NEW YORK – On the gridiron, Colorado’s Travis Hunter is seemingly a one-man show, an ultra-talented unicorn who can do it all.
Hunter is the best receiver in the country, but receivers don’t usually win the Heisman Trophy. He’s arguably the best cornerback, too, but itap even more rare for a defender to win it.
On Saturday night at Lincoln Center, however, Hunter won the 90th Heisman Trophy because he does both, and at a supreme level. And, when he took the stage, he made sure to remind everyone that he didn’t get here alone.
It took a village to raise a unicorn.
From his parents to his grandmother, his youth coaches to CU head coach Deion Sanders, and even rapper Lil’ Wayne, Hunter paid tribute to all the people who guided him along the path to the hoisting the most coveted trophy in college sports.
“Never thought I would be in this position,” Hunter said through smiles and tears after he became just the second Heisman Trophy winner in CU history. “Itap crazy.”
As a four-year-old in Florida, Hunter was pushed into playing football by his grandmother, who was in attendance.
“She didn’t even know when she was raising me that I was going to be the best player but she believed in it and now she’s getting to see it,” he said.
Mom and dad, of course, played a pivotal role, too, in raising young Travis.
“My dad and my mom have always been in my life,” he said. “Those moments, my mom taking me to my football practice, but my dad taking me back home to the house and being at all the football games when I was younger.
“Going through high school, my mom was the only person to be able to make it to those games. Those moments, it strengthened me to be who I am today. It made me want to be who I am, it made me keep grinding, it made me show everybody that I shine bright under the lights, so keep the lights on me.”
Hunter’s mother was in attendance, beaming with pride as Hunter shined under the lights. But in an emotional moment during his acceptance speech, Hunter looked into the ESPN cameras and spoke to his father.
“He’s not here, to be able to make it, but I know you watching on TV,” Hunter said, with tears in his eyes. “Dad, I love you. All the stuff you went through, man, now look at your oldest son. I did it for you, man. … I know you wanted to be here and you can’t, but trust me, I got you. I’m bringing the trophy home. I love you.”
Hunter said it was family who shaped him into the young man he is today.
“My family, those are people you need when you have those hard days, to stay on you, make you keep going, keep balling,” he said.
The responsibility of being the oldest sibling drove Hunter, too.
“I thank y’all for keep looking up to me,” he said to them. “I’ll make sure I keep taking the right steps in the right direction for y’all. … I will never let you down.”
It was Hunter’s mother, he said, who took him and his brother out of a “bad area” in Florida when he was in eighth grade and moved to Georgia, where his football career really took off.
“I had my first high school coach to come and believe in me,” he said. “He bought me my first pair of cleats and thatap all it took for me to get on that grass and go to work. He believed in me from Day 1.”
At Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, Ga., Hunter learned the game and became a star.
“All my Collins Hill homies, coaches, teachers, I thank y’all,” he said. “Y’all shine the light on me. Y’all helped me get everything I needed and everything I wanted out of football. Thank you.”
Hunter got so much out of his time at Collins Hill that he became the No. 1 high school recruit in the country in the class of 2022. The top schools wanted him, but it was a phone call from then-Jackson State quarterback Shedeur Sanders that changed his trajectory.
“That one simple phone call, Shedeur, look where I’m at,” he said. “Thatap crazy, bro. Thatap crazy.”
Betting on himself, Hunter took the unconventional route by spurning one of the football blueblood programs, Florida State, to sign with Jackson State and play with Sanders and play for Sanders’ father, Coach Prime, the Hall of Fame cornerback who was embarking on his own journey as a college head coach.
Through one season together at Jackson State and the past two seasons at Colorado, Coach Prime has become like a father to Hunter and Shedeur has become like a brother, as they were a dynamic duo for the Buffaloes this season.
“Those are the people that changed my journey,” he said of the Sanders family. “I don’t think I would have gone to Jackson State if it was any other coach, respectfully, but Shedeur gave me that phone call, me and him talking every day. … Doing exactly what (Coach Prime) told me I would do, it makes me proud of myself. But also I thank him so much for changing my life forever.”
During his one season at Jackson State, Hunter dealt with an injuries and actually had a three-month period where he couldn’t play. His fiancé and mother, among others, led him through that difficult time.
“Nobody knew what I went through, the hard three months of not being able to play the game I love,” Hunter said.
His fiancé, among the many things she’s done to support Hunter, turned him on to Lil Wayne’s music. A friend of Coach Prime, Lil Wayne was in the front row at Lincoln Center to support Hunter on Saturday.
“I respect you for coming out here and coming to support me,” Hunter said.
CU chief of staff Ray Forsett has played a pivotal role in Hunter’s journey, as well. And, of course, there are the teammates, many of whom showed up in New York to support and celebrate with Hunter.
“Those are guys that helped me out the most,” Hunter said. “Them being on the field doing their job helped me be able to do my job, so I could try to do two jobs at one time. I’m gonna celebrate with those guys, go have fun. I don’t like to be out late, but I’m gonna be out late tonight.”
He earned it, and so did the village that helped him get to this point. Yet, while Hunter honored those who have been by his side, he’s also an inspiration to youth who will now look up to the 2024 Heisman Trophy winner.
“Never let anyone tell you what you can’t do,” he said as a message to the youth. “Believe in yourself and keep your foot on the gas.”
