2023
2023 WINNER – (Travis Hunter )
By Neill Woelk, CU Athletics Contributing Editor
Hunter’s Versatility Makes Him Perfect Fit for Paul Hornung Award
Colorado’s Travis Hunter needed just one game to fully introduce himself to the nation.
Hunter turned in one of college football’s most spectacular performances in recent memory in the Buffaloes’ season-opening 45-42 win over then-No. 17 TCU.
Avid college football fans already knew of Hunter. They knew he had been one of the nation’s most prized recruits in 2022, and they were well aware that he had spurned a host of Power Five offers to instead join Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders at Jackson State.
Those same fans also knew that when Coach Prime took the job at Colorado, Hunter ultimately decided to follow him to Boulder. They knew that Hunter, who had played both defensive back and wide receiver at JSU, planned to do the same for the Buffs.
But nobody — well, almost nobody — expected Hunter to have the kind of impact he provided on both sides of the ball when he stepped up to the Power Five level.
Against TCU, he caught 11 passes for 119 yards, including three critical catches on Colorado’s final two scoring drives.
Defensively, he recorded three tackles, a pass breakup and a red zone interception in the first half that ended a TCU scoring threat, and he also had a touchdown-saving tackle in the second half.
Overnight, Hunter’s national profile grew exponentially.
“We’ve all been in this game for a long time, (but) I’m not sure I’ve ever seen what we witnessed today,” said former national championship coach and current Fox analyst Urban Meyer. “That’s one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen.”
High praise from the man who coached some of college football’s most electric performers — but by no means hyperbole.
Hunter proved to be a threat to impact the game on every snap he played — and he ended up being on the field for an astonishing 138 snaps (all 79 defensive snaps and 59 of 81 on offense). In his first game as a Buff, he became the only FBS player in at least the last two decades to have 100 yards receiving and an interception in the same game.
Fox analyst Joel Klatt echoed Meyer’s analysis.
“We’ve got ourselves a new superstar in college football,” Klatt said. “There’s no precedent for what I saw (in the TCU game) from Travis Hunter. I’ve never seen a player walk onto the field and be the most elite player on the field on both sides of the ball.”
ast surprised person in the nation was the man who recruited Hunter to Jackson State, then brought him to Colorado when he made the move to Boulder.
“The kid is different,” Coach Prime said. “He’s phenomenal. He loves the game. This young man loves the game of football … You’re not going to find anyone in the country with that talent.”
In the ensuing weeks, Hunter proved that his first game in a Colorado uniform was no aberration. He had three catches and four tackles in Colorado’s win over Nebraska, then two receptions and two tackles in the first half of CU’s win over Colorado State before being sidelined with a lacerated liver.
That injury forced him to miss the next three games but when he returned, he continued to put up numbers not seen in a generation.
Against Stanford, he had 13 catches for 140 yards and two touchdowns, along with five tackles. One week later he had three catches against UCLA along with two interceptions. Then came eight catches for 98 yards and a touchdown plus two tackles and a pass breakup against Oregon State.
Every week, Hunter proved to be a threat to make game-changing plays every time he stepped on the field. By season’s end — despite missing a full three games and the second half of another — he either tied or led the team in catches and/or receiving yards six times, finishing with 57 catches for 721 yards and five touchdowns.
Defensively, he led the team in interceptions with three, tied for the team lead in pass breakups with five and finished with 31 tackles (including two for loss).
He thus became the first player in at least the last 25 seasons with 50-plus receptions and three or more interceptions. The only comparable season in that span came from Georgia’s Champ Bailey in 1998 when he had 47 receptions for 744 yards and five touchdowns offensively and three interceptions on defense.
But perhaps most impressively were Hunter’s “iron-man” statistics.
Hunter finished the season playing 436 snaps on offense, 566 on defense and 30 on special teams to surpass the 1,000 plateau at 1,032 — the most by any player at the FBS level (and that despite missing three full games). His average of 114.7 snaps per game is one that hasn’t been seen at the highest level of college football in decades.
“Travis is a special player, a generational player, who has changed the game,” Sanders said. “We had to find ways to utilize him to the best of his ability on both sides of the ball, where he could utilize his strengths and be a force. Thank you to the (Hornung) award committee for seeing in Travis what we do, not only that he’s a tremendous player, but also a tremendous person. Travis hasn’t reached his full potential as of yet and his best is still coming.”
Banquet Photos:
Click here to view all photos from the 2023 Paul Hornung Award Ceremony
FINALISTS
Chosen as finalists were Arizona State’s Cameron Skattebo and Utah’s Sione Vaki.
Primarily a running back, ASU junior running back Cameron Skattebo also lines up at shotgun quarterback and receiver and has been a weapon for the Sun Devils as a quick kick punter. He made the Paul Hornung Award Weekly Honor Roll five times in the first 11 weeks of the season and twice was named Paul Hornung Award National Player-of-the-Week. He leads the team with 638 rushing yards, has scored eight touchdowns on the ground, is third with 280 receiving yards and a score, and has completed four of eight passes for 85 yards and a score. He had two games for the ages for the Sun Devils: in an upset of UCLA, he touched the ball 19 times four different ways, ran and threw for touchdowns and had a 50-yard punt; in a tough loss to USC, he touched the ball rushing, receiving, passing and punting, rushed for 111 yards on 20 carries, scored rushing and receiving, completed a halfback pass and a shotgun quarterback pass and had a 53-yard punt.
Primarily a free safety who plays multiple positions in the secondary and is a regular on special teams, Utah sophomore Sione Vaki answered the call to duty on offense in spectacular fashion when injuries depleted the Utes’ running back corps. As a two-way player, he made the Paul Hornung Award Weekly Honor Roll four times and twice earned the Paul Hornung Award National Player-of-the-Week. On offense, he is third on the team with 259 rushing yards and two scores and fourth on the team with 211 receiving yards and three touchdowns; on defense, he made 49 tackles, one interception, two pass breakups, 8.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. In his first significant time playing running back, Vaki played 16 offensive snaps, had 15 carries for 158 yards and two scores in a win over Cal, including a 72-yard sprint to paydirt; he also played 56 snaps on defense and made four tackles. In the Utes’ come-from-behind win over USC, he played 91 total snaps, and caught five passes for 149 yards and two scores; had nine carries for 68 yards and made two tackles.