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Colorado receiver/cornerback/flawed Heisman poser/presumed Heisman winner Travis Hunter has achieved perfection in The Athletic’s Heisman Trophy straw poll.
Of the 27 writers and editors who voted this week, all 27 voted Hunter first, giving him the maximum possible 81 points. Two first-place votes for Ashton Jeanty and one for Cam Ward in the previous poll switched this week to Hunter, who wrapped up his Colorado season with three touchdown catches, an interception and two pass break-ups in a 52-0 rout of Oklahoma State.
Hunter “clinched the Heisman,” coach Deion Sanders said afterward, and while that may not be officially true, Hunter couldn’t have gone out with a stronger closing statement — other than the fact that his Heisman pose still needs work to better emulate the trophy itself. In all seriousness, it would have helped him with naysayers focused on team success for the Buffaloes to get the help necessary to make the Big 12 title game. They didn’t.
And the fact that Jeanty gets to play Friday for No. 11 Boise State (11-1) against No. 22 UNLV (10-2) in the Mountain West title game for a national Fox audience at least gives him the final word. It will have to be the running back performance equivalent of “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” Like, how about 341 yards to reach 2,629 on the season and break Barry Sanders’ single-season NCAA rushing record? Would that do it?
Maybe? Jeanty lost ground in the straw poll this week after going for 226 yards and a touchdown in a win over Oregon State so … the bar is high. The pathway to change hearts and minds is narrow. The nation’s leading rusher got 25 second-place votes and two third-place votes for a total of 50 points.
The Athletic follows the same voting protocol as that of the Heisman: three points for a first-place vote, two points for a second-place vote, one point for a third-place vote.
| Player | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Travis Hunter | WR/DB | 27 | 0 | 0 | 81 | |
Ashton Jeanty | RB | 0 | 25 | 2 | 52 | |
Tyler Warren | TE | 0 | 0 | 8 | 8 | |
Dillon Gabriel | QB | 0 | 1 | 5 | 7 | |
Cam Ward | QB | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 | |
Cam Skattebo | RB | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | |
Kaleb Johnson | RB | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
LaNorris Sellers | QB | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
At the least, Jeanty knows he’s going to New York and should be a lock to come in second by a safe margin. There’s no obvious third place this year, which will make the voting and the number of candidates invited to New York interesting.
Miami quarterback Cam Ward fell from 15 points to six in the poll after Saturday’s loss at Syracuse, dropping him to fifth place behind Penn State tight end Tyler Warren (eight points) and Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel (seven points).
That also means no ACC title game platform for Ward while Warren and Gabriel will face each other for the Big Ten championship in Indianapolis, thanks to Ohio State’s shocking loss to Michigan to let the Nittany Lions sneak in the back door.
The poll’s rising No. 6 vote-getter, Arizona State running back Cam Skattebo (five points), also gets an opportunity to make his case when the surprising Sun Devils take on Iowa State for the Big 12 title.
Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson (two points) is the third running back among the eight vote-getters. That’s the same as the number of quarterbacks — and there’s a new quarterback, South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers, picking up a third-place vote.
Sellers will not make it to New York this year. But that’s a hint of things to come in 2025 when he should be high on the list of preseason hopefuls for the award.
(Photo of Ashton Jeanty: Brian Losness / Imagn Images)
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