One CU Buffs star named Heisman finalist, other snubbed

Travis Hunter was named a Heisman finalist on Monday as the Big 12’s Defensive Players of the Year is headed to New York but another Colorado Buffaloes star, Shedeur Sanders, was snubbed.

Hunter his historic two-way efforts have earned him a nod. He heads to the Big Apple where the winner will be announced on ESPN this Saturday at 6 p.m. The Buffs standout will be joined by Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, Miami quarterback Cam Ward and Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty.

Hunter seeks to join Rashaan Salaam as the only Heisman winners in Buffs history—the running back won the trophy in 1994. Salaam and Hunter are two of just five CU players to be named finalists for the award or be a runner-up (Bryon White 1937, Darian Hagan 1989 and Eric Bieniemy 1990.)

More shocking than Hunter’s nod is Sanders’ snub. He gets passed over for Ward, who many oddsmakers didn’t even have listed as recently as Sunday.

Together Hunter and Sanders were essential as part of Colorado’s turnaround under Deion Sanders. Going from 1-11 before the pair showed up in Boulder, to 4-8 last season and 9-3 this year. It was CU’s just second nine-win season in the previous 22 years.

Sanders was thought to be going to New York because he ranked in the top 10 nationally in completion percentage, passing yards and touchdowns while breaking school records for passing touchdowns, passing yards, consecutive games with a touchdown pass, quarterback rating and completion percentage. He was the only FBS player in the top five for completion percentage (first, 74.2%), completions per game (second, 28.1), passing touchdowns (second, 35), passing yards per game (third, 327.2) and pass efficiency (fifth, 168.8.) But both Ward and Gabriel have strong cases too. Ward threw for a nation-best 36 touchdowns and 4,123 yards in leading Miami to the Pop-Tarts Bowl. While Gabriel stewards the No. 1 Ducks and paces the Big Ten in many passing numbers.

Hunter is the favorite to take home the Heisman because of his unprecedented all-around play. Hunter finished with a Big 12-best 92 catches for 1,152 yards, which are second and third-best marks in Buffaloes history respectively. Hunter’s 14 receiving touchdowns is also a school record and conference best. He’s also added a rushing touchdown, four interceptions, one forced fumble, a conference-best 11 passes defended and 32 tackles from his defensive position of cornerback. He played 688 defensive and 672 offensive snaps and is the only FBS player with 150-plus snaps on both offense and defense and the only Power 4 conference player with 30-plus snaps on both sides. Hunter’s PFF grades rank him as the best receiver in the country to play 450-plus snaps and the sixth-best cover corner in the nation to play 300 snaps.

Hunter is the first FBS player in the last quarter century with three touchdowns and an interception in a game and he has two of the four instances of multiple touchdowns and an interception since 1996 in FBS. He also was the first and just one of two FBS/NFL players with 50 receiving yards, a rushing touchdown and an interception, joining Champ Bailey who did it in the NFL. Hunter also created the 150 receiving yards and four pass breakups in a game club.

Hunter’s success and skills match the mission of the Heisman— to recognize college football’s most outstanding player. The two-way star’s durability has allowed his campaign to blossom this season with the only doubt to his race coming in October when the Buffs player was limited in two games due to a shoulder injury.

Pre-conference championship Heisman Odds

Travis Hunter, Colorado, WR/CB (-2,500)
Ashton Jeanty, Boise State, RB (+900)
Dillon Gabriel, Oregon, QB (+35,000)
Cam Ward, Miami, QB (+50,000)

It’s a real surprise that a quarterback isn’t the favorite. While Jeanty was the favorite for a time, his odds have fallen a lot. Still, his big performance in the Moutain West title game to take his Broncos to the College Football Playoff has raised his chances dramatically. He went for 209 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries against UNLV.

Only four players who weren’t QBs have won the award since 2000, meaning Hunter capturing the trophy will be an outlier. Meanwhile, Sanders just missed out as a finalist but he knew he wouldn’t win—the Buffaloes quarterback has thrown his support behind Hunter despite leading the Big 12 in a ton of stats himself. Sanders will still goto New York in support of Hunter.

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.