When Travis Hunter picked JSU to start his collegiate career, the big question on everyone’s mind was: Why JSU? Well, there were plenty of reasons, sure. But ask his dad, Travis Hunter Sr., and he’ll tell you that JSU definitely wasn’t his first pick for his oldest son.

It was actually Florida State and Georgia. After Hunter won the high school championship game, his dad told him, “You’re going to Florida State.” The reasons were palpable because everyone thought Hunter would go to Florida State. However, the two-way star had other plans, of which his dad wasn’t aware.

“After the game he won, I was at his coach’s house,” Hunter Sr. added. “So, he (Travis Hunter) drove over there the next morning. He’s like, ‘Dad, it ain’t no Florida State. Florida State dead.'” And, well… let’s just say that decision didn’t exactly sit well with his dad at first.

After all, Hunter Sr. was now thinking that his son would go to Georgia. But his son, on the other hand, still had other plans that he was yet to share with his dad. “So, me personally, I’m mad now because I’m thinking you’re going to go to Georgia,” Travis’ dad continued. “And I know how that is. I know, they’re going to try to bribe the family and all. I already, everybody know that. I’m not taking nothing from nobody. So I’m like, ‘Bro, you go to Georgia, I ain’t coming to none of your games.’ Told him straight up, ‘If you go there, bro, I’m not coming to none of your games.”

But even before those circumstances emerged, Travis Hunter had already made up his mind. He wanted to play for Deion ‘Coach Prime’ Sanders’ team—JSU. “…He’s like, ‘No, I’m playing for Coach Prime,” Travis’ dad said. “I went, I instantly went to crying, bro. Instantly went to crying because he like I did something wrong. But in my head, it’s like, ‘Bro, they’re calling you best DB. They saying that you play just like this man. Now you’re going to play for this man.’ Everybody love the D (Sanders).”

Coming out of Collins Hill High School, Travis Hunter was a hot commodity, with 18 offers on the table, including heavyweights like Florida State and Georgia. Yet, the future Jaguars corner/wideout shocked everyone by picking Jackson State. But if you ask Hunter himself, he’ll probably tell you a bunch of reasons behind joining Sanders’s JSU, while ditching his dad’s ultimate choice: Georgia.

Travis Hunter had three reasons to join JSU

If the buzz is to be believed, there were three clear reasons why Travis Hunter joined JSU. And no, it wasn’t because Deion Sanders was also a two-way star in his early football days. First, Hunter grew up idolizing Coach Prime. Second, Sanders earned the trust of Hunter’s mom, which mattered just as much as the football side. And third, the two had actually built a real connection over their shared love of bass fishing.

And when his dad realized Travis wanted to play for Coach Prime, Hunter Sr. made one thing clear: Sanders is going to push him harder than he’s ever been pushed before. “I said, ‘Bro, this man going to work you harder than I ever worked you, bro. He going to make sure you get where you want to go.'”

Fast forward, Travis spent one season at Jackson State, rushed for nearly 200 yards on offense, and combined 19 tackles on defense before eventually leaving JSU for Colorado along with Coach Prime himself. And let’s just say, under Coach Prime’s coaching at Colorado, his game just got a level up.

In his FBS debut, Hunter did it all. He logged 147 snaps on both offense and defense in a wild 45-43 win over TCU. He hauled in 11 catches for 119 yards, and on the other side of the ball, added three tackles and a pick. By the time his college run under Coach Prime was done, Hunter had piled up 2,167 receiving yards on offense and 80 tackles on defense. A true way star, just like Deion Sanders.