The 2024 Premier Player of College Football Award Winner is Travis Hunter of the Colorado Buffaloes.

It is fair to say that we haven’t seen a player like Hunter at the FBS college level in decades. Many high school players work on both sides of the ball, but to carry that skillset into a Power 5 conference the way that Hunter has with the Buffs in the Big 12 is unheard of in the modern age.

Hunter played every snap this season on offense and defense for Colorado. The level of fitness, dedication to conditioning, and mental acuity it takes to play that many snaps is almost indescribable. To do that and be the best player on the roster, both as a wide receiver and a cornerback, is ludicrous.

Hunter is not just a star on one side and a bit player on the other. He was named the award winner because he is an All-American-level performer at both. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Suwanee, Georgia native was an offensive powerhouse with 92 receptions for 1,152 yards.

He also had 32 tackles, seven pass breakups, and four interceptions on defense. Despite rarely being targeted by opposing quarterbacks, this is because of his broad receiver skills when playing corner. He totaled 15 touchdowns as the ultimate tool for head coach Deion Sanders.

Hunter started and finished the season hot. He had 30 catches for almost 350 yards and five receiving touchdowns in the Buffs first three games, including a dominant performance in a 28-9 victory over Colorado State. This was a game that Colorado had to have, entering the contest at 1-1 after a potentially demoralizing defeat at Nebraska. Hunter put this game on his shoulders, amassing 13 receptions and leading the way in a season-turning victory.

The Buffaloes finished in a four-way tie for the conference’s top spot. Still, Big 12 tie-breaking procedures saw Arizona State and Iowa State compete in the Big 12 Championship Game over Colorado and BYU. Colorado’s November loss to a resurgent Kansas proved its undoing, but Hunter’s Buffs were excellent down the stretch, winning eight of their last ten contests.

The loss against Kansas was another of Hunter’s best of the year. He has eight catches for 125 yards and two touchdowns in the 37-21 defeat, proving again to be the best offensive weapon for quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Sanders backed that effort up with his second three-touchdown performance of the year, catching ten balls for 116 yards and three scores in a 52-0 thumping of Oklahoma Stae in the Buffs regular-season finale.

The Buffs now face fellow Big 12 member BYU in the Alamo Bowl in a meeting of schools that finished the regular season in the top 25. A win would give Colorado double-digit victories for the first time since 2016 and for just the third time this century. A big performance by Hunter on the national stage against BYU would make for an incredible ending to an outstanding 2024 campaign.