‘He’s Him’: Colorado’s Travis Hunter Enters Heisman Race With Bang

If you didn’t have a reason to believe in Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes before, you certainly should now.

Sanders’ debut at Colorado went about as well as anyone could have expected, with the Buffaloes securing a 45-42 victory over the TCU Horned Frogs. If you’re not familiar with those two programs, TCU played in the national championship in January while Colorado went 1-11.

That’s a solid turnaround.

Coach Prime undoubtedly was the story going into the game, but one of his players stole some all of his shine.

Travis Hunter, a two-way star who followed Sanders from Jackson State, put on an absolute show — on both sides of the ball. The sophomore recorded 11 receptions for 119 yards on offense while pitching in an interception and three tackles on defense in a total of 129 snaps. The Week 1 performance was enough to have a significant impact on his Heisman odds.

Hunter had 300-1 consensus odds to win the Heisman entering the season, according to B/R Betting, but worked his way down to 80-1 by the time Saturday’s game entered the fourth quarter.

That’s dang impressive, but Sanders believes the odds could get lower.

“He is him,” Sanders said of Hunter, per Fox Sports’ broadcast. “We missed him on two deep balls. He gets those two deep balls, the Heisman is in his crib chilling right now.”

Hunter isn’t the only Heisman contender on Colorado’s roster, however, as quarterback Shedeur Sanders, Deion’s son, had a video game-like performance of his own. The junior threw for 510 yards and four touchdowns, completing 38-of-47 pass attempts. The folks at BetMGM Sportsbook had Shedeur Sanders’ odds to win the Heisman at +6000 and Hunter’s at +5000.

The Buffaloes look primed to make a run at that trophy if not one at a New Year’s Six appearance.