Deion Sanders To Give Travis Hunter His Thorpe Award After Hunter Gets Snubbed

Colorado Buffaloes head football coach Deion Sanders slammed the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award on Tuesday after it snubbed two-way Colorado star football player Travis Hunter from its finalist list.

Hunter, who starts at both wide receiver and cornerback for the 8-3 Buffaloes, is the heavy favorite to win the Heisman Trophy heading into the final weeks before the winner is announced on December 14. The latest odds in betting markets have Hunter at -1,000 — giving him an implied 90.9% chance of winning the most prestigious award in college football, according to BetMGM. The award is given to the most valuable player in college football every year.

The projected No. 1 NFL Draft pick for next year was named as a finalist for multiple awards on Tuesday, including the Maxwell Award (for best all-around player), Biletnikoff Award (for best wide receiver), Bednarik Award (for best defensive player), Hornung Award (for most versatile player) and Walter Camp Award (for most outstanding player).

However, it was the one award for which Hunter was not a finalist that upset Sanders — who starred in the NFL and MLB at the same time.

“How is Travis Hunter snubbed for the Jim Thorpe Award?” Sanders asked at a press conference. “You could have my award. You could have it back. Matter of fact, I’m gonna give him mine. I ain’t using it. It’s just sitting up there collecting dust. So Travis can have my Thorpe award because if this ain’t the most idiotic thing in college football that he’s not a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award and he is — I would say arguably but I don’t really think it’s an argument about this young man being the best defensive back in college football.”

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“He rarely gets thrown at,” he continued. “He’s won a game for tackling for us. And he’s always on point. So if you bring up the statistics I don’t know how in the world is Travis Hunter not a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award. They just pretty much messed up all the integrity of the award, and he can have mine.”

Coach Prime on Travis Hunter not being a finalist for the Jim Thorpe award:

“How is Travis Hunter snubbed by the Thorpe. You can have my award, you can have it back. In fact i’m gonna give him mine” pic.twitter.com/vHHUF24CzA

— DNVR Buffs (@DNVR_Buffs) November 26, 2024

If Hunter wins the Heisman Trophy, he will become only the second defensive player in history to win the award.

Michigan Wolverines cornerback Charles Woodson in 1997 was the only defensive player to win the Heisman.

However, there is a key difference between Woodson and Hunter. Woodson only played situationally on offense and started on defense, whereas Hunter starts on both sides of the ball and plays nearly every play in the game outside of special teams.

During Woodson’s Heisman year, he intercepted seven passes and made 43 tackles on defense while catching 11 passes for 231 yards and a receiving touchdown on offense. He also had 1 rushing touchdown.

So far in 2024, Hunter has intercepted three passes and deflected breakups — despite rarely being thrown at — and had a game-winning forced fumble on the goal line against Baylor. On offense, Hunter has 82 catches for 1,036 yards and 11 touchdowns, and one rushing touchdown.