TThe Heisman Trophy is college football’s highest individual honor, an annual tribute to the game’s best player, and in most cases it is the best quarterback in the country who accepts the award. But this could be the year Colorado’s Travis Hunter breaks tradition.

Hunter is college football’s devastating dual threat, game-changing wide receiver And Cornerback. It is not uncommon for the nation’s top college football prospects to play both offense and defense as high school students, especially when there are not enough rosters to fill every position on the roster. At the highest levels of the college game, however, “Ironman” players are limited to specialty roles on one side of the ball or the other. Why? Because why double the risk of injury? Why bother with conventions?

But Deion Sanders, aka Colorado’s Coach Prime, was never one to bow to convention. Famously, he set the standard for modern Ironmen in professional sports at the turn of the century – dominating the NFL as a shutdown cornerback, big-play receiver and kick returner, while also astounding Major League Baseball with his prowess as a hitter and baserunner. When Sanders transitioned to coaching college football in 2020 and immediately took the head job at Jackson State University, his first task was to recruit Hunter, the nation’s top high school recruit as a defensive back.

The fact is that Hunter had already verbally agreed to play at Florida State, the school where Sanders burst onto the national stage, with the express intention of following the coach’s two-track path. College football’s pundits were convinced there was no way Sanders could dissuade Hunter from committing to play for Jackson State, a historically black college that competes a division behind Florida State. But it turns out all the coach had to do was tell him, “When you come here, you play both ways, right?” That is, unlike Florida State coach Mike Norvell, who imagined Hunter depending on the situation to be used on offense, Sanders expected he would never leave the field. That fact — along with the chance to intercept passes from Shadeur Sanders, Coach Prime’s quarterback of choice — was enough to secure Hunter’s signature and seal a deal that turned college football on its head.

In 2023, his only year at Jackson State, the nation finally got to see this 6-foot bundle of fast-twitch muscle in action. What stood out more than the stats was the ease with which Hunter maintained his high level of play, whether on offense or defense. As Jackson State played North Carolina Central in the 2022 Celebration Bowl, the de facto national championship of black college football, I watched, mouth agape, from the stands of Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the final seconds of regulation as Hunter went to the End zone Pylon sprinted and outboxed his man and hauled down a 19-yard touchdown pass to force overtime. It was one of two TD grabs Hunter had in the game, totaling five tackles: Heisman-worthy stuff. Unfortunately for Hunter, there was no prayer at the performance from wavering Heisman voters, who tend to look past potential candidates from HBCUs and other small football programs in the NCAA’s second-tier Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).

When Coach Prime left Jackson State for Colorado after that game, taking his top recruits with him, there was considerable debate in the media and online about whether these players could reach the next level and whether Hunter could continue to play both ways and survive upcoming 2023 season. But Hunter quickly dispelled those doubts, remaining on the field for an incredible 1,036 games. Overall, he finished the game with five receiving touchdowns, three interceptions and 30 tackles; That means he missed a quarter of the season with an injury after being targeted and thrown out of a game. At the time, the ESPN TV reporter who broke the news compared his injury to “losing two players in one.” Without their best player, the Buffaloes lost eight of their last nine games after starting 3-0. Coach Prime can’t say he wasn’t warned.

This year, however, was a different story. Colorado won nine games with Hunter playing 80% of the time (1,044 snaps). He leads the offense in yards (1,152) and touchdowns (14) and the defense in interceptions (four) and pass breakups (11). Last Saturday against Oklahoma State, Hunter caught ten passes for 116 yards and three touchdowns – And caught an interception on the first drive of the game. This came after Hunter was overlooked for the Thorpe Award (i.e. the trophy for the country’s best defensive player), while at the same time he was heavily touted for Defensive Player of the Year (i.e. the Bednarik Award).

“I’ll give him mine,” said Sanders, who won the award in 1988 before becoming the first athlete to play in a Super Bowl and a World Series. “I don’t use it, I just sit up there collecting dust.” He went on to call the Thorpe snub “the most idiotic thing in college football.” It’s enough to make you wonder if it could also complicate Hunter’s chances of winning the Heisman.

Since 2000, quarterbacks have won the Heisman 19 of 23 years. Charles Woodson, the 1997 winner, is the only dedicated defensive player to break through. Like Hunter, Woodson is officially a cornerback, but what ultimately separated him from his peers was his performance as a receiver and returner – even if he wasn’t nearly the threat that Hunter is. However, unlike Hunter, Woodson played his entire college career at Michigan. No FCS player has ever won the Heisman Trophy. What’s even more discouraging: With Colorado ineligible for conference play this week, Hunter is forced to rest his defense.

Meanwhile, Oregon’s Dillion Gabriel and Miami’s Cam Ward will play on in hopes of keeping the Heisman in the quarterbacks’ bag, while Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty looks to recapture the award for his running back brothers while trying to win the Breaking college football’s all-time rushing record. Heisman voters are, after all, such prisoners of the moment. Come Sunday, it wouldn’t be a surprise if they end up remembering Hunter as he takes the field again for a postseason bowl game. after The Heisman voting is over.

That would be an absolute disgrace. No player has been as influential, as exciting or as deserving this year as Hunter – who also happens to be a straight-A student. He’s proven he’s so undeniably good at playing on both sides of the ball that NFL scouts, football’s most skeptical bunch, have entertained the idea that Hunter should play both ways in the pros, where he is considered a top three choice. That he managed to change so many minds so quickly is a testament to his lasting influence on the game. Now all that’s missing is the hardware.