Travis Hunter made a 2-way impact on the Broncos home opener, all right. But it wasn’t the way he — or anybody else — would’ve drawn it up beforehand.
“(It’s) all right,” the former Buffs icon, who became CU’s second Heisman Trophy winner in 2024, shrugged as he met reporters at Empower Field at Mile High after his Jacksonville Jaguars fell to the Broncos, 20-13. “It’s football.”
With 7:30 left in a 13-13 tie, Hunter, a second-year cornerback and sometimes wide receiver, was flagged for pass interference for engaging Broncos wideout Courtland Sutton up the right boundary. At the end of the sequence, players and coaches from both sides had their arms raised in protest.
The devil was in the details. Replays showed Hunter’s left hand holding Sutton’s right shoulder pad while the former Buffs star’s right hand clutched the Broncos wide receiver’s hip. Hunter broke his grip on Sutton at the last second when he saw the receiver reaching out with one hand for the ball. But Hunter never turned his head or made a play for the rock, appearing to either be looking at Sutton or at the end zone in front of them.
Coach Liam Coen went ballistic, and a Broncos rally — the hosts trailed 10-3 at the break– picked up speed.
Not only did Hunter’s P.I. call stand, but the zebras tacked on an
“I’m not going to comment on (the Hunter call). I thought he played it decent …” Coen said later. “I just said one thing and got flagged. It is what it is.”
It’s 1-1 for the Broncos. It’s momentum. And it’s a ship sailing in the right direction again. For one week, at the very least.
After the 1-2 penalty punch moved the ball from the Jags’ 28 to the Jacksonville 3, Jonah Coleman bulldozed his way into the end zone for his first NFL touchdown on the next play. The hosts took a 19-13 lead with 7:21 left in the contest and more or less salted Win No. 1 on the season after that.
“At the end of the day, the refs (are going to) call what they call,” Hunter said. “I’ve just got to continue to work better. If I put myself in the best position, then I don’t have to worry about the refs.”
Hunter, whose No. 12 was retired at Folsom Field in the spring of 2025, was magnanimous when asked about the controversial call. He was effusive, though, when asked about Coen coming to his defense.
“Yeah, it means a lot,” Hunter reflected. “You’ve seen the same thing that I’ve seen. So I was just happy. But we don’t need that penalty, either — we don’t need to attack on (anything). But, yeah, I was happy to see him be able to have my back.”
“You ever have a coach run out and get a second flag for you?” a reporter asked.
“Yeah, yeah,” Hunter replied with a smile. “I’ve had my coaches do that for me.”
“Would Coach Prime do that for you?” someone asked, evoking CU’s Deion Sanders.
Another smile.
“He definitely does,” Hunter said.
No. 12’s day started with a lot more promise. About two minutes into the contest, on the Broncos’ opening drive, he read Denver QB Bo Nix almost perfectly. The former Buff played off the shoulder of Broncos wideout Pat Bryant as the latter ran an out route that cut hard at the 30-yard line, baiting Nix into thinking he had a window for a short gain.
Then Hunter pounced, as he so often did in Boulder, closing quickly on Bryant and diving at full stretch to extend his arms and tip the pass away just as the Broncos receiver was in the process of closing two hands together to grip the rock.
The Buffs’ former two-way star finished with a pass deflection and four tackles on the day, including a shoulder-to-shoulder collision with Coleman near the sideline.
“The fans, even though they’re Denver fans, they still showed love to me,” Hunter said. “So that was a good thing, to be able to come back here and play in front of people I played in front of in college … it’s still home. I don’t have a house here, but it’s still home to me.”
Hunter even ran into some old friends before the tilt. Most notably, Broncos defensive backs coach Robert Livingston, who was his defensive coordinator at CU during Hunter’s Heisman campaign.
“He called me pregame and we chatted it up a little bit,” Hunter recalled. “We were just (asking) how each other’s family was doing and checking up on each other.”
Hunter was recovering from season-ending surgery on his right knee last Nov. 11, so he didn’t play in the Broncos’ 34-20 loss to the Jags here last December.
As for this Buffs, who suffered a shocking 41-7 beatdown to Northwestern in Evanston on Saturday night …
“I didn’t watch it,” Hunter said.
“You didn’t miss much,” a reporter quipped.
“Oh, no. I ain’t got (anything) to say about (CU),” Hunter said when asked about the Buffs’ trip to Baylor Saturday. “Hope they win, though.”
