Paul Finebaum stumps for Travis Hunter over Cam Ward as 2024 Heisman Trophy frontrunner

Cam Ward turned in another excellent performance for Miami Saturday but Paul Finebaum still favors Travis Hunter for the Heisman Trophy.

With a week off for Colorado, Hunter appeared on ESPN’s College GameDay and was presented to a national audience. That’s how Finebaum saw it: Hunter was campaigning while Ward beat Duke.

So in the final stretch of the season, Ward has to catch Hunter for the Heisman Trophy.

“I am very much out, and we all know what he did yesterday, but it was against Duke,” Finebaum said on SportsCenter. “And don’t forget, while he was throwing touchdowns, the other guy, Travis Hunter, was on the campaign trail. He was in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania on College GameDay, and I think he may have helped his cause more with that audience than Cam did playing Duke in an early game. 

“But I still think Travis Hunter, when he returns next week, will command the lead. We still have five weeks to go. All it takes is one bad outing, and the Heisman goes away quickly.”

Travis Hunter still frontrunner for Heisman?

In nine games this season, Ward has 3,146 yards, 29 touchdowns, six interceptions and a 67.1% completion percentage. He also has 187 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns.

Hunter, meanwhile, has 60 catches for 757 yards, eight touchdowns, 12.6 yards per catch, 21 tackles, one tackle for loss, two interceptions, seven pass deflections and one forced fumble.

On the top of everyone’s mind Saturday was how Hunter will line up in the NFL. A two-way star in college, he has played both cornerback and receiver and proven equally proficient in both. That’s how he’d like to leave it.

“Nah, a lot of people try to put me in a box if I’ve got to pick a position, but I’ve been doing this my whole life,” Hunter said. “I’ve been doing this since I was playing Little League football, so all I know is to play both ways. So it’s not up to me to pick up and see what I go play.”

So when it comes to picking one or the other, Hunter doesn’t want to be the one to make that call.

“I feel more natural with both of them. Ever since I started and been able to have a trainer I’ve been training on each side of the ball, so it’s been pretty simple and easy for me,” Travis Hunter said. “I think wherever the NFL needs me or whatever team I go to, wherever they need me I’m going to go out there and just play ball.”