Prime livid after Travis Hunter a finalist for only five major awards

Travis Hunter has been named a finalist for five major college football awards but there’s a fascinating one missing from the bunch and Deion Sanders made a point to talk about it on Tuesday.

Hunter is a finalist for the Maxwell (Player of the Year,) Walter Camp (Player of the Year,) Bednarik (Top Defensive Player,) Biletnikoff (Top Wide Receiver) and Paul Hornung Award (nation’s Most Versatile Player.) Yet the two-way star of the Colorado Buffaloes who plays both wide receiver and cornerback, did not get recognition at his defensive position.

That would be the Jim Thorpe Award, given to the nation’s top cornerback, that Hunter will not win this season. Despite being widely recognized as one of the top pass defenders in the country, Hunter got snubbed. And it’s the third-ever winner of the award, Sanders in 1988 for Florida State, that says he doesn’t even want to keep his trophy now.

“How is Travis Hunter snubbed by the Thorpe Award?” Sanders said at his weekly news conference in Boulder. “You can have my award. You can have it back. Matter of fact, I’m going to give him mine. I ain’t using it. It’s just sitting up there collecting dust. So Travis can have my Thorpe Award, because if this ain’t the most idiotic thing in college football, that he’s not a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award and he is, I would say arguably, but I don’t think it’s really an argument about this young man being the best defensive back in college football.”

Jahdae Barron from Texas, Caleb Downs from Ohio State and Gerogia’s Malaki Starks were named finalists on Tuesday. The award is given by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame to the best defensive back in college football.

On the defensive side of the ball alone, Hunter has three interceptions, nine pass breakups and 30 tackles. Still, much of his contributions do not show up because his job is to prevent quarterbacks from throwing his way, which they mostly do. In turn, Hunter has only been burned for a single touchdown this season.

“He rarely gets thrown at,” Sanders said. “They just messed up all the integrity of the award and he can have mine. Whoever’s voting down there, whoever’s bringing it home, thank you. Because I don’t even want mine now. God bless you.”

The executive director of the Hall of Fame, Mike James, said in an email to USA TODAY Sports Tuesday that “we offer no criticism of Coach Sanders and wish our former award winner the best.”

Hunter is still the frontrunner for the Heisman because of his defensive efforts plus his 82 catches for 1,036 yards and 11 touchdowns on offense. Funny enough, he might win multiple Player of the Year awards the nod for Best Defensive Player in the Country Award, given by college football coaches and members of the Maxwell Football Club, without actually taking home the honor of best at his position.