The Rookie Jar: Travis Hunter

Travis Hunter is one of the most highly anticipated NFL prospects in modern history. His ability to play both offense and defense at an extremely high level has not been seen in decades. He has consistently been one of the best receivers and one of the best defensive backs in whatever conference he played in, and his ability to play both sides of the ball for years while avoiding any major injuries has intrigued NFL teams. He is guaranteed to be drafted at some point in the first four picks of the 2025 NFL Draft.

The Prospect

Full Name: Travis Hunter Jr.

Position: Cornerback and Receiver

Age: 21 (will turn 22 by rookie season)

Height: 6'0"

Weight: 188 pounds

Hometown: Suwanee, Georiga

Highest Accolade: 2024 Heisman Trophy Winner

The Background

Travis Hunter was born on May 18 2003, in West Palm Beach, Florida. He is the oldest of four siblings, with a younger sister and two younger brothers. His childhood years were spent in Florida before he moved to Suwanee, Georgia as a teenager. 

Travis Hunter's father, Travis Hunter Sr., had his own notable athletic career in the early 2000s out of Boynton Beach, Florida. Travis Sr. was on both the football team and the track team at Boynton Beach Community High School. In 2004, he was part of the 4x100-meter relay team that set the school record at 41.63 seconds. That record still stands today, even though future NFL star Lamar Jackson came close to breaking that record with another BBCHS relay team when he played for that same school ten years later. Travis Hunter Sr. later went on to play semipro football in the Florida football Alliance and the Southern States Football league, where he won rookie of the year in 2007.

The Journey

Travis Hunter first landed on the college recruiting radar when he was a sophomore in high school. During that season for the Collins Hill Eagles, he led the county with 7 interceptions on defense while also recording 49 catches for 919 yards and 12 touchdowns on offense. 

The next year, as a junior, his stats were truly absurd: 8 interceptions on defense to go along with 137 receptions for 1,746 yards and 24 touchdowns. Largely thanks to Travis Hunter's performance, the Collins Hill Eagles went 12-3 and made an appearance in the state championship game. 

He missed five games with an ankle injury during his senior year, so the stats aren't quite as eye-popping for that final season of high school football, but he came back from that injury and continued his dominant run to cap off his high school career. Despite only playing around half of the regular season, he still ended the year with 5 interceptions, 76 catches, 1,128 yards and 10 touchdowns. This time the CH Eagles went 15-0 and capped off their perfect season by claiming the state title. His 48 career receiving touchdowns broke the Georgia state record for any high school player in history.

Hunter committed to play college football at Florida State in March 2020, but In December 15, 2021 he flipped his commitment to Jackson State. This made him the first five-star recruit to ever sign with an FCS program. This decision was largely influenced by Deion Sanders. Hunter continued to play both sides of the ball at Jackson State. In seven games on defense, he recorded 19 tackles, eight pass deflections, two interceptions, one fumble recovery, and one defensive touchdown. He saw less playing time on offense, but still managed to bring in 18 catches for 188 yards and 4 touchdowns. He was a second-team all-conference player and won Freshman of the year. He was also one of the finalists for the Jerry Rice Award, the award given to the top freshman in the FCS. 

Following that season, Travis Hunter transferred to the University of Colorado in order to follow his coach. Deion Sanders had just taken over as the head coach at Colorado and many of his players at Jackson State made that change with him. In that first season, he began the year as a starting cornerback and receiver, getting the majority of snaps on both sides of the ball for the first time since high school. In Week 3, he sustained an unusual injury. While playing receiver, he attempted to go up for a high pass that sailed over his head for an incompletion. He took a hard hit from an opposing safety on that play, and ended up leaving the game with a lacerated liver. The safety was flagged for the hit. Hunter would miss 3 games due to this injury, but returned in Week 7. In 9 total games that season, he caught 57 passes for 721 yards and 5 touchdowns while also interception 3 passes on defense. For his efforts, he was given the Hornung Award for being the "most versatile of all NCAA players", named a 2023 Consensus All-American and second-team All-PAC-12 player. 

In 2024, Travis Hunter was just exceptional. In 12 games he recorded 92 catches for 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns. Defensively, he had 31 tackles and 4 interceptions. These numbers let him take home a whole cabinet of awards at the end of the season, including the Bednarik Award (top defensive player), the Biletnikoff Award (top receiver), and the 2024 Heisman Trophy.

The Future

Travis Hunter will most definitely be drafted in the first four picks of this year's NFL Draft on April 24, 2025. He is widely considered to be the top player in the draft class, and the only reason he might not be picked #1 overall is because of positional need. While his NFL opponents will be playing at a much higher level than anyone Travis Hunter went up against in college, he has continued to state that he wants to try and play both offense and defense in the NFL. Given that he was able to do so for two years at Colorado without any major injuries other than that unusual liver laceration, it seems plausible if he lands on the right team. We look forward to seeing what Travis Hunter can do in the future.