Colorado’s two-way star Travis Hunter earned the 2024 Heisman Award but many felt like Boise State running back Ahston Jeanty should have left with the award. Here are the students’ opinions.
As the college football season comes to a close, Colorado’s two-way star Travis Hunter was recognized as the 2024 Heisman Trophy winner which represents the most outstanding player of the 2024 season.
Hunter won over his counterparts including Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty and quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel (Oregon) and Cameron Ward (Miami).
In doing so, Hunter is the first Colorado player since running back Rashaan Salaam in 1994 to win the honors. He is the first non-quarterback since Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith (2020) to win the award and the first defensive back since Michigan’s Charles Woodson (1997), shared by USA Today.
Here is a breakdown of the four finalists following their 2024 seasons, many of which still have bowl games to compete in over the next few weeks:
Hunter, who was named an All-American at three different positions by CBS Sports: Cornerback (first team), wide receiver (second team), and all-purpose (first team), put together one of the most impressive seasons in college football in both of his positions. The junior recorded 1,443 snaps (120.3 per game), while no other Heisman finalist played more than 873 snaps.
According to CBS Sports, Hunter ranked top six nationally in receptions (92), receiving yards (1,152) and touchdowns (14) as a receiver. As a defensive back, he led the nation in coverage grade, per Pro Football Focus, and tied for No. 5 nationally in passes defended (15 passes defended, 11 PBUs, four interceptions).
This year’s race was one of the closest since 2009 after Hunter won the Heisman after receiving 552 first-place votes and 2,231 points while Jeanty was second with 309 first-place votes and 2,017 points.
Jeanty, who has led his team to its second consecutive Mountain West Championship and a chance to play in the National Playoff, has carried the ball 344 times for 2,497 yards, leading the nation in both categories. He is tied for first in the nation with 29 touchdowns and needs just 132 yards in the College Football Playoff to break Barry Sanders’ single-season rushing record of 2,628 which was set at Oklahoma State in 1988.
With Gabriel’s third-place finish, No. 1 Oregon has now had two straight seasons with quarterbacks finishing in the same spot after Bo Nix earned third behind LSU’s Jayden Daniels and Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. in 2023.
Gabriel, who transferred to Oregon for his sixth season after spending the last few years at Alabama, has passed for 3,558 yards and 28 touchdowns so far, also adding 63 carries for 192 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground.
Lastly, Miami’s Cam Ward finished fourth overall in voting after putting up some of the best numbers in the nation at quarterback: He completed 293 of 435 passes for 4,123 yards while leading the nation with 36 passing touchdowns.
Hunter vs. Jeanty Debate:
Following the results on Saturday, a lot of buzz followed saying that Jeanty should have won, even the running back himself “felt like he should’ve walked away with the award.”
To test the debate, I posted about who should have won the Heisman this year and the results were as follows:
- 42 votes (53%) believed Hunter deserved the coveted award
- 34 votes (43%) believed Jeanty was robbed of the award
- 3 votes (4%) had “other opinions.”
Andre Castillo, ‘25, explained why this year’s award was so controversial: “The argument comes down to whether you value historical statistical dominance or historically elite versatility.”
Joshua Meneses-Snyder, ‘25, shared his opinion saying, “Jeanty fans want to argue using statistics, and by using pure basic statistics. I am not saying that Jeanty isn’t elite, and was by far the best RB in college football, but Hunter is just far more impressive. Being the best CB with the stats to back it up, while also being the most valuable weapon that the buffs have is unbelievable.”
He recognized that while Hunter has an elite quarterback in Shedeur Sanders to help his numbers, Jeanty doesn’t have that privilege: “It makes sense that a generational player (Jeanty) would produce the statistics he did in his situation. However, I would just say he could be labeled as a more elite Skattebo from ASU while having more of a role in the offense.”
For context, running back Cam Skattebo of Arizona State was left out the finalists despite also putting up some of the best numbers in the nation: On the year, he has rushed for 1,568 yards, which ranks No. 5 in the country, while also rushing for 19 touchdowns, which ranked No. 8 in the nation. He also added 37 catches for 506 yards and three receiving touchdowns, according to Athlon Sports.
Skattebo recently led Arizona State to a Big 12 Championship in its first season in the new conference, locking down the chance to play in its first-ever College Football Playoff. In the title game, he accumulated 208 total yards and three touchdowns en route to Arizona State’s 45-19 win over Iowa State to earn Big 12 Championship Game MVP despite not getting the chance to hoist the Heisman this season.
He concluded with, “Travis Hunter is just the most elite two-way player we have ever seen since Deion. I’m glad Hunter flipped from Florida State to join Prime at Jackson State University, it was the greatest decision he could have made…Both players will have incredible careers at the next level, I have no doubt. But, Hunter was just unbelievable this year on both sides of the ball.”
Adam King, ‘25, had a different approach to the Heisman award saying that he thinks “it should be someone who makes a significant impact on their team, which is seen through record and results partially.”
He added, “Ashton Jeanty literally led Boise State to the playoffs, and if Travis Hunter deserved the Heisman, especially playing both sides of the ball (so he should have more impact than Jeanty in theory), they should’ve at least made their conference championship.”
Colorado finished No. 23 in the final edition of the College Football Playoff Rankings this season after recording a 9-3 overall record. The Buffs, who had a dominant turnaround season in Deion Sanders’ second year as head coach, still fell short of their preseason hopes after narrowly missing out on the Big 12 Championship Game.
King added that “Hunter had good numbers and all, but was not first in any category, while Jeanty was first in almost every category and put up similar numbers to Barry Sanders who won the Heisman in 1988.
Kimberly Pena, ‘25, strongly believed Travis Hunter deserved the award saying that “Ashton played phenomenally all season long however it was against teams that weren’t as competitive as the teams that Travis faced all season long. Travis played both sides of the ball and continued to score while playing great defense through games that hasn’t been seen since Charles Woodson.”
She concluded with “Travis Hunter is an electric player and showed that he can play at any level of competition,” making him worthy of the Heisman Award.
To counter that, Castillo said, “Travis Hunter can play both sides of the ball at an incredible level, something we rarely see at the college level. However, I don’t think we should discredit the season Ashton Jeanty had because of a lower level of competition. Jeanty was simply the most dominant and impactful player in college football this year. Nonetheless, both are deserving and it’s a bummer that one of them had to fall short.”
As Castillo says, both players had remarkable, unprecedented years, making it one of the most exciting seasons of college football in years. Both Jeanty and Gabriel have a chance to continue to make history in the College Football Playoff and despite winning the Heisman Award have the chance to win the CFP Championship, something that Hunter cannot say, just yet at least.