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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior WriterNov 29, 2024, 06:24 PM ET
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- College football press reporter; signed up with ESPN in 2008. Graduate of Northwestern University.
STONE, Colo.– Travis Hunter began his success lap on the Colorado sideline, signing autographs and taking photos as fans shouted, “Heisman!”
He postured with his fiancée, Leanna Lenee, who used a coat with “HE12MAN”– a nod to Hunter, his jersey number and college football’s leading specific honor– on the back. As Hunter finished his celebratory circuit behind the north end line at Folsom Field, a fan informed him he was the best ever to use a Colorado jersey.
The Buffaloes’ two-way experience topped his profession in your home Friday with an emphatic closing argument for why he ought to win the Heisman Trophy, taking 3 goal passes and an interception as Colorado walloped Oklahoma State 52-0 to complete the routine season at 9-3. Unless Colorado gets some aid Saturday and advances to the Big 12 national championship– the Buffaloes would require numerous results to go their method– Hunter will not play once again before the Heisman ballot concludes.
“Travis clinched the Heisman with his efficiency,” Colorado coach Deion Sanders stated of Hunter, who is the very first FBS gamer with 3 goals and an interception in video game considering that a minimum of 1996.
Hunter went into Friday as the frustrating preferred (-800) to win the Heisman and saw his chances skyrocket to as high as -25000 throughout the video game (they’re presently at -15000), per ESPN BET, as he broke Colorado’s single-season goals receptions record, which now stands at 14, and connected the single-game group mark. He obstructed a Maealiuaki Smith hand down the video game’s very first series and almost had another interception at the end of the very first half, ending up with 2 pass breaks up.
The junior, who begins at cornerback and pass receiver, tape-recorded an interception and an offending goal in a video game for the 4th time this season. According to ESPN Research, he likewise ended up being the very first gamer in the previous 25 seasons with 2 video games of several skirmish goals and an interception.
Hunter is contending to end up being Colorado’s 2nd Heisman winner, following running back Rashaan Salaam in 1994. And he’s likewise competing to end up being the very first to play a protective position full-time and win it considering that Michigan cornerback Charles Woodson in 1997. Hunter, who chose not to speak to press reporters Friday, likewise is a finalist for the Maxwell Award, provided to college football’s leading gamer, and the Chuck Bednarik Award, offered to the protective gamer of the year.
“Travis Hunter showed today and he has actually shown weekly that he is the very best gamer in college football,” Sanders stated. “You’ve got to offer me another meaning of the award. The award is to go to who? The very best quarterback? He’s up for finest offending gamer, finest protective gamer, a wide variety of things.