Heisman Winner
Travis Hunter
CB/WR | Junior | University of Colorado
Junior cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter became the University of Colorado’s second Heisman Trophy winner when he was announced as the 90th winner of the Heisman Memorial Trophy in a season in which he also won the Walter Camp, Bednarik and Biletnikoff Awards.
Hunter is Colorado’s second Heisman winner and the Buffaloes’ first since the late running back Rashaan Salaam (1994). He is the first full-time, two-way player to win the Heisman since the early 1960s and the first to win the award while playing significant minutes on both sides of the ball since Charles Woodson (1997).
Hunter, also the fifth player to win the Heisman as a full-time receiver, received 2,231 points. Jeanty finished with 2,017 points while Gabriel had 516 and Ward 229.
The 6-foot-1, 185-pounder from Suwanee, Ga., was the 2024 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and earned All-Big 12 first-team honors as both a defensive back and a wide receiver. Defensively, he had 31 tackles, 11 pass breakups, four interceptions, a conference-best 15 passes defended (tied for fifth nationally), and forced a game-winning fumble.
Hunter also led the conference with 92 receptions and 14 receiving touchdowns while finishing with 1,152 receiving yards, second in the Big 12. Nationally, he is second in receiving touchdowns, fifth in receptions per game (7.7) and sixth in receiving yards per game (96.0). Hunter leads the country with 21 receiving plays for 20 yards or more. He twice had three touchdown receptions in a game, had 10 or more catches in a game three times and had 100 or more receiving yards in a game seven times.
Hunter’s 92 receptions and 1,152 receiving yards are both the second-most by a Heisman recipient behind Alabama’s 2020 winner DeVonta Smith’s 98 receptions for 1,511 yards. Hunter’s 14 TD catches trail only Smith and 1991 winner Desmond Howard (17) in Heisman-winning seasons.
Hunter, who spent his freshman year at Jackson State, is the first Heisman winner to begin his career in the Football Championship Series (FCS).
Hunter is also the first defensive back to finish in the top 5 since LSU CB Tyrann Mathieu (2011, fifth). Hunter’s Colorado head coach, Deion Sanders, finished eighth in the 1988 Heisman balloting as a Florida State cornerback.
