There is no longer a debate: Travis Hunter should win the Heisman Trophy and the race is not even really that close.
He might also be such a special talent that he should go No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft as he’s something the game has never seen before on this level – Charles Woodson included.
The No. 1 prospect in the 2022 Rivals250 followed his heart and flipped from Florida State to Jackson State to play for coach Deion Sanders. When Sanders left for Colorado, Hunter followed and his career took off.
The comparison with Woodson comes up often when talking about Hunter and it’s a fair one since Woodson was the last defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy in 1997 and the Michigan star played both ways.
But Hunter is doing what Woodson did but so much more.
The five-star has 82 catches for 1,036 yards and 11 touchdowns this season. That’s more catches and touchdowns than Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan and more in all three categories than Missouri’s Luther Burden or Texas’ Isaiah Bond by far.
McMillan, Burder and Bond are the other projected first-round wide receivers in the 2025 NFL Draft.
So an argument could be made that not only is Hunter the best defensive back in college football, that he’s also the best wide receiver.
That’s something Woodson could never say, as he only caught 12 passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns in his final season with the Wolverines.
Woodson did have eight interceptions to Hunter’s three this season but that’s because no opponents test Hunter’s side all that much. He and Woodson both had nine pass deflections in their Heisman year.
Preparing for this article, I watched what I could of Woodson on YouTube. It was a different game in the late 1990s; players weren’t as big or fast or dynamic. Watching Woodson is like watching Hunter in slow motion.
Hunter is such a phenomenal athlete, not only fast but quick-twitch, shakes everybody, runs so well and then has such incredible balance on both offense and defense to make plays all over the field.
What he’s done on the college level is crazy – and expected at the same time. This is who Hunter was in high school, as I wrote at the time that he plays the game like he’s bouncing on a pogo stick.
What I loved about Hunter in high school is who he is today: Competitive, non-stop energy, love of the game, tireless, driven, dominant.
And more than deserving of the Heisman Trophy. Really, if he doesn’t win it, it’s a rip-off.
No quarterback is really all that deserving. The only other real competition would be Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty and he could certainly make an argument.
On 275 carries this season, Jeanty has 2,062 yards and 27 touchdowns, better stats than Alabama’s Derrick Henry or Mark Ingram or USC’s Reggie Bush, the three running backs to win the Heisman since 2000.
None of them rushed for 2,000 yards and Jeanty with at least a few more games to go this season should eclipse 2,500.
In any other year, even playing at Boise State, Jeanty is a special-enough talent to win the Heisman Trophy.
But Hunter is something that college football may have literally never seen before.
A two-way star who has revitalized a moribund Colorado program into a contender and arguably the best player in college football – at two positions. Go ahead and hand him the Heisman now.