Was a Travis Hunter Heisman win predicted on Thursday night?

The Colorado defensive back and wide receiver became the first player to win the Bednarik Award and Biletnikoff Award on Thursday night. The Bednarik Award is given to the best defensive player in college football, and the Biletnikoff Award is given to the best wide receiver.

The Biletnikoff Award was first presented in 1994 and the Bednarik Award was created a year later.

While Hunter may not have the best stats of any wide receiver or defensive player, his contributions on both sides of the ball certainly played a role in his wins. Hunter is the prohibitive favorite to win the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night, ahead of fellow finalists Ashton Jeanty, Dillon Gabriel and Cam Ward.

Hunter has 92 catches for 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns as a wide receiver and added a rushing touchdown against Utah to boot. Defensively, he has 32 tackles and four interceptions as well as 11 passes defensed. He will certainly be an All-American for the second year in a row. In his first season in Colorado, Hunter had 30 tackles and three interceptions in nine games, while also recording 57 catches for 721 yards and five touchdowns.

The junior has already announced that he will be heading to the NFL after this season and will likely be a top-five pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, even if he will play primarily on one side of the ball.

What Hunter has done is unparalleled in modern college football. Only a few players had the opportunity to play both offense and defense. The most recent comparison to Hunter at the college level is Champ Bailey. The Pro Football Hall of Famer had 47 catches for 744 yards at Georgia in 1998 and was a shutdown corner on defense with three interceptions. He finished seventh in the Heisman voting.

However, Hunter did not win the Defensive Back or Defensive Player of the Year awards. The Jim Thorpe Award for best DB went to Texas’ Jahdae Barron and the Nagurski Award for Defensive Player of the Year (other than Bednarik) went to South Carolina defensive end Kyle Kennard.

Hunter somehow wasn’t a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award. His coach Deion Sanders, himself a Thorpe Award winner, wasn’t happy about it.

If Hunter doesn’t win the Heisman, it will likely go to Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty. It was no surprise that Jeanty won the Doak Walker Award for best running back on Thursday night. Jeanty already has the fourth-most rushing yards in a single season in college football history. With at least one College Football Playoff game remaining, Jeanty is 132 yards away from passing Barry Sanders for the most yards ever in a single season. Right now, Jeanty’s 344 carries are the same number of carries Sanders had in his Heisman-winning 1988 season.

Both Ward and Gabriel are considered strong chances to win the Heisman on Saturday night. Ward won the Davey O’Brien Award for best quarterback on Thursday.