College Football

Can Colorado star WR/CB Travis Hunter keep up historic pace all season?

Published Sep. 13, 2023 3:43 p.m. ET

Colorado's Travis Hunter is a one-of-one in college football this season.

The sophomore and former No. 1 overall recruit continues to dazzle as a two-way player, making absurd catches as a wide receiver and making quarterbacks regret throwing his way as a cornerback. In doing so, Hunter has appeared in a combined 270 snaps over Colorado's first two games.

Can Hunter continue to pull off this ironman role for the entire season?

"I don't care how good of shape you're in, 115 snaps, you can do that now because you're fresh," a Power 5 defensive coordinator told ESPN Tuesday. "But I don't know how you can sustain [that], especially as I would think some teams are going to try to make him tackle and double him in coverage and that sort of stuff.

"You put in a fourth- or fifth-team wide receiver and say, 'Look, you block him the whole game. I want him on the bench.' You literally make him exert himself."

On Wednesday's edition of "Undisputed," co-host Richard Sherman called out that Power 5 coach for not putting his name to his quotes.

"If I got to be anonymous and hide behind anonymity, then I can't really believe it," Sherman said. "Travis Hunter is a different beast than this defensive coordinator clearly has ever seen. You can say whatever you want, but in order for me to really respect what you're saying, you got to put your name behind it. Has he worn out yet? No, he hasn't. Could he wear out in the future? Maybe, I don't know. We'll see, but for him to say that and not put his name on it, it just feels like, ‘Shut up, I don’t care.'"

Fellow co-host Keyshawn Johnson thinks that Hunter won't get worn out due to the ebbs and flows of a college football season taking him off the field.

"Anonymous defensive coordinator is gonna get fired because he's got a bad game plan," Johnson said. "You gonna put your fourth and fifth wideout on the field, so therefore you're taking out real players on the offensive side of the ball that can help you win. And then you're talking about double-teaming Travis Hunter when he's on the field and the offensive standpoint, so now you're taking and utilizing two players on him, so now you gonna allow us to do something different cause we know you gonna double him. …

"Do I anticipate him to play 160 snaps every single game the rest of the season? No, because he won't have to. You think he's going to play 150-something snaps against Colorado State? No, because I predict they run shop on Colorado State. Will he play a little bit longer, maybe 130 snaps, against Oregon? Probably so, depending on how the game is going. Same thing against SC. So I don't buy into this anonymous defensive coordinator."

Hunter hauled in 11 receptions for 119 yards and made a diving goal-line interception in Colorado's 45-42 road win over TCU in Week 1. Last week, he had three receptions for 73 yards and four combined tackles against Nebraska. Colorado's defense held Nebraska to 14 points, which included a 57-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jeff Sims and a touchdown with one second remaining in an eventual 36-14 win.

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No. 18 Colorado looks to keep the ball rolling against Colorado State on Saturday night. "Big Noon Kickoff" will be live from Boulder at 10 a.m. ET on Saturday.

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