Despite the saying “the cream rises to the top,” Travis Hunter’s journey seems to have had its fair share of obstacles. Yet week after week, he’s turned heads with jaw-dropping performances that feel almost effortless. Even with the Buffs crushing the Cowboys 52-0 on Saturday, their hopes for the Big 12 Title Game and playoffs are officially over. But Hunter? He’s still making waves across the nation. On Thursday, his HE12MAN campaign lit up New York City, a bold move marking the end of his remarkable regular season.

Hunter capped his Heisman campaign in style, delivering one of his best games of the year: an interception as a cornerback, 116 receiving yards, and 3 touchdowns as a wide receiver. The result? On December 4, CUBuffs shared a video clip on their Instagram account with the caption, “Nothing he can’t do.#HE12MAN“. As per the video clip, the future NFL draft pick was featured on a few billboards in Times Square. One had Hunter striking the Heisman stance in a commercial for Boost Mobile, a company Coach Prime had a preseason deal with. The tagline simply read, “TRAVIS HUNTER IS HIM.”

Not only this, another poster stated “THE MOST OUTSTANDING PLAYER IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL” showing the Buffs two-way star as a CB and a WR as though he were preparing to defend himself. He totally deserves it. With a stellar record on both sides, he scored 14 touchdowns and grabbed 92 receptions for 1152 yards on offense. And four interceptions deflected 11 passes and had 31 tackles on defense. With that, he snagged the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year award, solidifying his status as one of college football’s brightest stars. And yes, Heisman chatter is buzzing louder than ever.

Enter Coach Prime with his trademark flair. While Shedeur Sanders—Prime’s own son—faces the sting of a Heisman snub, Deion Sanders pulled a bold move for Hunter, launching a flashy Heisman campaign in Times Square. It’s a page straight out of the Buffs’ playbook of innovation, echoing Shedeur’s Nike NIL debut that also graced Times Square. But this time, the spotlight is squarely on Travis. Even Hunter himself was taken aback, commenting, “That’s me 😮” under CU Buffs Football’s post. By elevating Travis, Coach Prime seems to signal a tough decision ahead. Is Shedeur being overlooked because his dad is the coach? Or is Hunter’s two-way dominance simply impossible to ignore?

Travis Hunter’s down-to-earth stance

For CU, Shedeur has been an eye-opener. His personal adventures are indisputable, even though the season was marred by their failure to make the playoffs. Not to mention simply avoiding partisan accusations of nepotism. In the process of displaying some outrageous, unmatched stats, he has gained the nation’s affection. He leads the nation in completion rate, ranks second in touchdowns thrown, ranks third in yards via the air, and is fifth in quarterback rating. In all four of those categories, not a single other signal-caller even made the top 10. At the very least, Shedeur is among the top 5.

However, he is not vying for the Heisman Trophy, which is awarded to the greatest player. Absolutely not in the calculation. Travis Hunter, his colleague and the frontrunner, is more perplexed by this than anybody else. And Hunter said it well when he summarized this very concrete idea that Shedeur has been mishandled. “Guess what? They’re all gonna be mad because he’s still gonna be there.[If] I get invited, He get invited. No matter if they didn’t invite him.[If] I walk on that stage, he might walk on that stage. So, at the end of the day, we both won.” Well, the 14th of December will be a big day—let’s see what unfolds.