Travis Hunter, CB/WR, Colorado
Size:
Height: 6003
Weight: 188
Arm: 31 ⅜”
Hand: 9 ⅛”
Accomplishments:
Heisman Trophy (2024) • Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year (2024) • First Team All-Big 12 Offense/Defense (2024) • Consensus First-Team All-American (2023) • First-Team All-Pac-12 (2023) • Paul Hornung Award Winner (2023) • SWAC Freshman of the Year (2022) • Second-Team All-SWAC (2022) • 5-star recruit
Travis Hunter is a former five-star and No. 1-rated recruit from the 2022 class. He is an electric athlete who began his career bypassing Power 5 football and spent his first year in the SWAC with Deion Sanders at Jackson State, an HBCU college program. After spending a year there, he followed Sanders to Colorado to continue his collegiate career. Hunter is an explosive two-way athlete who makes impact plays in coverage and as a dynamic wide receiver.
Travis Hunter CB Scouting Report
“Travis Hunter projects to being an elite zone corner who can use his instincts to bait quarterbacks into throwing the ball into situations where he can create turnovers and game-changing plays for the defense.”
Strengths:
Quick twitch
Scheme/coverage versatility
Great eyes, instincts, and recognition skills
Change of direction and burst
Elite ball skills
Concerns:
Thin, wiry frame
Underdeveloped press-man technique
Scheme-specific
Film Analysis:
In man-to-man coverage, Hunter displays the athletic ability to stay in phase and not lose foot races when threatened vertically. Hunter’s quick and smooth footwork, fluid hips, and explosive athleticism allow him to mirror his target during the release phase. Sanders has the potential due to his athletic profile to become a sticky man-to-man defender with the right development and time.
Hunter has an elite ceiling as a primary zone cornerback. He has great instincts, football IQ, and vision to read and diagnose route concepts. He has a quick trigger to click and close on routes breaking in front of him. He has excellent ball skills to generate turnovers—he is a coverage playmaker. Hunter’s ability to play the halfway point of Hi-Lo reads is special. This is why he excels at baiting QBs to test vulnerable windows. He has a smooth backpedal to pair with his excellent change of direction skills, making it difficult to work past him with deep zone responsibilities.
Hunter’s situational awareness is one of his best traits. He understands offensive formations and what routes can potentially manifest post-snap, especially in the red zone. He works press-bail well by quickly jamming his receiver before dropping to his landmarks and will hinge toward threatening routes entering his zone.
One of Hunter’s biggest concerns is his lack of weight and body mass. He is a thin-framed CB who can struggle in press-man situations against bigger receivers. Into the route, he can be boxed out of position on inside-breaking routes where the receiver can use their body to shield him from the football—limiting his chances of playing through the pocket and forcing a PBU. Adding some weight and muscle mass can help negate this issue.
Hunter also needs to improve the consistency in his technique in press situations. In most of Hunter's reps, he chooses a hard inside or outside leverage and plays something similar to a bail technique in zone. Hunter has some growth to make in press alignment to become more consistent and lose early in reps. He can be too anxious and aggressive in the contact window allowing receivers the opportunity to counter his punches. He will lean on using two-hand punches which can result in being quickly defeated and stacked/placed in trail position. Hunter can be moved off the spot and create a path for the receiver with sudden and strong jab steps. If beaten quickly, he has the speed to get back into phase but will look back for the ball instead of closing the space and playing the receiver first—causing sight loss of the ball in flight.
As a tackler, Hunter is willing to stick his face in the fire. That said, due to his frame, he is not an ideal candidate to step in on run support on a consistent basis.
Overall, Hunter projects as a versatile coverage cornerback with primary zone principles. His athleticism, instincts, and ball skills give him a Pro-Bowl-caliber ceiling.
CB Projection: Day 1 – Pro Bowl Caliber
Travis Hunter WR Scouting Report
"Travis Hunter is a talented wide receiver prospect who projects to be an impact player in the NFL using his elite athleticism, football IQ, ball skills, and run-after-catch ability to be a constant and high-level impact offensive weapon."
Strengths:
Route-running
Elite-level ball skills and playmaking
Football IQ and coverage recognition
Twitchy and fluid change of direction
Run-after-catch skill set
Concerns:
Thin, wiry frame
Injury concerns
Functional strength
Physicality to beat press-man
Film Analysis:
Against man coverage, Hunter has the long speed to win the vertical plane and generate big, explosive plays down the field for his offense. He uses foot quickness and a twitchy lower body to speed release at the line of scrimmage and immediately become even with his DB as he works to stack them during his route stem. Hunter’s route stems are a strength of his game—squaring up and moving his defenders off their spots. He knows how to push defenders upfield and open multiple route possibilities. He can mix up his route tempo and pacing to keep DBs off balance.
Hunter snaps out of his breaks with great quickness and pop to create initial separation from his coverage defender. His experience as a CB comes into play because he understands defensive leveraging and how to alter his releases based on pre-snap alignment. Hunter has great body control and leaping ability to high-point passes over defenders—he makes incredible acrobatic catches/efforts look routine. He is skilled with patience and ball tracking to connect on back-shoulder fades.
When faced with zone coverage, Hunter has the football IQ and coverage recognition skills to find vulnerable areas of the coverage. His toughness is noticeable as he is fearless working across the middle of the field. Hunter alters his routes based on the zone defender’s drop depth, judging whether to go over or underneath their coverage. His spatial awareness is excellent—he has a great feel for where closing defenders are related to his positioning on the field.
Hunter is a dynamic run-after-catch weapon, who can turn a five-yard route into a 20- or 30-yard gain. He is difficult to bring down by the first defender in a phone booth as he will use jump-cuts, step-backs, and spin moves to force missed tackles. Like a dribbler in the NBA, he can make defenders look silly in the open field. He has great change-of-direction skills to make plays after the catch.
Areas of concern with Hunter begin with his thin and wiry frame. He struggled against physical bump-and-run coverage when the DB punches re-routed him in the contact window—leading into his limited release package and press alignment technique. These things can be corrected with coaching emphasis on using his hands to counter-punch aggressive and physical DBs. Playing through contact is a worry for Hunter due to a lack of functional strength and muscle mass. He battled injuries during his career due to physical hits and awkward landings.
Overall, Hunter is a highly skilled wide receiver who excels in attacking all three levels of the defense. His combination of coverage recognition, explosive athleticism, ball skills, and run-after-catch ability creates an impact offensive playmaker.
WR Projection: Day 1 – Pro Bowl Caliber
Exposures: Baylor (2024), Nebraska (2024), UCF (2024), Oregon State (2023), Stanford (2023), TCU (2023), Nebraska (2023), UCLA (2023), Washington State (2023), Arizona (2023)
