Colorado’s Travis Hunter is the Greatest Show in College Football

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The best wide receiver in college football forced a fumble at the goal line to lift his team to victory in overtime. Under normal, reasonable circumstances, the sentence above wouldn’t make any sense.

But for Travis Hunter, the most talented, versatile football player in America, it was just another Saturday night.

Well, maybe it wasn’t just another Saturday for Colorado. The Buffaloes fell behind Baylor at home, and panic started to materialize in Boulder as the nation’s most polarizing team sized up a potential second loss.

Then, quarterback Shedeur Sanders connected with LaJohntay Wester on a Hail Mary to tie the game as time expired in regulation. (Sanders nearly connected on a Hail Mary the prior play.)

Then, after Colorado scored first in overtime, Hunter jostled the ball loose from Baylor’s Dominic Richardson, forcing him to fumble and ending the game along the way.

Colorado 38, Baylor 31. Just like that.

For college football’s most compelling team, it was another wild night at the office. For college football’s best player, it was further evidence that we haven’t seen anything quite like him.

Hunter’s rise to superstardom, of course, shouldn’t come as a surprise. Before he was a star for Deion Sanders at Colorado, he was a star for Sanders at Jacksonville State. Before that, he was widely regarded as one of the best—if not the best—high school football players in the class of 2022.

Years later, Hunter’s stardom has evolved into something completely new. This isn’t just about excellence at this point; this is an athlete being asked to do more than any player in recent memory.

For a program light on depth and short on stars, Hunter is one of the key cogs of the team’s success. While the outcome on Saturday night was shocking, Hunter’s contributions were not.

This is the kind of impact Hunter, who excels at both wide receiver and cornerback, has on games. It seems only fitting that the player who played the most snaps of anyone on the field by a significant margin ultimately ended the night in the way that he did.

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Before that, Hunter did what he does (arguably) best. He caught footballs.

Hunter caught seven passes for 130 yards, although he nearly finished a slew of acrobatic attempts, including one late in the fourth quarter that required Hunter to nearly catch the ball around a defender.

In Colorado’s four games this season, Hunter has gone over 100 yards receiving in each. He’s also intercepted a pass while playing elite cornerback, flashing a range of skills and endurance that college football has truly never seen.

Regardless of one’s feelings on Colorado in Year 2 under Deion Sanders—overrated, over-covered, under-delivered—there is little to debate about Hunter. As we still try to figure out how exactly the Buffaloes will factor in the Big 12 and beyond, we know everything we need to know about a player deserving of early Heisman buzz.

In a sport that has become increasingly defined by quarterbacks, he is the most compelling, most unique and most gifted player on the football field. He plays multiple positions and the vast majority of snaps in an individual game. And when he does, he delivers.

He catches touchdowns. He shuts down wide receivers. Apparently, he forces fumbles in overtime to end football games as well.

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All of these skills have prompted a new conversation to reach a slow boil. At a time when wide receivers are being drafted, paid and coveted more than they ever have, could Hunter, who will be eligible to enter the NFL Draft after this year, possibly play both cornerback and wide receiver at the next level?

In short, who cares? Time will tell.

At the moment, coming off perhaps the most exciting win of a college football season still stretching out its legs, Hunter is one of the stars of the show. He is healthy, capable and everywhere.

He is the Shohei Ohtani of football—not just college football but all of football. He is worth the price of admission and your undivided attention, regardless of your thoughts on a football team still trying to figure out exactly what it will become in 2024.

There is no need to question what Hunter is at this point. He is a true unicorn, the kind of player we can celebrate and marvel at each and every week.

He is, quite simply, the greatest show in all of football at any level. And after he ended a wild football game early, one can’t help but wonder what he might have in store next.