Travis Hunter Jr. Set To Join Exclusive Club Alongside Deion Sanders After Unsurprising Commitment

Travis Hunter Jr. did exactly what he was expected to do on Wednesday night. The former No. 1 overall recruit in the Class of 2022 officially committed to play for Colorado after entering the transfer portal following the Celebration Bowl.

Coach Prime said that the move was imminent and the writing was on the wall over the weekend, even though Hunter said that he had not come to a decision. It was always going to be the Buffaloes.

Now that it is a done deal, Hunter is set to join an exclusive club alongside his head coach, Deion Sanders. He, presumably, will be one of very few players to play on both sides of the ball on the FBS level. That club gets even smaller in the modern era.

Hunter played defensive back and wide receiver for Jackson State this past fall. He even paid homage to his head coach after one of the most dominant games from any player in 2022.

Sanders played all over the field in college and in the NFL— but spent most of his time at corner back. With that said, he believes that he could have made the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a wide receiver.

When Coach Prime started recruiting Hunter to Mississippi, it came with a promise. Other schools wanted the top-ranked recruit to play only on defense. Sanders said he wanted to use him on both sides of the ball.

In the end, Hunter shocked everybody by choosing Jackson State over Florida State and Miami, among others. Now, one year later, there is no shock in his decision to play for Colorado.

With the move, Hunter will be playing at a Power Five school, rather than an FCS program. Assuming that nothing about his role changes, he is set to be a two-way star.

This puts him in an exclusive club.

Other notable two-way players include Jim Thorpe, Charles Woodson, Fred Biletnikoff, Dick Butkus, Bronko Nagurski, Chuck Bednarik, and Champ Bailey. None of those guys played college ball past 2000.

While the two-way player has seen a slight resurgence over the last decade, with the likes of Ole Miss' Robert Nkemdiche, USC's Adoree Jackson, UCLA's Myles Jack, and Oregon State's Jack Colletto, they are still uncommon. And none of them are like Hunter, who barely comes off of the field.

Hunter will presumably continue to see significant time on offense and defense, and he could very easily become the greatest two-way player of all-time. His talent is unmatched, which is why he earned the No. 1 ranking, and now he gets to show off against Pac-12 defensive backs as a pass-catcher and lock down Pac-12 receivers as a defensive back. Pretty cool!