NEW YORK — Two-way star Travis Hunter of Colorado won the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night, punctuating a tireless performance by a dynamic player with a unique combination of skills.
The wide receiver and lockdown cornerback dominated on both sides of the ball for coach Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes, joining late running back Rashaan Salaam (1994) as the only players in school history to take home college football’s most prestigious individual award.
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.
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. This year’s ceremony was held at Jazz at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, where Sanders was in attendance.
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 31⁄2 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-foot-1, 185-pound junior from Suwanee, Ga., plans to pass up his senior season in Boulder and is expected to be a top-five pick by the pros, perhaps even No. 1 overall.
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.
All the while, striking the Heisman pose with teammates to celebrate big plays as it became more and more clear Hunter was the man to beat.
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.”
Rated the country’s top recruit in the 2022 class, Hunter surprised many when he committed to play for Sanders at Jackson State, an HBCU that competes in the lower-level FCS, with the promise of playing offense and defense.
After one season, Hunter followed Sanders to Colorado and was a consensus All-America selection as an all-purpose player last year despite sitting out three games with a lacerated liver caused by a late hit.
