Heisman winner Travis Hunter charted his own path and validated Deion Sanders as a coach

NEW YORK — After winning the Heisman Trophy, Colorado star Travis Hunter hugged his fiancee and then his mom. When he got to Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders, the hug lasted a little longer.

He even went back in for another, putting his head on Sanders’ shoulder. You could hear Hunter getting choked up.

“Appreciate you, Coach,” Hunter said.

Hunter thanked Coach Prime for changing his life, but the same can be said the other way around. Hunter is Sanders’ proof of concept.

His rise to stardom, fulfilling the promise of his five-star potential while playing full-time on both offense and defense, is Sanders’ most significant accomplishment as a college football coach. Hunter is the example Sanders can hold up to every other blue-chip recruit in the country: Here’s what I can do for you. Come play for me.

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More importantly, Hunter’s spectacular season should serve as an example to all those blue-chippers pondering where to go to school: Those coaches need you every bit as much as, if not more than, you need them. Don’t be afraid to chart your own path.

“I wanted to be different,” said Hunter, who also won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s best receiver and the Bednarik Award as the best defender. “So you know me, being different makes me feel more comfortable than doing the norm.”

Travis Hunter became Colorado’s first Heisman Trophy winner since running back Rashaan Salaam in 1994. (Lucas Boland / Imagn Images)

Coaches sell players on their ability to get guys to the NFL all the time. The numbers suggest the Alabamas, Georgias and Ohio States are better than most at developing NFL players.

The reality, though, is what really sets those programs apart is their ability to recruit more players with NFL potential.

Hunter, a Florida native, could have gone to any school in the country after playing his high school ball in Georgia. He was committed to Florida State, but at the last moment flipped to Jackson State, a historically Black university in the FCS.

It was truly a road not taken. In the modern era of recruiting rankings, where the best of the best are identified and sorted earlier and better than ever, no player with Hunter’s pedigree had ever chosen to play in Division I’s second tier instead of the top.

For Sanders, it was the ultimate recruiting coup, swiping Hunter from his old school in Tallahassee.

“He told me it’s going to be bigger than nothing before,” Hunter said. “It’s gonna make the nation go wild. Younger kids are gonna look up to you from day one. And that’s all this has been. So I made sure I stayed with him, stayed committed and stayed loyal to him.”

Sanders sold something bigger than just getting Hunter to the league. During ESPN’s Heisman show, Sanders said he encouraged Hunter to be “unapologetically” himself.

Hunter’s mom, Ferrante Edmonds, called her son a little goofy. He wears onesies. He said he never really listened to music until his fiancee opened his ears to Lil Wayne, who showed up at Saturday’s ceremony to congratulate Hunter.

Hunter’s favorite thing besides football is fishing. He said he spent his Friday night in New York watching fishing videos to chill out.

“Loves the game, loves the practice, loves his family, loves his mother, loves his father, loves his fiancee,” Sanders said. “He wants to have a commitment to excellence in everything he does, including fishing.”

When Hunter signed up for this journey with Sanders, it seemed as if he was taking a risk. Could he maximize his talents without all those football-factory resources, the massive weight rooms, the overstocked training tables, armies of analysts and coaches and a roster full of fellow blue-chippers to match up with every day in practice?

“I don’t think it was a risk,” Hunter said before the Heisman presentation. “It was God’s plan. You know, everything that I wanted to do I’m accomplishing now.”

After Hunter’s first season at Jackson State, Sanders became the coach at Colorado. He famously told his new players in Boulder that he was bringing his luggage and it was Louis Vuitton. That was Hunter.

With another chance to take the more traditional path to stardom, Hunter stuck with Sanders. He was now going to be playing Power 5 football, but for what was the worst Power 5 program in the country.

Travis Hunter and Deion Sanders led Colorado to a 7-2 mark in the Big 12. (Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images)

Sanders took over a 1-11 program and pushed it to 4-8 last year. The Buffs jumped to 9-3 this season, with Hunter providing a Shohei Ohtani-like performance on offense and defense.

How many coaches would have given Hunter the opportunity to play both ways to the extent Sanders, who probably could have done the same when he played for Bobby Bowden at Florida State, did with Hunter?

Hunter, along with Sanders’ son and star quarterback, Shedeur, will play their last games for No. 23 Colorado on Dec. 28 in the Alamo Bowl against No. 17 BYU.

Sanders has been adamant about his intent to remain Colorado’s head coach when his sons — and he includes Hunter with Shedeur and defensive back Shilo when he says that — move on.

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Hunter, who is expected to be one of the first players selected in April’s NFL Draft, said this week that Sanders “ain’t going nowhere.”

It is fair to wonder just how high the ceiling can be for a Sanders-run program. The Buffs’ 2025 recruiting class does include four-star quarterback Julian Lewis, a late flip from USC, but it ranks 37th in the country in the 247Sports Composite. Sanders is going to lean heavily into the transfer portal. He’s not going to be a grinder on the recruiting trail, visiting high schools and homes to win over players and their families.

He can, however, tell those stars that he will allow them to shine, with Hunter as proof. Sanders’ program will remain one of the most fascinating in the country.

As for Hunter, a unicorn of a football player, the legacy he leaves behind hopefully encourages more players to take the road less traveled.

“Remember to believe in yourself,” Edmonds said. “Never allow anyone else to dictate who you’re supposed to be, what you’re supposed to be, and how you’re gonna get to where you’re going.”

(Top illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Ed Zurga / Getty Images)