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Colorado’s Travis Hunter is AP college football player of the year

AP photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack / Colorado junior Travis Hunter runs after catching a pass during a Big 12 game against UCF on Sept. 28 in Orlando, Fla. Hunter, who has starred at both receiver and defensive back for the Buffaloes, is the AP college football player of the year for the 2024 season.
AP photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack / Colorado junior Travis Hunter runs after catching a pass during a Big 12 game against UCF on Sept. 28 in Orlando, Fla. Hunter, who has starred at both receiver and defensive back for the Buffaloes, is the AP college football player of the year for the 2024 season. AP photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack / Colorado junior Travis Hunter runs after catching a pass during a Big 12 game against UCF on Sept. 28 in Orlando, Fla. Hunter, who has starred at both receiver and defensive back for the Buffaloes, is the AP college football player of the year for the 2024 season.

By PAT GRAHAM / The Associated Press 8 min read

BOULDER, Colo. — When it comes to the highest level of college football, Colorado’s Travis Hunter is a throwback, a versatile athlete who rarely leaves the field and has a knack for making big plays all over it.

An elite receiver one moment, a lockdown cornerback the next, the two-way standout (see: unicorn) even celebrates at an elite level after his many touchdowns and interceptions, unveiling imaginative dance moves that have included the pose for the Heisman Trophy. That’s one of the many awards the Buffaloes star is in line to win here at the end of his final college season before making his way to the NFL.

Hunter, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound junior from Suwanee, Georgia, is The Associated Press college football player of the year for 2024. He was the pick on 26 of 43 ballots from a panel of AP Top 25 voters in results announced Thursday. Boise State junior Ashton Jeanty finished second with 16 votes, while Arizona State senior Cameron Skattebo received the other vote; both are running backs.

“Couldn’t do what I do without my team,” Hunter wrote in an email sent while on a trip to Las Vegas for an awards ceremony. “So I view being up for these awards as team awards.”

Hunter kept piling up the hardware later Thursday night. He won the Walter Camp Award (player of the year), the Chuck Bednarik Award (top defensive player) and the Biletnikoff Award (best receiver).