Travis Hunter wears "Bland" T-shirt poking fun at Richard Sherman's incendiary comments

Elite athletes will look for sources of motivation anywhere they can find them, and two-way Colorado star Travis Hunter appears to have found his in the form of Richard Sherman.

The former NFL great made some comments on a podcast last week about Hunter’s two-way ability at the NFL level, comments that essentially amounted to him calling Hunter “bland” as a receiver prospect.

Hunter showed up on Saturday to a game against UCF wearing a white T-shirt with the word “Bland” on it, surrounded by quotation marks. Check it out below.

Travis Hunter pulled up to Colorado game in "bland" T-Shirt after Richard Sherman called him a "bland" receiver earlier this week 👀

Hunter says Sherman apologized for the criticism

(via @YahooSports)pic.twitter.com/c0bVjgTC6f

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 28, 2024

As he strode past some onlookers, including the one with the camera on the field, Hunter flashed a big grin. He looked ready to roll against the Knights.

And it’s hard to fault Travis Hunter for being upset that anyone might question his ability.

He’s been an absolute superstar through the first handful of games this season, putting up excellent outing after excellent outing on both sides of the ball. He’s coming off his best game yet, a seven-catch, 130-yard performance on offense, coupled with the game-winning forced fumble on defense.

Earlier this week, Hunter responded to Sherman’s comments on his Instagram account, saying simply: “Stop speaking on me let me play football.”

In fairness, Sherman didn’t really knock Travis Hunter’s two-way ability at the college level, he really just questioned whether it was doable at the NFL level.

“We’re not playing 50 snaps on offense and 55 snaps on defense,” Sherman said on the St. Brown Podcast. “Boy those coordinators on offense, they’re going to test you. These quarterbacks are going to say, ‘Hey let’s see how in shape you are by the end of the fourth quarter. We just saw you run three go routes, I’m about to bring our third receiver in to run you on three more go routes, and then let Amon-Ra go ahead and do work baby.”

Sherman was later asked which way Travis Hunter might be best served to play at the next level and he provided his thoughts on that, too.

“I think he goes as a corner just because receivers his size… he’s not a special size, super dynamic route runner,” Sherman said. “He’s a great athlete and he’s smooth so he can get it done. I’m sure if he focused on receiver he could be elite but as a corner, he just looks natural. It’s back to catching a ball and he’s in position all the time. He’s breaking right, he has a good feel for it, and it’s so rare.”

As for him, Travis Hunter simply wants to play ball and then let the chips fall where they may.