NEW YORK — Travis Hunter turned every play into prime time — on both sides of the ball — and ultimately took home the Heisman Trophy.
Now he's got a leg up on his celebrity coach at Colorado.
The two-way star won college football's most prestigious award Saturday night, punctuating a tireless performance all season by a dynamic player with a unique combination of skills.
«I never thought I would be in this position,» said a tearful Hunter, who grabbed the trophy hard with two hands and let loose a happy roar. «It's crazy.»
A big-play wide receiver and a lockdown cornerback, Hunter dominated on both sides of the ball for coach Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes, joining late running back Rashaan Salaam in 1994 as the only Heisman winners in school history.
Hunter received 552 first-place votes and 2,231 points. Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty was the runner-up with 309 first-place votes and 2,017 points, the closest margin of victory since 2009, when Mark Ingram edged Toby Gerhart. The previous highest for a runner-up was 1,871 points by Tua Tagovailoa in 2018, when Kyler Murray won.
Hunter garnered 80.14% of possible points, the 11th-highest in Heisman Trophy history, and joined Michigan cornerback Charles Woodson (1997) as the only full-time defensive players to claim the prize. Woodson also made big plays on offense, but didn't play nearly as much as Hunter on that side of the ball.
Two quarterbacks — Oregon's Dillon Gabriel and Miami's Cam Ward — finished third and fourth, respectively, in balloting for the 90th Heisman Trophy, presented annually since 1935 to the nation's most outstanding player. This year's ceremony was held at Jazz at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, where Sanders was in attendance.
It marked only
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