Even before lifting the Heisman, the former Colorado Buffaloes star Travis Hunter had become a fan favorite. For instance, Bruce Feldman tagged Hunter as “generational talent.” We have also seen Deion Sanders say, “ain’t nobody like Travis.” As a receiver, he’s amassed 153 receptions for 1,979 yards and 20 touchdowns over two seasons. Defensively, he’s recorded 53 total tackles, 8 interceptions, and 29 passes defended. Now that he has gone off to the NFL, college football fans might be crestfallen. Here comes some good news.

Kudos go to P.J. Fleck’s Minnesota. The Golden Gophers are now the home for a dual-threat in the making. That’s none other than their safety, Koi Perich. The young stud has already earned Fleck’s trust as he racked up some prestigious preseason honors. But nothing is more interesting than being ‘the next Travis Hunter’ in the making. But will it be easy?

Hunter held the top spot with the best INT-per-target ratio of any player in the Power 4 conferences. He was a shoo-in for Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and garnered unanimous All-American status. Now, Fleck’s safety also wants to follow Hunter’s footsteps. Perich and Drake Lindsey are going over offensive formations in the back of their freshman classes at the University of Minnesota. At the Big Ten Media Days, the head coach shared how he has been deploying safety Perich on both sides for 2025. “He got a ton of credit for being a two-way player, right?” Fleck said. “There’s not a lot of people who can do that and do it successfully. We feel Koi can.”

But the head coach is mindful enough not to create undue pressure on Perich by constantly comparing him to Hunter. “And I’m not comparing him to Travis Hunter by any means. But I’m saying that [Hunter] is somebody who did it within the last decade [and showed] how hard it really is. And if you’re going to do it, you’ve got to be both feet in on it. But if there’s one person that can do it, it’s Koi,” clarified Fleck. When Perich took the gridiron for the first time at Gophers’ spring practice, rumors immediately began circulating about an expanded offensive role in 2025.

Perich, too, was a two-way star at the high school level with 61 carries for 708 yards and 16 touchdowns as a senior. He held offers from Ohio State, USC, and Florida State. But he finally chose to be part of Minnesota. Now, is continuing as a two-way star something that Fleck imposed upon him? No way. When the safety signed up with the Golden Gophers in 2023, he had already had a word with the head coach. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, he shared, “I always wanted to do it. Coming out of high school, in recruitment, I wanted to do it too. I talked with Coach Fleck about it in recruitment, and it just came to be this year.” Now, what are the factors that would help Perich to become the next Hunter?   

How Koi Perich ticks off the boxes to become a two-way star 

First things first, the safety’s athletic profile. Perich stands tall at 6-foot-1 and weighs 200 pounds, which makes it a cakewalk for him to switch in a two-way role. Secondly, he has tested himself, playing all three phases on the football field at Esko High School. Fleck’s star scored touchdowns as a runner, receiver, passer, punt returner, kick returner, and defender in his senior year alone. And you know what’s a bonus? Perich was a standout basketball player and track athlete, with a 2022 Class A long jump state championship to show for it.

As Fleck noted, Perich runs the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds. His biggest flex? A 360-degree windmill dunk during basketball warmups. Not just the head coach, Perich got a clean chit from his mate, Minnesota quarterback Lindsey. “He’s an absolute freak show. He’s very smart, he knows all our plays really well, and he’s doing a good job learning the playbook. And he’s just very special with the ball in his hands. I personally like how he plays really fast. He doesn’t think much, he just goes, and I think that’s one of the best qualities about Koi,” said Lindsey.

As Koi Perich devoted all spring and summer to focusing on little more than conditioning himself to have a breakthrough in his dual-threat role, the efforts did not go unnoticed. He is one of 35 defensive backs from across the nation to be named preseason watch list for the Jim Thorpe Award. Other than this, he finds his name on the Bronko Nagurski Trophy watch list. Hold on, that’s not all. He earned Sporting News Second Team All-American status. Now, one question remains. Can Perich match the magic that made Travis Hunter a college football unicorn?