Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter’s partnership has kicked up a massive storm in college football. Deion Sanders must be proud to have both his key players projected as high first-round draft picks, with one also being a frontrunner in the Heisman race. But none of this could have happened without the loyalty displayed by Travis.
Deion brought a number of key players and staff members with him to Colorado from JSU, and Travis is one of them. Travis is one of them. Deion scouted Travis when he was verbally committed to FSU in 2022, a commitment he later flipped.
It was a big gamble for Travis, as he was betting on the best CB of all time to be his coach and mentor — at an HBCU — when he already had a D1 commitment in hand.
Even financially, Travis was set to earn far less at Jackson State than at FSU. However, money was never the reason behind his decision to stay loyal to Coach Prime. During his appearance on ‘Come and Talk 2 Me,’ Shedeur Sanders recalled the same story.
“He’s just been real strong,” Shedeur said about Travis rejecting big cheques. “It’s a lot of temptations, it’s a lot of money being thrown at him that he turned (them) down to stay with the program when he’s going to get significantly less. So it was a lot of decisions and a lot of hard decisions that he had to make and we respect him 10 times more because of those decisions. Because he didn’t have to do that.”
Two years of loyalty with Prime, and Travis is already the biggest generational talent in CFB. Not to mention that with that loyalty came all the accolades he had hoped for, while also becoming a favorite for NFL scouts.
Travis Hunter messed with Shedeur Sanders upon committing to JSU
Travis and Shedeur share a bond beyond teammates. They have had a special connection on and off the field, and it all started the day Travis committed to Jackson State.
As Shedeur recalled that day, he revealed how Travis messed with him by telling him that if they made a TikTok together, Travis would commit. That’s quite a small bargain for a big decision, but Shedeur saw right through it.
“We were on social media, texting back and forth. I was just playing with him like come be a Tiger,” Shedeur added. “Then one day he called me and I put him on the phone with the recruiting people. And I’m like let’s figure it out. So then he came down there on a visit. I knew he was committed when he made a TikTok. He told me let’s make a TikTok and I’ll commit, so then I did it.”
It has been special to see how their friendship has blossomed; Travis is now essentially one of Prime’s kids. His dedication to his craft and his camaraderie with his teammates speaks volumes about his character. So much so that even Shedeur couldn’t help but root for him to win the Heisman.