Colorado Buffaloes’ two-way star Travis Hunter continued his stellar season in the team’s 37-21 loss to the Kansas Jayhawks in Week 13 of college football action, registering 125 yards on eight receptions resulting in two touchdowns.
For his efforts, Hunter surged even further into the lead as the favorite for the 2024 Heisman Trophy (-400), according to BetMGM. But this past Tuesday, his impressive season was thrown into a spin when the Jim Thorpe Award Committee that recognizes the best defensive back in the nation snubbed him as part of the finalists for the prestigious award.
Skip Bayless and Former NFL Stars Outraged Over Travis Hunter’s Jim Thorpe Snub
Georgia’s Malaki Starks, Texas’ Jahdae Barron, and Ohio State’s Caleb Downs were all chosen as finalists for the Jim Thorpe Award instead.
Fox Sports analyst Skip Bayless piled in on the Oklahoma committee on his X account for snubbing Hunter.
“It is a joke Travis Hunter isn’t a finalist for the Thorpe Award. Shame on the Oklahoma HofF committee for snubbing him when the award honors such a great Oklahoma athlete. Heisman favorite, best receiver award finalist, but not for DB??? He’s BY FAR the best DB,” Bayless tweeted.
It is a joke Travis Hunter isn't a finalist for the Thorpe Award. Shame on the Oklahoma HofF committee for snubbing him when the award honors such a great Oklahoma athlete. Heisman favorite, best receiver award finalist, but not for DB??? He's BY FAR the best DB.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) November 27, 2024
The controversy surrounding Hunter getting snubbed for the Jim Thorpe Award continued with former NFL star and Pro Football Hall of Famer (2018) Terrell Owens ranting about it on his Instagram stories.
“Make it make damn sense!!! I have a lot to say but even when ‘WE’ earn it, ‘WE’ still don’t get what we rightfully deserve,” Owens wrote.
Hunter’s Colorado coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer (2011), Deion Sanders also voiced his outrage at the snub during his weekly news conference.
“How is Travis Hunter snubbed by the Thorpe Award?” Sanders said. “You can have my award. You can have it back. Matter of fact, I’m going to give him mine. I ain’t using it. It’s just sitting up there collecting dust. So Travis can have my Thorpe Award, because if this ain’t the most idiotic thing in college football, that he’s not a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award.
“And he is, I would say arguably, but I don’t think it’s really an argument about this young man being the best defensive back in college football. He rarely gets thrown at, they just messed up all the integrity of the award and he can have mine. Whoever’s voting down there, whoever’s bringing it home, thank you. Because I don’t even want mine now. God bless you.”
The fallout from Hunter getting snubbed for the Jim Thorpe Award has continued unabated ever since the announcement was made and is generating a lot of discourse about the merits of the committee’s decision.