Deion Sanders praises Travis Hunter for stepping up as a coach while sidelined

Colorado has been without two-way star Travis Hunter since the Colorado State game, after the star player suffered a lacerated liver. But that hasn’t stopped Hunter from making a major impact.

Hunter has been on the sidelines coaching up his teammates ever since he was knocked out of the lineup. And that’s not something coach Deion Sanders put him up to.

“You don’t instruct dogs to be dogs,” Sanders said. “That’s just who he is.”

Hunter made quite the name for himself in the first few weeks of the season by playing both ways for the Buffaloes. It’s a relatively unheard of thing at the college level, but Hunter had managed it well.

One of the reasons he’s able to coach up his guys so effectively is that he knows what he’s looking at. He’s a student of the game, like a few others that have mimicked the teaching at Colorado.

“I don’t know if you watched, well you guys are not in practice, but Shedeur (Sanders), after a pass play or whatever, he’s always coaching the receivers,” Sanders said. “And even sometimes in the game saying this, this and this. Those type of guys, that’s who they are. That’s what they do, because they want everyone to come up. When everyone comes up we’re better as a whole.

“But Travis took it upon himself to do what he does. That’s what he does when he’s on the field, he’s challenging that other corner because he knows that other corner’s going to get a whole lot of balls, they really are.”

In the first three games of the season, Travis Hunter recorded 16 catches for 213 yards on offense, while racking up nine tackles, an interception and two pass breakups on defense.

It’s what he’s doing off the field, though, that has his coach so impressed.

“I’m loving what I’m seeing,” Sanders said. “When Cormani (McClain) get his thing together in its totality and mentally ready to compete every single play and Travis and Shilo (Sanders), shoot, (Myles) Slusher be back. I mean, c’mon man. C’mon. This is something, it’s going to be something to behold in the secondary.”