It is now officially Travis Hunter season. Travis Hunter already pulled a remarkable feat as the center cover athlete of EA Sports 25 CFB cover. But that was just a glimpse into what was about to come – Especially when it comes to his game. Most mock draft analysts broke down the strengths and weaknesses of Travis Hunter after watching his film and they ended up ranking him as a top 10 prospect for the draft. Jeff Ridson from Draft Wire thinks so, while CBS Sports wholeheartedly accepted Travis Hunter as the ‘best player in college football’. All of this was big. However, Hunter unlocked something even bigger. Big enough for it to be called the ‘Travis Hunter era’.

Gary Barnett, the former legendary head coach of Colorado Buffaloes (1999-2005), is on cloud nine because of the players they have this season. Among them all, Travis Hunter has managed to impress Barnett the most. “I really do think special player,” level is impressive for Barnett. During his appearance on 365 Sports YouTube, the former Colorado head coach could hardly contain himself from praising Hunter.

For Barnett, Hunter has truly cracked the code: from saying the right things to carrying himself the right way, Travis Hunter’s sheer commitment to practicing on the Colorado grounds has made him a personal favorite of Coach Barnett. So much so that he also thinks that Hunter would be a “top 10” pick in the 2025 NFL draft.

Obviously, at this point that is not surprising as a statement since almost everyone believes that Hunter will end up being a top-10 pick. What was interesting in Barnett’s verdict of Hunter was he believed Travis Hunter to be an even better two-way star than his head coach, Deion Sanders, was back in his NFL days. This is another major accolade that Hunter decorated on his shelf. Now that he has, the Buffs’ two-way star is ready to take on the Heisman challenge head-first.

Travis Hunter: The 2024 Heisman Champion?

“Shedeur Sanders, Quinn Ewers, and Donovan Edwards,” Hunter said when asked about his top 3 competitors for the 2024 Heisman race. Between all 4, the two-way star appears as the top prospect for the coveted trophy.

It is not just because of the talks of Travis Hunter becoming an exception the NFL eschewing two-way players are already swirling around, no. It is the best of his abilities like full speed, completing 40 yards at 4.2, his instant acceleration, and almost unreal lateral agility and flexibility. All that, plus the 17-pound transformation he has done ahead of the season.

With all this combined, Travis Hunter becomes an instant favorite for Heisman, the first one from the defensive end to do so in a long time. The last time Heisman saw a defensive player winning the accolade was in 1997. Will Hunter break that ‘The Heisman goes to an offensive player‘ streak after 27 years? Only time will tell.