College Football

Can Colorado's Travis Hunter be a dynamic two-way player in the NFL?

Published Sep. 26, 2024 10:01 a.m. ET

Colorado head coach Dieon Sanders believes his two-way star Travis Hunter can dominate as both a cornerback and a receiver in the NFL, as he currently does for the Buffaloes.

The 6-foot-1, 185-pound junior is having quite an impressive start to his year, and he is coming off of a monster 38-31 win over Baylor on Saturday in which he had the game-sealing overtime forced fumble and caught seven passes for 130 yards. As Colorado heads into its Saturday contest at UCF (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX), Hunter ranks sixth in the country in receiving yards, fifth in the country in receptions, is second among Power 4 receivers in receptions and third in receiving yards.

But is Sanders overreaching to think Hunter can continue to do what he is doing at the next level?

Keyshawn Johnson and FOX Sports college football analyst RJ Young discussed the reality of that dream on Wednesday's episode of "All Facts No Brakes", agreeing things might look a little different in the pros for Hunter.

"I see him more as a corner, [and] in spot play duty at the receiver position," Johnson said. "It's going to be hard to play 100 plays in the NFL. Because of the investment, they would want to invest that type of money in a risk sport, risk of injury that you're paying to not take full advantage … full time as a DB, part-time on the offensive side of the ball."

"I tend to agree," Young added. "I also didn't think he could play both ways at the Power 4 level the way he is doing it."

"One of the things, I think, makes him interesting … and an actual threat is that he is on the field for every snap," Young said. "So, if you bring him in on third down … let's say you bring him in on a third-and-long situation to play wide receiver … we know where the ball's going, or we know where you want the ball to go."

Johnson and Young also discussed the possibility of teams using Hunter as a decoy at receiver and wondered if that would be okay with the young star.

"He's going to have to be comfortable," Johnson answered when asked by Young.

"I don't think he will be," Young rebutted, adding, "He's got to eat, just like everybody else has to eat."

At the end of the day, Johnson said Hunter's NFL positioning will be much different than what he has experienced in college, saying, "there are guys in the National Football League that are paid to play wide receiver that are pretty f---ing good … it's not apples to apples. It's a little bit different in the NFL versus college football."

However, Johnson concluded that Hunter could be used as a threat in "certain situations" by a team to add more depth to their offense, saying, "they wouldn't be smart if they had a dynamic player like [Hunter] that they didn't take advantage of."

[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]