Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter was taken to a local hospital during the 2023 Rocky Mountain Showdown after being on the receiving end of a late hit Saturday night, CU football announced.
Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders wasn’t sure of the specifics of the injury after the game, a 43-35 double-overtime win for CU, but “first thing I heard was that he would be out for a few weeks,” he said.
The coach added he suspects Hunter will only want to be out for two weeks.
“But his health is more important than his game,” Sanders said.
With five minutes remaining in the first quarter, the CU receiver and defensive back was involved in a controversial play that left him shaken on the sideline. As Hunter was running a route downfield, Colorado State senior defensive back Henry Blackburn wandered over in help coverage and leveled Hunter after the ball had already fallen incomplete. Colorado State was assessed two penalties on the play — a defensive pass interference and unnecessary roughness.
Hunter returned to the game on defense during the Rams’ next possession and continued to play for most of the first half, but the team announced five minutes into the second half that he had been taken to a hospital. Hunter finished the game with two receptions for 21 yards.
“When you get in between the lines, it’s football. That’s just what it is,” Shedeur Sanders said of the apparent bad blood leading up to and throughout the game. “We show everybody respect and dignity, and (we) respect our opponent. But when they did that to Travis, it really clicked for me, like, ‘Nah, they’re really out here trippin.'”
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