WATCH: No. 1 overall recruit Travis Hunter makes circus TD catch
It is Travis Hunter‘s world, and we are all living in it.
At least for this week. The Five-Star Plus+ athlete out of Suwanee (Ga.) Collins Hill dominated the headlines this week after his historic flip from Florida State to Jackson State.
Now on Saturday, Hunter made the play of the day with an insane circus touchdown catch that needs to be seen to be believed.
Hunter is the No. 1 player in the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.
The nation’s No. 1 receiver flipping to any school would be a big deal, but to flip to an FCS school was unheard of before Wednesday.
But Travis Hunter, and his new coach Deion Sanders, both make the unreal possible on the football field.
“I can’t recall a 5-star prospect ever signing with an FCS program that was good to go academically,” On3 National Recruiting Analyst Gerry Hamilton said. “This is a huge, huge, huge win for Deion Sanders. Make no mistake, this places Sanders on the fast track to be a Power 5 head coach. And this is a devastating loss for Florida State. Not much shocks you in this business after 20-plus years. My jaw has been dropped. Incredible.”
The full impact of the decision won’t be known for a few years.
In the short term, Hunter’s NIL evaluation skyrocketed. He entered Wednesday with an NIL evaluation of $393k, but after he announced his college decision and gained more followers and eyeballs across all his platforms, that number rose to $552k.
For HBCUs, it could be a changing of the guard. On3’s Jeremy Johnson writes that other HBCUs, not just Jackson State, have the opportunity to capitalize on the growing interest in their programs by extending offers and recruiting some of the nation’s top players.
As for the Travis Hunter’s Saturday touchdown catch, it put Suwanee Collins Hill up 10-7 in the second quarter.