College Football

Deion Sanders, Travis Hunter defend Colorado State's Henry Blackburn after death threats

Updated Sep. 25, 2023 8:46 p.m. ET

Colorado State defensive back Henry Blackburn has received plenty of criticism for his hit on Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter that knocked Hunter out of Saturday's rivalry game and will sideline him for the next several weeks.

Hunter suffered a lacerated liver and will miss at least Colorado's first three games of conference play — at No. 10 Oregon, against No. 5 USC and against Arizona — due to the hit that Blackburn laid on him after a pass toward Hunter from Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders fell incomplete.

Several have called for Blackburn to be suspended, but he and his family have also received death threats after their home address was posted online, according to Colorado State head coach Jay Norvell.

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders stepped up in Blackburn's defense Tuesday, condemning the harassment Blackburn and his family have received.

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"Henry Blackburn is a good player who played a phenomenal game," Sanders said. "He made a tremendous hit on Travis on the sideline — you could call it dirty, you could call it [that] he was just playing the game of football. But whatever it was, it does not constitute that he should be receiving death threats.

"This is still a young man trying to make it in life, a guy that's trying to live his dream and hopefully graduate with honors or a degree, commit to excellence and go to the NFL. He does not deserve a death threat over a game. At the end of the day, this is a game. Someone must win, someone must lose, everyone continues their life the next day. Very unfortunate, I'm saddened if there's any of our fans on the other side of those threats. I would hope and pray not. That kid was just playing to the best of his ability, and he made a mistake."

Hunter said on a livestream Monday that he holds zero animosity toward Blackburn despite the fact that the missed time could impact his chances at becoming a Heisman finalist and Colorado's ability to stay undefeated after a 3-0 start.

"He did what he was supposed to do," Hunter said. "It's football. Something bad's going to happen on the field sooner or later. You've just got to get up and fight again. That's what I try to do, just get up and fight. Good thing the doctors stopped me."

Sanders said the rest of Colorado's team has also moved past the incident.

"I forgive [Blackburn]. Our team's forgiven him. Travis has forgiven him. Let's move on," Sanders said.

You can watch Sanders' full Tuesday press conference below: