2024 Heisman Trophy Finalists: Is Travis Hunter Really a Unicorn? Who Was Snubbed?

The Heisman Trophy Ceremony will commence this Friday at 8 PM EST. The winner has all but been decided. There was a minute on Friday night where it looked like Ashton Jeanty might make this a tight vote. I watched Travis Hunter's odds drop from -5000 to -600 on the Draft Kings Sportsbook as Ashton Jeanty went for 132 yards in the first half of the Mountain West Championship. 

Had Jeanty pushed it to over 300 YDS and a couple more TD's by the end of the game, we might be having a different conversation right now. But he cooled off in the 2nd half, finishing with a pedestrian 209 YDS & 1 TD. Travis Hunter shot back up to -2500. Looking at the Draft Kings app today, as of 1:41 PM EST, they are no longer even offering Heisman odds. 

As far as guaranteed Heisman winners go, Travis Hunter seems to have more opposition than any of them. There's more than a fair share of outrage online over the idea that Travis Hunter is the clear cut winner. Comparing him to Jeanty is nearly impossible. Ashton Jeanty currently sits in 4th place among all-time single season rushing leaders. Travis Hunter played both sides of the ball all season long, performing elitely at WR & CB. 

They're two entirely different players who lead their teams in completely different ways.

I know we're not supposed to say anything negative about Travis Hunter at Barstool Sports, because our most important employee placed a sizable wager on him. And if I say anything on Twitter that could possibly be construed as a slight to Travis Hunter, I'll have multiple people tagging @BarstoolBigCat in my replies. Like we aren't even allowed to have our own opinions. Like there's even a world where Big Cat would actually give a shit who John Rich thinks deserves the Heisman. But I'm not sold on the fact that Travis Hunter is truly a talent unlike something we've ever witnessed before. 

He is a unicorn in the sense of he's actually doing the damn thing. He went nearly a full season (left one game due to injury), playing both offense and defense. He took 100+ snaps per game, and is arguably a top 5 player at two positions. We've never seen anyone do that to the level he has. For that, he's a deserving Heisman Trophy winner. But are we sure there's nobody else in college football right now who could what he's doing? You don't think if Jeremiah Smith or Ryan Williams were given the opportunity to play defensive back that they wouldn't be top 10 at the position? They certainly have the tools to do so athletically. They fit the mold physically. If they trained both sides of the ball, and played for a Big 12 school that allowed them to do so, they might look pretty similar to Travis Hunter.

Maybe I'm way off there. Maybe Travis Hunter has certain skills that translate to defense which other elite receivers don't have in their arsenal. And maybe Quinshon Judkins would be doing Ashton Jeanty things if he played for Boise State (although I highly doubt that). But I have a theory we're going to start seeing players try to play both sides of the ball more often. Now that Travis Hunter has shown people it's possible, and kids have seen the level of praise he gets for doing so, I bet we're going to get some top recruits out of high school who choose a school that will allow them to play both ways. Just a little something to watch for. If that does happen, we might look back on Travis Hunter as more of a trailblazer, as opposed to an all-time "unicorn" of a talent.

When it comes to the other finalists, a lot of people thought the Heisman might only invite three players this year. Aside from Hunter & Jeanty, everyone was expecting Miami QB Cam Ward to receive an invite.

Not everyone was expecting Dillon Gabriel. In hindsight, we all probably should have. He perfectly fits the mold of the type of player the Heisman loves to invite (i.e. the best player on the best team in college football). Watching him play in the B1G Championship this past weekend, he definitely looked deserving. Unlike Cam Ward, who has the crazy stats, Dillon Gabriel is a quarterback who simply makes every play he needs to. He sees to it that Oregon wins every game. He's the quarterback of the #1 ranked team in college football. It only makes sense that he'd catch an invite. 

The player with the best case for being snubbed is Colorado QB, Shedeur Sanders, who a couple weeks ago won the Johnny United Golden Arm award for top upperclassman quarterback, in a field that included both Cam Ward and Dillon Gabriel.

In comparison to Cam Ward, his numbers are very similar. He just barely trails Ward in nearly every category.

Miami was near the top of the college football rankings all season long, but in the end, it's not like Miami had a much better season than Colorado. If there's one quarterback who has a worthy complaint, it would have to be Shedeur.

And if I'm going to post those stats, I guess I'll mention Kyle McCord. Even though he wasn't really close. But Syracuse finished with the same record as Colorado (9-3), with nearly identical strength of schedules (Colorado 71, Syracuse 74). However, McCord lost any chance he had at an invite when he threw 3 pick 6's in the first half of a single game. Honestly, when you look at his season, if it weren't for that one 41-13, 5 INT blowout vs Pitt, Kyle McCord might have a legitimate case.

Non-quarterback wise, Arizona State fans are beside themselves over running back Cam Skattebo's lack of invite.

That seems a little excessive, but that have a decent case. He led Arizona State to a Big 12 Championship, and a 3-seed in the college football playoffs. His stats are impressive, but maybe not Heisman worthy. As shitty and lazy as it is, the Heisman is in large part about the stats. Skattebo is 5th in the nation in rushing yards & 8th in TD's. His 6.0 YPC doesn't necessarily jump off the page. He's the second most deserving running back, and I'm sure he'll receive some votes. But the Heisman can only invite so many players. Maybe that's a problem, that the Heisman automatically invites a third quarterback instead of a second running back. Despite this season's top 2, the Heisman is still very much a quarterback award. But I don't think Skattebo is the most egregious snub I've ever seen.

Penn State fans, who no longer live on planet earth, will say TE Tyler Warren deserves an invite. 

But Tyler Warren he may not even with the Mackey Award for best TE. Bowling Green Falcons' Harold Fannin Jr. dwarfs him statistically. Fannin has a significantly higher run-blocking grade, and real chance to lead the entire nation in receiving yards after their bowl game. He has the highest grade of any player in college football according to PFF. If any TE deserves an invite it's him. 

But something about Tyler Warren occasionally lining up in the wildcat, busting one big run against Purdue, and punching in a couple touchdowns at the goal line vs Washington has them thinking Tyler Warren is the most versatile offensive talent college football has ever seen. 

Sorry, I have to sneak in Harold Fannin Jr. propaganda any chance I get. But here's the Purdue run for you Penn State fans. It was very cool. 

As always there are great players from smaller schools who had amazing seasons, but due to who they play for would never receive a Heisman invite. The best example of that this year (aside from Harold Fannin Jr.) is wide receiver Nick Nash from San Jose State, who currently leads the national in both receiving yards and TD's

But the Heisman is only going to invite so many players from certain schools. Ashton Jeanty had to put together an all-time historic season at Boise State, and lead them to the playoffs, just to catch an invite and not win. Unless the voters shock the world this weekend. Everybody tells us it's not going to happen, and that Travis Hunter's name is already engraved on the trophy. But when I see the amount of people online, and the amount of former players advocating for Ashton Jeanty over Travis Hunter, there's still the tiniest part of me that thinks it might happen. But it won't… probably…