NEW YORK — Travis Hunter turned every play into prime time — on both sides of the ball — and ultimately took home the Heisman Trophy.
Now he’s got a leg up on his celebrity coach at Colorado.
The two-way star won college football’s most prestigious award Saturday night at Jazz at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, punctuating a tireless performance all season by a dynamic player with a unique combination of skills.
“I never thought I would be in this position,” said a tearful Hunter, who grabbed the trophy hard with two hands and let loose a happy roar. “It’s crazy.”
A big-play wide receiver and lockdown cornerback, Hunter dominated on both sides of the ball for coach Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes, joining former Bears running back Rashaan Salaam in 1994 as the only Heisman winners in school history.
Hunter received 552 first-place votes and 2,231 points in a comfortable victory. Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty was the runner-up with 309 first-place votes and 2,017 points, the closest margin since 2009.
Hunter garnered 80.14% of possible points, the 11th-highest in Heisman Trophy history, and joined Michigan cornerback Charles Woodson (1997) as the only full-time defensive players to claim the prize. Woodson also made big plays on offense but didn’t play nearly as much as Hunter on that side of the ball.
Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel came in third and Miami quarterback Cam Ward finished fourth in balloting for the 90th Heisman Trophy, presented annually since 1935 to the nation’s most outstanding player.
It marked only the fifth time this century a quarterback didn’t win. The last time no signal-caller placed in the top two was 2015, when running backs Derrick Henry of Alabama and Christian McCaffrey ran 1-2 in voting.
Hunter also won the Associated Press player of the year award this week. He helped spark an impressive turnaround at Colorado, from 4-8 in 2023 when he missed 3½ games because of injuries to 9-3 this year in Sanders’ second season. The 20th-ranked Buffaloes got their first bowl bid in four years and will face No. 17 BYU (10-2) in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 28.
Hunter has pledged to play, rather than skip the game to prepare for the NFL Draft and prevent any possible injury as many top prospects do. The 6-1, 185-pound junior from Suwanee, Georgia, plans to pass up his senior season and is expected to be a top-five pick by the pros — perhaps even No. 1 overall.
“He wants to be great at everything,” Sanders said. “He wants to have a commitment to excellence in everything he does — including fishing.”
Showcasing his blazing speed and explosive playmaking, Hunter rarely came off the field this year — making him an every-down throwback to generations gone by and the first full-time, true two-way star in decades.
On offense, he had 92 catches for 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns, plus a rushing score. On defense, he made four interceptions, 32 tackles, broke up 11 passes and forced a critical fumble that secured an overtime victory against Baylor.
He played 688 defensive snaps and 672 more on offense — the only Power Four conference player with 30-plus snaps on both sides of the ball, according to Colorado research.
It would seem an overly exhausting workload for any player these days, both mentally and physically, but not Hunter.
“I think I laid the ground for more people to come in and go two ways,” he said Friday. “It starts with your mindset. If you believe you can do it, then you’ll be able to do it. And also, I do a lot of treatment. I keep up with my body. I get a lot of recovery.”
