Travis Hunter Makes His Case for the Heisman Trophy Ahead of Ceremony

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Sean Deveney | Last updated Dec 14, 2024 9:24 AM ET

At this point, it's getting difficult to keep tabs on just how many trophies Travis Hunter has taken home this awards season. He won the Ronnie Lott IMPACT award back on Monday, has been named to both the All-America team and the academic All-America team, won the Paul Hornung Award and and has been named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.

He also made history, winning both the Biletnikoff and Bednarik awards on Thursday, the first player to do so. But there was good reason--he was not just a two-way player, he was a star both ways.

Hunter is sixth in the nation in receiving yards (1,152), fifth in receptions (92), and second in touchdowns (14). He also graded out as a 90.3 as a cornerback at Pro Football Focus, which ranked him sixth in the nation at the position.

Now comes the big one: the Heisman Trophy. Hunter is the favorite to win the award on Saturday night in New York, but it's not a sure thing. Speaking this week on "The Pivot" podcast, Hunter made his Heisman case:

"I definitely think I should win it. You never seen a player like me, as we were talking about earlier. I don’t think there’s gonna be another player who goes out there and plays 1,000 snaps in a season."

And he clapped back at those who say that simply playing a lot of snaps is not all that impressive -- he is making those snaps count, even if he is not racking up stats on those plays.

"You know, it’s kind of crazy, they always talk about, he just playing a lot of snaps but if you actually look at the game instead of the highlights, you see I’m putting, I’m always out there running 100%, you know it’s a lot stats on there was just like hustle plays that you don’t get to see," Hunter said.

"I’m out there running people down. I’m trying to put in all my effort, then I come back and the next play, I’m fully energized to do it again. There’s not a lot of people that can do that."

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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