We are a little over a month away from the college football season starting and what better way than to evaluate athletes who are on the rise. This first segment will feature University of Colorado’s versatile two-way athlete Travis Hunter.

There are not many football players at the college level who play both offense and defense at a high level. For Hunter, he not only excels at both, he is also a fierce competitor who most likely will be a top selection in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Hunter is a competitor on and off the football field. Just recently, he and his head coach Deion Sanders went on a fishing trip and Hunter won the fishing competition. It does not matter if it is a game of rock, paper, scissors – Hunter is going to compete to win; that is the mentality that he has displayed in his short time at Colorado and while he was at Jackson State University.

The Colorado Buffaloes are looking to improve their 4-8 record from a season ago, and early on took the internet by storm. Many analysts and fans for a brief moment thought that the Buffaloes were going to the National Championship. A massive win week one versus the previous Championship runner-up TCU Horn Frogs, made believers out of many. While the season took a turn for the worse, Colorado did improve upon their 1-11 record from the season prior and have many new transfers and athletes who look to compete under Sanders’ leadership in 2024.

Being a two-way athlete, Hunter had an impressive statistic first year in the rocky mountain state. Offensively, Hunter finished with 57 receptions for 721 yards, a 12.6 yards per reception average, and five touchdowns. Defensively, Hunter finished with 30 combined tackles, two tackles for a loss, and three interceptions.

While the offensive statistics outweigh the defensive statistics, it does not entirely paint the picture. Hunter later on in the season did not have many passes thrown his way due to his athletic and freakish abilities. He can contort his body like no other athlete I have seen in recent memory and is a true playmaker when the ball is thrown in his direction.

Travis Hunter continues to amaze me the more I watch his film 🎞️

1,044 snaps in 2023 on 9 games: Unreal🔥pic.twitter.com/uUfwJlTon9

— Kade Nix (@kadesdraftroom) July 3, 2024

The youthful 21-year-old will have a chance to play even more snaps in 2024 after posting an outstanding 1,044 snaps in 2023 in only nine games played.

Sanders and his coaching staff played the best players available, and they barely took Hunter off the field due to just how productive and talented he is on both sides of the football.

Although I am not truly a college football fan, I did, however, watch almost all of the Colorado Buffaloes’ football games last season. I am a big fan of Deion Sanders and what he means for the student-athletes and the community in which he surrounds himself with. Hunter will take another big step forward in what could be his last college season before heading to the NFL ranks.

Look for more snaps, more games played/ started, and better highlight reels that will make fans wonder just how their NFL franchise can muster a way to draft this upcoming, potential generational, prospect.