Dan Lanning praises Travis Hunter, hates he will miss Oregon vs. Colorado

This week, Oregon and Colorado are set to play in a highly anticipated Pac-12 game. However, when Oregon head coach Dan Lanning looks out onto the field, he won’t see Buffaloes’ star Travis Hunter.

Hunter was injured in Colorado’s win over Colorado State, suffering a lacerated liver on a late hit that many perceived as dirty. Because of that, he’ll miss several weeks. That’s a loss that Lanning hates to see happen before their game.

“He’s a special player,” Dan Lanning said. “I absolutely hate that for Travis. He’s a dynamic kid, got a special personality, and obviously he’s tremendous on the football field and he certainly gave them an edge.”

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Travis Hunter committed to play for Deion Sanders when Sanders was at Jackson State. That was a monster decision at the time because Hunter flipped from Florida State and was one of the most highly-touted recruits in the country. According to the On3 Industry Rankings, Hunter was a five-star recruit in the 2022 cycle and the second ranked player overall.

Hunter followed Sanders to Colorado and has been playing both wide receiver and defensive back for the Buffaloes. Replacing him is going to be incredibly difficult for Colorado to do.

“So, I hope he gets healthy soon,” Lanning said. “I hate to not get to see him play in this game because he’s meant for a stage like this, the stage that we’re gonna have this Saturday.”

The loss of Travis Hunter is huge for Colorado. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders explained the impact that Hunter’s injury had on him.

“When Travis went down, it made me feel some type of way honestly because you look like one of my brothers on the offensive side,” Sanders said. “So it really hurt me a lot knowing the work he put in and everything just leading up to the game, knowing you can always count on him in those moments.”

Dan Lanning has a lot of respect for Colorado as a whole

Going into the game against Colorado, Dan Lanning shared that he’s excited for the game and has a lot of respect for Colorado.

“Well, I’m hoping you guys will stop asking me questions so I can go watch the rest of their game. But no we’re excited to play a great opponent, this is gonna be an awesome atmosphere for Oregon Ducks and these are one of those marquee games that we’re really really excited about,” Lanning said.

“So we know we’re gonna get everybody’s best, which is exactly what we want, and I’ve got a lot of respect for that team. It’s obviously a completely different team than it was last year, so let’s see what it looks like when we go out on the field. We hope we get their best and we’re certainly trying to give them ours.”