Travis Hunter updates progress in learning to play both sides of the ball

It’s extremely rare that you see a college football player get reps on both offense and defense, but Travis Hunter is out to prove he is no ordinary player. Hunter saw action at both receiver and cornerback as a true freshman last season at Jackson State and plans to do the same at the FBS level after following Deion Sanders to Colorado.

Hunter has worked solely with the offense this spring as he attempts to learn the new scheme, saying that defense comes naturally to him and he can pick that up later on.

“We had a conversation because I ain’t played a lot of snaps of offense last year,” he said. “I wanted to come in and know the playbook so they don’t have to tell me sneaky signals and other teams get used to it knowing when I’m coming in the game if I’m getting the ball or not. We just came in and said I’ve got to learn the playbook. Once I learn the playbook, I’ll go back to defense and learn the defensive playbook. Then I can go both ways no matter what.”

Hunter ranked as the No. 2 overall prospect and No. 1 athlete in the 2022 class according to the On3 Industry Rating, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. But while most athletes focus in on one position in college, Sanders — who himself played both offense and defense at Florida State — didn’t see a reason to limit Hunter’s talent.

Travis Hunter played more on defense than he did on offense, finishing with 20 tackles, two interceptions and 10 pass break ups in eight games at Jackson State. But his skills at receiver were still on display as he caught 18 passes for 188 yards and four touchdowns. That included a go-ahead score against NC Central in the Celebration Bowl.

After showing his two-way ability in 2022, Hunter is looking to build upon that with the Buffaloes. He doesn’t just want to be good, but great at both positions. He was told that Colorado receivers coach Brett Bartolone thinks Hunter likes playing receiver to “make people look bad,” and the young star couldn’t help but smile and agree.

“Yeah, that’s my favorite thing to do,” he said. “I like to make people look bad. It’s just me wanting to go out and dominate. I want to dominate everything that I do. So me going out there and dominating them is just natural to me.”

Coming off of a 1-11 finish in 2022, Colorado has a long way to go to become competitive in the Pac-12. But with Hunter and many of the other transfers Sanders brought with him to Boulder, there’s a good chance they’re already much-improved in Year 1.