• Travis Hunter redefined what we thought was possible: The Colorado Two-Way Star was a PFF All-American this season at wide receiver and cornerback.

• Ashton Jeanty breaks records: The Boise State Running back has set numerous rushing records so far and has at least one playoff game left.

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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

The 2024 college football season will be remembered in many ways. It ushered in a new era of conference realignment. The SEC/Big Ten/Big 12/ACC have added at least three schools each, while the Pac-12 is essentially dormant. It is also the first year of the College Football Playoff with 12 teams, tripling the size of the previous format.

It also ensures that one of the greatest Heisman Trophy races of all time has taken place in the meantime Colorado Wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter and Boise State Running back Ashton Jeanty, one who has started virtual wars on social media. Before the winner is announced on Saturday night, let’s take a step back and appreciate each individual’s historic seasons.

Travis Hunter: The greatest two-way player of all time

We’ve never seen a Travis Hunter before and perhaps never will again. He is a full-time starter at both wide receiver and cornerback buffaloNot only that, he’s a superstar at both. He leads the Power Four with 14 receiving touchdowns this season, while his 1,152 receiving yards rank third in that group. With an offensive grade of 86.2, the junior is fifth among all wideouts in the country.

On defense, Hunter ranks third among all cornerbacks in the country with a coverage grade of 90.9. His 42.0 passer rating allowed is ninth among Power Four corners, while his four interceptions rank fourth in the same group.

It’s common for elite athletes like Hunter to play and star on both sides of the football in high school. However, once they get to college, 99.9% of respondents prefer to stay on one side of the ball rather than the other. There are simply too many good players to justify someone playing on both sides. And when someone plays on both sides of the ball, you can’t expect them to be very good on both sides. The physical toll of 1,487 snaps would exhaust most players, especially with most starters playing about a third of them. It’s also incredibly difficult to have to master two different game rules and perform the task at a high level.

And yet Hunter was a PFF All-American as both a wide receiver and cornerback. He’s so good at both that he’s the top candidate PFF’s 2025 Big Board Draft for the simple fact that he may be able to continue playing both ways at the highest level of football in the NFL.

Ashton Jeanty: Record-breaking season for a running back

Jeanty is having one of the greatest seasons we’ve ever seen from a college running back, whether based on traditional stats or PFF’s advanced metrics. His 2,497 rushing yards are 131 shy of Barry Sanders’ FBS single-season record, while his 29 rushing touchdowns are tied for sixth all-time. Jeanty’s has also set numerous PFF collegiate records.

Ashton Jeanty’s historic 2024 season in the PFF college era (2014-present)

Jeanty’s 1,882 yards after contact are 222 more than the total rushing yards of any other FBS running back this season. He led the Broncos to the College Football Playoff and a first-round bye, something no one thought a Group of Five school would be able to do in the 12-team era. Remember, he can add at least one more playoff game to his ridiculous campaign and possibly break Sanders’ records.

Hunter and Jeanty are having such historic seasons that even trying to create gaps in the campaign results in the opposing side giving up ridiculous points. For example, saying “snaps are not a statistic” for Hunter is as if he isn’t one of the top five wide receivers and cornerbacks in the country. Or he argues that Jeanty is only putting up these absurd numbers because he plays in the Mountain West, as if he didn’t rush for 192 yards and three touchdowns on the No. 1 team in the country Oregon.

Instead of trashing one of the greatest players of all time to make a case for the other, we should all appreciate the greatness of these two players that we are witnessing. There really is no wrong answer between the two. In fact, one can argue that Hunter/Jeanty would have won the trophy many years before.

The fact that the 2024 Heisman Trophy race will go down in history as the all-timer without a quarterback involved just shows how absurd Hunter and Jeanty were this season. The winner of Saturday night’s Stiff Arm Trophy will be forever immortalized, while the loser will rightly wonder what else they could have done.

Regardless, both players have solidified themselves as all-time greats and their 2024 seasons will be the talk of the town for years to come.