Colorado’s Travis Hunter won the 2024 Heisman Trophy on Saturday night, becoming the first two-way player since Charles Woodson in 1997 to win college football’s most prized individual award.

Hunter beat fellow Heisman finalists, Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty and Miami quarterback Cam Ward, to take home the hardware with 2,231 points. Jeanty came in a close second (2,017), followed by Gabriel (516) and Ward (229).

“I never thought I would be in this position,” Hunter said during his acceptance speech. “It’s crazy. Your faith will take you far. It’s actually crazy, man. Thank you, thank you, thank you. First I would like to thank my fiancée and my mother. They have been with me since the first time I had surgery my freshman year of college. All the hard days when I didn’t even want to wake up and watch football. You all stayed with me. I am very grateful to all of you.

“I am grateful. I am grateful for my mother. She got me out of Florida. Bad area, I always get into trouble when I look at where I stand now. It’s crazy.”

“I want to thank Coach Prime (Deion Sanders) and (Colorado quarterback) Shadeur (Sanders), you all changed my life forever.”

As a cornerback/wide receiver, Hunter is a star on both sides of the ball for Deion Sanders’ Buffaloes. According to Pro Football Focus, he played a whopping 1,443 snaps in 12 games for Colorado this season – roughly evenly split between offense and defense, plus a few more on special teams.

That versatility makes him exclusive in college football history, which strengthened Hunter’s case for the Heisman. Unlike Woodson, who played primarily as a defensive back at Michigan, you have to go back several decades to find a player like Hunter who made such an impact on both sides of the ball in a single season.

Hunter earned first-team All-Big 12 honors as both a defensive back and wide receiver, but was also named the conference’s 2024 Defensive Player of the Year with 15 passes defensed (tied for fifth in the FBS), four Interceptions and a game-winning forced fumble.

Offensively, Hunter ranks fifth in the FBS with 92 receptions for 1,152 yards (sixth) and 14 touchdowns (second). He had three games with 10 or more catches and seven outings with 100 or more receiving yards. He also ran for a touchdown against Utah.

Hunter, a junior, told reporters during a conference call last month that he “certainly” plans to enter the 2025 NFL Draft. Underclassmen have until Jan. 15 to submit a request for special draft eligibility to the NFL. Deion Sanders has said he expects Hunter to play for Colorado in the Alamo Bowl against BYU on Dec. 28. The former five-star recruit first made headlines when he committed to Sanders at Jackson State and then did so again when he followed Sanders to Boulder.

Gabriel, the 2024 Big Ten Offensive Player and Quarterback of the Year, led Oregon to a 13-0 season, a Big Ten Championship and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming College Football Playoff. Ward won the Hurricanes in his first year in Miami and was named ACC Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year. Jeanty earned Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year honors for the second time this season and totaled an FBS-best 2,613 all-purpose yards and 30 touchdowns.

They were all worthy finalists, but Hunter was in a class of his own last season – and perhaps in many seasons to come.