NEW YORK — Travis Hunter won the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night, capping a season in which he was a dominant force on both sides of the ball for Colorado.
The star cornerback/receiver became the second Buffaloes player to win college football’s most prestigious award, following late running back Rashaan Salaam in 1994.
The vote was close, with Hunter garnering 552 first-place votes for 2,231 total points. Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty was second with 309 first-place votes and 2,017 points. It marked the closest margin of victory since 2009, when Mark Ingram edged Toby Gerhart.
Two quarterbacks — Dillon Gabriel of Oregon and Cam Ward of Miami — finished third and fourth, respectively.
It marked only the fifth time this century a quarterback didn’t win. The last time no signal-caller placed in the top two was 2015, when running backs Derrick Henry of Alabama and Christian McCaffrey ran 1-2 in voting.
A dominant player on both offense and defense who rarely comes off the field, Hunter is a throwback to generations gone by and the first full-time, true two-way star in decades.
On offense, he had 92 catches for 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns this season to help the Buffaloes (9-3) earn their first bowl bid in four years. On defense, he made four interceptions, broke up 11 passes and forced a critical fumble that secured an overtime victory against Baylor.
The junior from Suwanee, Georgia, followed flashy coach Deion Sanders from Jackson State, an HBCU that plays in the lower level FCS, to the Rocky Mountains and has already racked up a staggering combination of accolades this week, including: AP Player of the Year, the Walter Camp Award as national player of the year, the Chuck Bednarik Award as the top defensive player and the Biletnikoff Award for best wide receiver.
He’s projected to go No. 1 overall in next year’s NFL draft, according to ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
