Travis Hunter, the Colorado Buffaloes’ two-way star, is no stranger to college football viewers. He is, after all, the famed Hiesman Trophy winner in 2024. With his trophy cabinet gleaming with awards be it the Chuck Bednarik or Fred Biletnikoff awards. His NIL valuation has been soaring ever since. With a $5.7 Million NIL valuation, according to On3, he is ranked number 3 in the College Football NIL rankings. The sky would always be the limit for Hunter if only he hadn’t faced a glaring challenge in his payday valuation. Let’s dive into the details of how one circumstance could affect Hunter. And how he could potentially face a tremendous loss going forward.

The 2021 NIL decision changed the game for student-athletes across the college football realm. Travis Hunter did capitalize on his NIL valuation to gain several high-end deals. For instance, his Adidas deal came with the perks of limited edition merchandise and jerseys in his name. Furthermore, his 1.9 million followers on TikTok and 2 Million on Instagram certainly helped him land a brand collaboration with the one and only Lionel Messi.

However, things did take a tragic turn with the announcement of TikTok getting banned on 19 January 2025.  The bitter blow is very much expected to affect his NIL valuation, with his 1.9 million followers going away in a poof. But he is concerned mainly about his 92K followers on his other account named ‘thetravishuntershow’. Which is a nearly six-figure loss for him.

He was in fact a regular TikTok user posting dancing videos and posts with Leanna Lenne, his fiancee. On Sunday, after the announcement, Travis Hunter reacted to the news with a ‘TikTok isn’t available in the U.S’ screenshot photo. On his story and feed he posted it with a one-word caption, “Bruhhhhhhhhh” and “RIP”. Tragic right? Well, let’s dive into how the footballer can potentially navigate around this and lessen his NIL perils for now.

Travis’s plans for navigating the impact

Travis Hunter probably has received the news that TikTok will be banned in the U.S. at the worst possible time. After all, it all unfolded after Colorado’s defeat by 14-36 in the Alamo Bowl on 28 Dec, 2024. Where Hunter had an average game for his standards. However, we knew the future is bright for Coach Prime’s star. He is in the running to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

The TikTok thing? Well, it seems like Travis has plans set in place all along about his TikTok loss. He posted an Instagram story from his travishuntershow account about recovering swiftly his 92K followers lost on the same page on TikTok.

Whatever may have been the effect of the ban, it seems Travis is adamant about recovering his lost followers. And doing the requisite damage control. With the NFL draft on his mind now, NIL valuation may well be a less concerning worry for him going forward. If he goes No. 1, the signing amount, in itself, can take care of any monetary loss he may suffer with the TokTok ban.