On Monday, the Associated Press named Hunter to their preseason All-American First Team as an All-Purpose offensive player. Hunter, is one of five Pac-12 players to make it on the First Team, joining USC quarterback Caleb Williams, Washington wide receiver Rome Odunze and Washington rusher Bralen Trice and Stanford kicker Joshua Karty.
Hunter is a two-way star entering his first season for the Colorado Buffaloes came along with Deion Sanders from Jackson State. Hunter, who was the No. 1 prospect in his high school class, stunned the college football world by choosing to play for the Tigers over his pick of the liter.
In his lone season playing for the HBCU Hunter was honored as SWAC Freshman of the Year, getting on the conference’s Second Team. If you’re wondering how he earned these prizes despite the lower stats it’s because Hunter only played in a handful of games and yet he still had five touchdowns.
I joked months ago that Hunter might be the best athlete the Buffaloes have had on campus since Byron “Whizzer” White. But there is some truth to that. The former running back turned Supreme Court Justice was the school’s first consensus All American and they’ve had 26 since. But there hasn’t been one on campus since linemen Nate Solder in 2010. Laviska Shenault did get some preseason All-American second team buzz a few years back but it’s nothing like Hunter.
The 6-foot-1, 165-pound player could probably play defensive back in the NFL tomorrow but he’s just a Sophomore. Urban Meyer saw Hunter practice recently and compared him to Percy Harvin.
Harvin won Super Bowl XLVIII with the Seahawks over the Denver Broncos, capping an incredible career that was most notable for his college contributions. With Meyer’s Gators’ Harvin won two national titles, was a first-team All-American, and went for over 400 yards on the ground and through the air in all three of his seasons in Gainesville, finishing with 32 touchdowns.
Between Hunter and this year’s top secondary prospect Cormani McClain, Colorado could finally break through to get a first-round pick in the NFL Draft very soon. Isaiah Oliver was the last notable defensive back to play for Colorado, going in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft. He finished a run of a few great DBs playing for the school including Tedric Thompson, Ahkello Witherspoon and Chidobe Awuzie, who were all selected later on in the 2017 NFL Draft. CU’s last first-rounder in the NFL Draft was also a DB, in 2011 when Jimmie Smith was selected by the Ravens and Solder, went in the first round that year too.
But before the Draft, maybe Hunter can lead the Buffs back to glory and en route become the first Buff on a postseason All-American team in more than a decade.
***
