Travis Hunter has defied expectations at every step of his young football career.
On Dec. 15, 2021, Hunter stood in front of a table with three hats representing three schools: Auburn, Georgia and Florida State. For more than a year and a half, everyone knew which hat he'd be picking up. So when he tossed aside the Auburn and Georgia hats, no one was surprised.
It was when he took off the Seminoles hat and threw it away that the college football world was stunned. Hunter, described as a generational talent by many, would be eschewing FBS football altogether and joining Deion Sanders at Jackson State.
In his first year with the Tigers, Hunter did it all, being the team's top corner and one of its best wide receivers while helping lead Jackson State to a division and conference title. When Sanders decided to leave for Colorado after the season, Hunter came with him.
And now, through just one week in FBS football, Hunter is again defying all expectations. He played nearly every snap of Colorado's upset win over TCU, racking up more than 100 receiving yards and stifling Horned Frog receivers (he also intercepted a pass near the Buffaloes' goal line).
MORE: Where Colorado ranks in SN's 1-133 FBS rankings
It's difficult to put a ceiling on Hunter, who is doing things on the modern gridiron that few have attempted. And if he can prove that he can hold up over the course of a season performing the way he did in Week 1, he'll be on a collision course with history.
What makes Hunter so special? Sporting News is diving into the mega-talent.
Does Travis Hunter play both ways?
Hunter's athleticism made him the No. 1 recruit in the 2022 class, with 247Sports calling him the top wide receiver and cornerback in the class. Few expected he'd actually try and do both at the Division I level.
But now in Year 2, Hunter is continuing to be WR1 and CB1 for his team, this time at a Power Five program.
Travis Hunter snap count
According to ProFootballFocus, Hunter racked up 65 snaps on offense, 80 on defense and seven on special teams in Week 1, totaling 152 snaps. Colorado ran 86 plays on offense during the win and faced 80 on defense, meaning Hunter played 76 percent of the team's offensive plays, 100 percent on defense and 87 percent combined.
Hunter finished the game against the Horned Frogs with 11 catches on 14 targets for 119 yards. Per PFF, he averaged 2.6 yards after catch per reception and 2.7 yards per route run. He was 1-for-2 on contested catch attempts. He was graded as a 75.3 offensive player.
On defense, Hunter was targeted nine times and allowed only three catches for 51 yards and a touchdown. Hunter also made three pass breakups and had the critical interception in the red zone. He was graded 85.1 in coverage and 84.8 on defense overall.
MORE: Hunter, Shedeur Sanders see Heisman Trophy odds boost after Week 1
History of two-way players in college football
There have been a number of players attempt to play both ways, but few have done so at the level Hunter appears capable of reaching — at least in recent years.
Dating back to the early days of college football, it was more common for players to occupy roles on both sides of the ball. Jim Thorpe, Chuck Bednarik, Dick Butkus, George McAfee and others would spend time on offense, defense and special teams.
Though two-way players have dissipated much in recent years, there are still players who occupy multiple roles across offense, defense and special teams. In 2010, the Paul Hornung Award was established, which recognizes the player who best demonstrated two-way feats. Many of these players were impact talents on special teams and either offense or defense, but a few played on both offense and defense.
| Year | Player | School | Position |
| 2010 | Owen Marecic | Stanford | FB, LB |
| 2011 | Brandon Boykin | Georgia | WR, CB, KR, PR |
| 2012 | Tavon Austin | West Virginia | WR, RB, KR, PR |
| 2013 | Odell Beckham Jr. | LSU | WR, KR, PR |
| 2014 | Shaq Thompson | Washington | RB, LB, S |
| 2015 | Christian McCaffrey | Stanford | RB, KR, PR |
| 2016 | Jabrill Peppers | Michigan | WR, RB, LB, DB, KR, PR |
| 2017 | Saquon Barkley | Penn State | RB, KR |
| 2018 | Rondale Moore | Purdue | WR, KR, PR |
| 2019 | Lynn Bowden | Kentucky | QB, WR, KR, PR |
| 2020 | DeVonta Smith | Alabama | WR, PR |
| 2021 | Marcus Jones | Houston | WR, CB, KR, PR |
| 2022 | Jack Colletto | Oregon State | QB, FB, LB, KR |
There have been several in recent years who have most successfully pulled off the two-way feats. Here's a look at a few of the most successful.
Charles Woodson, DB/WR, Michigan
This will be the gold standard for Hunter. The winner of the Heisman Trophy in 1997, Woodson did it all while he was with the Wolverines, particularly after his freshman 1995 campaign.
Woodson was a breakout freshman defensively, earning Big Ten Freshman of the Year, but it was his sophomore campaign that put him on the map as a two-way star. As a defensive back, he picked off four passes and set a team record with 15 pass breakups. The defensive side alone made him a Jim Thorpe finalist and a first-team All-American. But offensively, Woodson broke out with 10 catches for 139 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed six times for 152 yards and another score.
That built up to his Heisman campaign as a junior. In 1997, Woodson picked off seven passes defensively, and caught 11 passes for 231 yards and two touchdowns offensively. He was also a dynamo punt returner, bringing out 33 punts for 283 yards and a touchdown. He was named the winner of the Heisman Trophy, Bronco Nagurski Trophy, Chuck Bednarik Award, Jim Thorpe Award and a litany of other awards and recognitions for his historic campaign.
Champ Bailey, DB/WR, Georgia
Before Bailey was a Hall of Fame cornerback in the NFL, he was a dangerous two-way threat for the Bulldogs, who between 1997 and 1998 contended with Woodson as the most dynamic weapon in the sport.
Like Woodson, Bailey was limited his freshman season to just being a defensive back. But unlike Woodson, Bailey's receiving prowess stood out a bit more in college. As a sophomore in 1997, he caught 12 passes for 234 yards on offense and had three interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown.
He expanded on his two-way prowess even more as a junior. The Bulldog wide receiver caught 47 passes for 744 yards with five touchdowns and rushed 16 times for 84 yards. As a defensive back, he picked off three passes and was named the Bronco Nagurski Trophy winner as the best defensive player in the country.
Myles Jack, RB/LB, UCLA
If you thought being tackled by Jack looks unpleasant, imagine what it's like to try and tackle Jack. The former Jaguar and Steeler linebacker enjoyed an early stint as a running back when he first arrived in Los Angeles and found plenty of early success on both sides of the ball.
The Bruins largely had him at linebacker as a true freshman, where he recorded 76 total tackles, including seven for a loss and a sack, with two interceptions and 11 passes defended. But the 2013 team also tried him out as a running back, and he was outstanding. Jack rushed the ball 38 times for 267 yards (7.0 yards per carry) with seven touchdowns. By the end of the season, he had been named both Pac-12 Offensive and Defensive Freshman of the Year.
Jack stayed on defense almost exclusively during the remainder of his collegiate career. He had 87 total tackles, including eight for a loss, with a 41-yard interception in his sophomore season while rushing only 28 times for 113 yards and three touchdowns. Before he suffered a season-ending knee injury as a junior in 2015, he had rushed twice for seven yards and a touchdown while making 15 total tackles and an interception in three games.
Shaq Thompson, LB/RB, Washington
Sometimes it just takes one big season to stand out as a two-way player. That's the case for former Washington linebacker Shaq Thompson. He was a valuable defensive player for his first two years with the Huskies, tallying 152 tackles and 12.5 tackles for loss (2.5 sacks) between 2012 and 2013 with four interceptions.
He remained a defensive standout in 2014, his final year with the Huskies, when he set a career-best with 80 tackles. He also had 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack with an interception returned for a touchdown, four passes defended and four fumbles recovered (three for touchdowns) with two forced.
Those four defensive touchdowns weren't the only times he saw the end zone. Washington also handed the ball off to him 61 times in 2014, during which he racked up 456 yards with two touchdowns on the ground. He also caught four passes for 56 yards. That campaign led to him being recognized as a first-team All-American and the Paul Hornung Award winner.
Jabrill Peppers, S/LB/WR/RB
No one has been more of a Swiss Army Knife in college football in recent years than Peppers. He was versatile in all aspects of the game. He played offense, defense and special teams. Even defensively, he spent time at both linebacker and safety.
Peppers saw limited action as a freshman in 2014, but he started to show what he could be capable of as a sophomore his next season. As a redshirt freshman, he made 45 tackles (5.5 for a loss) with 10 passes defended while rushing 18 times for 72 yards and two touchdowns with eight catches for 79 yards. He also returned 17 punts for 194 yards and eight kicks for 223 yards. He earned Big Ten Freshman of the Year and was named a second-team All-American.
He turned it up a notch as a redshirt sophomore. Defensively as a linebacker, he made 66 tackles, including 13 for a loss with three sacks, and an interception. Offensively, he rushed 27 times for 167 yards with three touchdowns and caught two passes for three yards. He was still a major threat on special teams as well, returning 21 punts for 310 yards with a touchdown and 10 kicks for 260 yards. For the campaign, he was a unanimous All-American, the Paul Hornung Award, Lott Trophy winner and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
Deion Sanders' recruitment of Travis Hunter
When Hunter tossed aside the Florida State hat in favor of the Jackson State cap, he stunned the college football world. As was noted in a report from The Athletic, Florida State had its entire coaching staff on campus for Hunter's final high school football game, while Jackson State's coaching staff never once visited Hunter at Collins Hill.
But Jackson State had one thing Florida State did not have: Sanders. Per The Athletic, the reason for much of Hunter's interest in the Seminoles was the fact Sanders dominated college football as a corner in Tallahassee, and Hunter grew up as a huge fan of Sanders.
“Why didn’t I go to FSU? Because Coach Prime. I wanted to play for the GOAT,” Hunter said on Bleacher Report's “12Talks.” “I think he can teach me a lot of things that a lot of coaches couldn’t teach me. And he’s done it before, so I’d rather play for a coach that’s done it before, that can teach me a lot of things and invest in me the right way.”
Hunter wore Sanders shirts, danced like Sanders and wanted to be a two-way player like Sanders. Put best by Collins Hill assistant coach Hayden Gregory: "If Deion went to Alaska University, Travis would have followed him."
Deion Sanders as a two-way player
There is a lot Hunter could learn from Sanders, who is one of the few players in NFL history to attempt — successfully — being a two-way athlete.
Sanders, of course, is most known for being among the greatest cornerbacks of all time, an eight-time Pro Bowler and a Hall of Famer at the position. He was also a dangerous punt and kick returner, but there have been other defensive players to successfully be special-teams weapons.
Where Sanders separated himself was that he would line up as a wide receiver as well. During his NFL career, he recorded 60 total receptions for 784 yards with three touchdowns. He caught at least one pass in eight different seasons, but his biggest season came in 1996, when he caught 36 passes for 475 yards with a touchdown.
Does Sanders believe Hunter can pull off the same feat and be a two-way threat in the NFL? He appears to think the ceiling might be even higher.
“This kid is a first-rounder on both sides of the ball, like a first pick,” Sanders said on Undisputed. “He is the first pick. That’s who he is. Travis is, and he loves the game. He does not tire of loving the game and wanting to be in the game and studying the game and all of the intricate details of the game.”
