BOULDER, Colo. — Travis Hunter is a throwback-type player — an elite receiver one moment, a lockdown cornerback the next — who rarely leaves the field and has a knack for making big plays.

The Colorado Buffaloes’ two-way star even celebrates at an elite level by unveiling imaginative dance moves after touchdowns and interceptions, some of which include the Heisman Trophy pose. The Heisman is one of the many awards he will win.

Hunter is the Associated Press College Football Player of the Year and received 26 of 43 votes from a group of AP Top 25 voters on Thursday. Boise State tailback Ashton Jeanty placed second with 16 votes, and Arizona running back Cam Skattebo received one vote.

Later Thursday, Hunter won the Chuck Bednarik Award as the best defensive player.

“I couldn’t do what I do without my team,” Hunter said in an email during a trip to Las Vegas for the awards ceremony. “That’s why I consider participating in these awards as team awards.”

Jeanty won the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s top running back after leading the country with 2,497 yards and 29 touchdowns.

Georgia’s Jalon Walker won the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker and entered the playoffs with 57 tackles, including 6½ sacks and 10½ tackles for loss. Texas left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. was the winner of the Outland Trophy as the best interior defender.

Penn State’s Tyler Warren won the John Mackey Award, given to the most outstanding tight end, after setting single-season school records with 67 catches for 808 yards.

Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe won the William V. Campbell Award for best athlete. Oregon’s leading tackler Bryce Boettcher won the Burlsworth Trophy as the best player who began his career as a walk-on.

But the biggest winner was Hunter.

You don’t come across a player with his skills that often. It’s a throwback to the days of Charles Woodson in Michigan or Champ Bailey in Georgia. Or even his coach Deion Sanders, a two-way star in the NFL.

The prospect of significant playing time on both sides of the ball was why Hunter joined Sanders at Jackson State and followed Sanders to Boulder.

“Coach Prime was the only coach who would have considered allowing me to do what I do,” said Hunter, who is expected to be a top-five pick in next spring’s NFL draft. possibly even the number 1 selection. “He’s done it and knows what it takes – how ready you have to be on both sides of the ball.”

Want to cheer for Hunter? Just tell him he can’t.

“I get motivated when people tell me I can’t do something,” Hunter said. “That I can’t dominate on both sides. I want to be an example to others that anything is possible. Keep pursuing your dreams.”

Hunter helped the 20th-ranked Buffaloes to a 9-3 record this season and a berth in the Alamo Bowl against No. 17 BYU (10-2) on Dec. 28. He played 688 defensive snaps and 672 more on offense – making him the only Power 4 Conference player with more than 30 snaps on both sides of the ball, according to a Colorado study.

Hunter won the Paul Hornung Award as the game’s most versatile player for the second year in a row. He is nominated for the Walter Camp (Player of the Year), Maxwell (Most Outstanding Player), Biletnikoff (Best Receiver) and Bednarik (Best Defensive Player) awards.

And of course the Heisman, where he is a finalist and the favorite to defeat Jeanty this weekend. Hunter may join Rashaan Salaam as the only Colorado players to capture the Heisman. Salaam won it in 1994 after running for 2,055 yards.

Hunter was not a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, which goes to the country’s best defensive back. That drew the ire of Sanders, who won the award with Florida State in 1988 and vowed to hand his trophy to Hunter.

Hunter’s high school coach Lenny Gregory knew he had a special player the summer of Hunter’s freshman year. Gregory, then a coach at Collins Hill in Georgia, had to conduct a conditioning test for his players: He completed six 200-yard runs with one minute of rest in between. The defensive backs each had to take less than 32 seconds.

Hunter didn’t get winded at all. As a freshman, he played safety/cornerback and receiver and helped Collins Hill to a state championship in his senior season.

“I remember just in the spring of his ninth grade year, I was talking to colleges and telling the coaches that this kid was going to be the best player in the country,” said Gregory, now a coach at Gordon Central High in Calhoun, Georgia . “They looked at him and laughed at me: ‘What are you talking about? That skinny boy? He’s not big enough.’ I said, ‘Just watch.'”

Hunter finished the regular season with 92 catches for 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns as a receiver. On defense, he had four interceptions, broke up 11 passes and forced a crucial fumble that secured an OT victory over Baylor.

Overall, Hunter had 92 receptions and allowed 22. He hauled in 14 receiving TDs and allowed just one. He accounted for 53 first downs and allowed just six. He was targeted 119 times by Shedeur Sanders & Co., but only 39 times by opposing QBs.

Hunter’s likely final game in Boulder, a win over Oklahoma State, was a three-touchdown, one-interception performance.

“I’m used to seeing him do all these spectacular things,” Shedeur Sanders said. “I’m used to all this stuff; you’re all just now seeing it on the national stage.”