Colorado’s Travis Hunter Wins 2024 Heisman Trophy
Junior cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter from the University of Colorado was announced as the 90th winner of the Heisman Memorial Trophy during ESPN’s 2024 Heisman Trophy Ceremony Presented by Nissan on Saturday (Dec. 14), originating from Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, N.Y.
Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty was the runner-up, followed by third-place Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel and fourth-place Miami quarterback Cam Ward
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., is 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.
Earlier this week, Hunter won the Walter Camp, Bednarik and Biletnikoff Awards, becoming the first player to win national awards on both offense and defense.
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 is the sixth player in the last eight years to win the award after transferring. He’s the first Heisman winner to begin his career in the Football Championship Series (FCS). Born in West Palm Beach, Fla., he is the fifth Heisman winner to hail from the Sunshine State and the first since Lamar Jackson.
He is the first junior to win the award since Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray (2018), the Big 12’s first Heisman winner since Murray and the first winner from a current Big 12 school since Baylor’s Robert Griffin III (2011).
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.
Jeanty is Boise State’s highest finisher in Heisman balloting and its second finalist. Fellow Bronco Kellen Moore was a three-time Heisman top 10 finisher and was fourth as a finalist in 2010.
Gabriel is Oregon’s second straight third-place finisher following Bo Nix (2023). Gabriel and Nix are the highest finishers from Oregon since winner Marcus Mariota (2014). Ward is Miami’s highest finisher since fourth-place finisher Willis McGahee (2002) .
The 2024 Heisman Trophy ballots went out to 928 electors, which includes 870 members of the media, our 57 living Heisman winners and one overall fan vote presented by Nissan, premier partner of the Heisman Trophy. All ballots were submitted electronically to the independent accountants at Deloitte.
Rounding out the top 10 finishers in the 2024 Heisman voting were fifth-place senior Arizona State running back Cam Skattebo, sixth-place senior Army quarterback Bryson Daily, seventh-place senior Penn State tight end Tyler Warren, eighth-place senior Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, ninth-place senior Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke and 10th-place Syracuse senior quarterback Kyle McCord.