BOULDER, Colo. — Travis Hunter flipped the headset from his head following an impromptu postgame interview, and in an instant he was mobbed by well-wishers and fans outside Colorado’s team tunnel late Thursday night. Colorado’s two-way superstar acknowledged them all, never missing a pleasantry, just as he seemingly couldn’t miss stealing the spotlight with every highlight-reel catch in a masterful three-touchdown performance that sent echoes reverberating into the future as one of the most coveted NFL prospects of his generation.
“Hey, man, it’s me, man,” Hunter told CBS Sports as he walked into the tunnel at Folsom Field. “I just gotta do my job.”
Did we mention Hunter played 129 snaps in total? Per Pro Football Focus, he came off the field for only two plays. The majority of them (72) came on defense at cornerback, which is believed to be the best position for the player who was evaluated as the No. 1 high school prospect in the Class of 2021. There will be plenty of discussion the next few weeks on whether Hunter should actually focus on playing receiver at the next level, which has a higher earnings potential.
For all the jaw-dropping catches in a career spanning from Jackson State to Colorado, the junior — who many believe to be college football’s best player — may have put on his best show during this 31-26 win against North Dakota State. Even Colorado coach Deion Sanders, a Hall of Famer, had a difficult time singling out one of his body-contorting catches or physics-defining grabs in tight coverage.
“Every last one of them. Travis is explosive,” Sanders said. “… It’s a pretty tough matchup for anybody, but when you bail and you let him catch it and face you up, that’s a problem. He did what he does. Travis is a phenomenal player.”
At least four of Hunter’s catches were worthy of placement on SportsCenter’s top 10 plays.
His first touch of the season opener: a 41-yard touchdown showcasing his incredible leverage in coverage and blazing speed after the catch.
His last two catches were nothing short of elite, his body contorting as he leaned backwards to adjust to a pass across the middle to convert a crucial third down in a scene that can only be described as an homage to Neo dodging bullets in “The Matrix.”
His last snag was even better, that last touchdown with a defender draped over his arms in the front corner of the end zone. Hunter’s arms and neck were pinned by the defender, but still managed to lift his right hand to stab the ball with his finger tips just enough to gather the ball in his left. He secured the catch and fell backwards into the end zone with the helpless defender draped like a wet blanket over the superstar’s chest.
“I’ve got no personal goals,” Hunter said Thursday night, his first appearance in front of local media since his memorable performance in last season’s opener against TCU. “I just want my team to come out here and win every week. I want us to go out there and just dominate, do our job. We’ve got a target on us. We’ve got to go out and win, we’ve got to make a statement, we’ve got to let everybody know we’re here to stay. We’re not hearing no mediocre teams.
“That’s why I didn’t want to talk to the media, I just wanted to go to work with my guys and let them know I’m here with y’all. You’ve got to have my back just like I’ve got your back. Let’s go in here and let’s win.”
It’s clear Hunter was the MVP. Jimmy Horn Jr. may have led Colorado with seven catches for 198 yards (134 in the first half), but Hunter was much more technically prolific. He finished with seven grabs for 132 yards and a trio of scores. He was on the field for nearly every big play in a back-and-forth game against the FCS powerhouse, including the final possession that ended four yards short of an upset. And despite not practice every day on offense because of his duties on defense, he remained Shedeur Sanders’ top target.
“They got their own little thing going on. I ain’t mad at it because it works,” Deion Sanders said. “It’s just a certain chemistry they have where Shedeur is going to place that ball. If the [defender] is right beside him, he’s gonna place that ball. First of all, there ain’t no 50-50 ball with Travis. If the ball is up close, it’s his ball. He’s that kind of athlete.”
Said Shedeur: “I don’t see him every day at practice, but his ability to get out there even with less amount of reps (on offense) and be able to adjust and be able to see it, that’s the main thing. We all get on the same page.”
The quarterback also looked the part of an NFL first-rounder. North Dakota State dared Colorado to throw all night, playing mostly with five defenders in the box as they mixed coverages. The Bison ran only one defensive look the Buffs saw on tape from last season, Shedeur said. “It’s really hard to get the tails on what coverage and everything that they do. I’m just happy we were able to face them, a real challenge.”
For most of the night, Colorado’s offensive line leaked too often as NDSU stunted, and yet Sanders was never sacked as he ran out of the pocket or stepped into the teeth of the pressure. He flicked a heave 30 yards into the air as a defender clipped his arm in a collapsed pocket. Horn plucked it out of the air to blaze 69 yards into the end zone to put Colorado ahead 14-10 in the first quarter.
Later, when Horn was locked down, Hunter took over, making catches few in college football can fathom — and he made them all, save for one when a flag was thrown with the ball over his head. Shedeur was angry with Hunter for the miscommunication. “I knew then I had to get the ball,” Hunter said. “I had no other choice, no other option. Whatever I had to do to get the ball.”
Shedeur finished 26 of 34 passing for 445 yards and four touchdowns, continuing his tear from a year ago. He eclipsed 100 passing touchdowns for his career that started at Jackson State in 2021. The gaudy stats? They mean nothing.
“We just want to win,” Hunter said.
For Colorado, it was a lose-win game. If the Buffs won, it was expected as 9.5-point favorites. If they lost, the naysayers would be out in force ridiculing the media-savvy Sanders family and their reality show on the football field for losing to an FCS team. Coach Prime wasn’t necessarily pleased, either, after the Buffs gave up a late touchdown to open the door for NDSU in the fourth quarter.
“We knew that they weren’t going to lay down,” he said. “We wanted to win decisively, and if we wouldn’t have given up the last touchdown, it would have looked better, but we’re not for looks, man. W or L. That’s what you remember. You all can pick it apart all you want, but you’re here for the W or L. Some of you are upset that we got the W so and really mad that we didn’t get the L. So God bless y’all. You have to wait again until next week.”
Next week will be more challenging for the Buffs with a road trip to former Big 12 rival Nebraska, the upstart with five-star freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola.
As expected, the sunshine pumpers and naysayers were out in full force during and after Prime Time’s second season opener. NBA superstar LeBron James took to social media to laud Hunter’s performance, most notably the game-sealing 7-yard catch late in the game. Others, including former All-Pro receiver Dez Bryant, joined in as well. Thirty-one NFL scouts watched the game at Folsom Field, salivating over the prospect of landing Hunter as either a receiver or cornerback in the upcoming NFL Draft.
“It doesn’t do nothing to me at all,” Hunter said. “There’s a lot of people who love me, there’s a lot of people who hate me. If I try to look on the Internet and see what people are saying about me, it’s not going to be good for me. I’d be down in my shell not wanting to talk to anybody. There’s a lot of haters but there’s a lot of good people. I don’t even try to look at it, pay attention to it. I just want to win with my team, go out with my brothers and the end goal is I want us to be holding up a trophy.”
