Travis Hunter is still alive in Heisman race despite injured weeks

Travis Hunter’s two straight early exits have set him back quite a ways in the Heisman race but the do-it-all star of the Colorado Buffaloes remains in the hunt for the top individual honor in college football.

Hunter is expected to be back on Saturday and more of a participant after leaving the last two games CU played before halftime with injury concerns. He first suffered the bump in the early against Kansas State. He went to the locker room and did not return to the game with what looked to be shoulder pain, though his actual injury hasn’t been shared. Hunter was expected to play a week later and did against Arizona but was limited and he again sat the second half this time for precautionary reasons as the Buffs worked on a blowout.

The two missed games combined with three weeks of almost no performance thanks to a bye week before have driven Hunter’s odds way down. The defensive back and wide receiver was just behind favorite Ashton Jeanty for chances of winning the award in New York later this year. Now, Hunter has fallen to fifth according to the books, and is back out to +2,000 for the first time since Week 4.

Hunter has been Colorado’s top receiver at 51 catches for 604 yards with six touchdowns. At the same time, adding two interceptions, 18 tackles and a forced fumble on defense.

Post-Week 8 Heisman Odds

Ashton Jeanty, Boise State, RB (+220)
Cam Ward, Miami, QB (+250)
Dillon Gabriel, Oregon, QB (+380)
Cade Klubnik, Clemson, QB (+1,600)
Travis Hunter, Colorado, WR/CB (+2,000)
Carson Beck, Georgia, QB (+2,500)
Garrett Nussmeier, LSU, QB (+3,000)
Jalen Milroe, Alabama, QB (+3,500)
Drew Aller, Penn State, QB (+3,500)
Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss, QB (+4,000)
Shedeur Sanders, Colorado, QB (+5,000)

Jeanty remained the favorite but his odds fell since the last time we looked. It’s likely because of Boise State’s bye week, due to Ward’s strong performance over the weekend, and the fact that Hunter isn’t going to miss serious time.

Jeanty is the reigning Moutain West Offensive Player of the Year and he has firmly grabbed the nation’s hearts. The Boise State junior has 126 carries this season, gaining an NCAA-best 1,248 yards already with an NCAA-best 17 touchdowns. Jeanty’s stats in just six games rival his production from all of last season and that’s because this fall the runner is gaining a ludicrous 9.9 yards per rushing attempt, which is the best in the nation. The No. 17 Broncos have used their star back to get off to a 5-1 start with the only loss coming at the buzzer to current No. 1 Oregon.

What Hunter’s last few weeks of limited action has done is bring the quarterbacks back into the race, which was expected to happen at some point. Only four players that weren’t QBs have won the award since 2000, meaning the gunslingers will be in this race until the very end. At one point, it looked over for all QBs besides Ward but Gabriel leading the top team in the country has climbed him into the picture. Additionally, all of a sudden Sanders is a stone’s throw from the leaders as well. The Buffs QB has led Colorado to a comeback that fell short and a road win with Hunter barely contributing. Sanders began the year as a possible option for this trophy but has taken a backseat to Hunter… but if the Buffs finish by winning out in the Big 12, could both somehow end up in New York?

As for Hunter, there hasn’t been somebody who has seriously played both sides of the ball at this high of a level since Champ Bailey in 1998 and even then it wasn’t as full-time as Hunter. But you can go back just one more year to 1997 for something else—the last and only time in modern college football history that a defender won the award, Charles Woodson. Hunter would be the first full-time defender since Woodson to win it—though Woodson did play a limited amount on offense. Should Hunter take the award home, there hasn’t been a true two-way player score the honor since the legendary Ernie Davis in 1961, who was forced to play both sides due to college football’s archaic limited substitution rule at the time.