Keeler: CU Buffs’ Travis Hunter, college football’s Nikola Jokic, planted Heisman Trophy flag on Utah’s backside

BOULDER — Shedeur Sanders tripped over Travis Hunter’s Heisman.

“I fell backwards and the defensive back landed on me,” Sanders, the Buffs’ QB1, explained with a grin after 17th-ranked CU pounded Utah, 49-24, on Saturday at Folsom Field. “I knew (Hunter) was going to make the right decision in that situation.”

OK, quick back story. “Heisman,” in this case, was the name of a WR pass play the Buffs had been cooking up for several weeks and unveiled on first-and-goal at the 5 with 2:30 left.

Hunter, CU’s two-way star and Heisman Trophy candidate, took a pitch from tailback Charlie Offerdahl. As designed, No. 12 was supposed to chuck the ball into the end zone for Sanders. As drawn up, it would’ve been the perfect exclamation point on national TV, a rare chance to show Gus Johnson and FOX’s Big Noon audience that Hunter’s more than just a dude with Superman’s vertical and Spider-Man’s sticky grip.

One problem: Shedeur blew it.

“It’s definitely going to be on the bloopers (reel), because I fell backwards,” the quarterback recalled. “But I feel like I could have ran a better route and got the ball better.”

With that, Hunter flashed — Dare we say it? — his inner Ashton Jeanty. The Buffs star, left on an island with a wave of white jerseys closing in, juked four pass-rushers in the backfield, cut back to his left and shifted gears. Without breaking stride, Hunter blew past four more Utah defenders and hopped into the end zone, a broken play transformed into a work of art.

“If (Heisman voters) can’t see it, they can’t see it,” said CU coach Deion Sanders, whose Big 12-title-hungry Buffs improved to 8-2 and 6-1 in league play. “It is what it is. I mean, Travis is who he is. (It’s) supposed to go to the best college football player. I think that’s been a wrap since, what, Week 2? So we ain’t petitioning for (anybody) … If they can’t see it, there’s a problem.”

Forget the snaps.

Trust your eyes.

“The people who want to kind of say (CU players are) overrated or overhyped, they’re just flat-out wrong,” ESPN college football writer Max Olson told me after the game. “These guys are special.”

Hunter is one of one, the Nikola Jokic of college football. Look, as a runner Jeanty’s been superb at Boise State. Anybody keeping pace with Barry Sanders deserves serious love. But he’s also been piling up a chunk of those numbers against the worst collection of Mountain West teams in a generation.

Watch the end of the first half of CU-Utah again. Watch Hunter kiss the sky.

Does Jeanty make that leaping catch on fourth-and-8?

Watch the first quarter of Buffs-Utes one more time. Watch Hunter close in on a deflected pass, how he enters the screen, from somewhere west of Montana.

Does Alabama QB Jalen Milroe secure that interception?

Forget the counting stats.

Trust your eyes.

“I think just the uniqueness that he brings to the game is going to get a lot of eyeballs back east, which is what he needs to kind of get over that hump,” Sports Illustrated’s Bryan Fischer said of Hunter’s case. “And that story is going to play up pretty well for, I think, a lot of voters.”

Is this about stacking numbers? Or stacking moments? For such an iconic, objective award, the Heisman is the preeminent testament to the whims of subjectivity. Criteria such as “outstanding performance” and “excellence” are in the eye of the beholder. Voters see what they want to see.

Against Utah, Hunter notched an interception and a touchdown, while catching five passes for 55 yards. Killer stats? No. But isn’t funny how the ball always seems to find him?

“If CU’s intention was, ‘Travis Hunter’s going to lead the country in receiving yards,’ they could absolutely accomplish that, right?” Olson reasoned. “That would not be a tall task if, back in August they said, ‘Travis Hunter’s going to have 1,500 receiving yards.’ They could have done that.”

They didn’t. Hunter’s not just playing two positions at once at an elite level. He’s pushing two boulders up the hill at the same time as a non-quarterback, non-running back who’s also west of Chicago.

The Heisman electorate, like the power in college football, leans southern and eastern. It also skews on, shall we say, the older side of NCAA aficionados, many of whom automatically and crustily disqualify anyone who doesn’t touch the ball on every play, or most plays. And let’s be real: By halftime of an 8 p.m. Mountain kick, more than a few of them are already asleep.

“Now, maybe if Milroe goes crazy in Alabama, and … goes to the SEC title game, maybe there’s an SEC candidate. But not really this year,” Fischer said. “There’s not really that guy from the South that maybe will pull votes away. I think that’s a big help. So, where are the votes on the East Coast? Where are those voters in the South? Well, they’re going to be looking at CU games.”

Which is why those Big Noon appearances are so important. Why it’s critical to put on a show in front of Gus and Joel Klatt whenever you’re thrust on that stage. And ain’t it funny how the spotlight always seems to find him, too?

“When you have the memorable plays like the (leaping) catch …  I think stacking those special moments will continue to matter,” Olson said. “Because I think we’re already at a point where people are willing to consider (him) whether he has eight interceptions or three. I think there’s enough appreciation for Travis Hunter being one of one in the sport.”

If it comes down to a contest of padding stats, Hunter’s got no shot.

If it’s about seeing things on a college football field you’ve never seen before, and might never see again, No. 12 is your guy.

Jeanty’s chasing Barry Sanders. There’s already been a Barry Sanders.

There’s never been anyone like Hunter.

Like Jokic, he’s not out there trying to fit a mold. He’s casting his own.

“I was supposed to catch the ball. I was trying to do what Travis Hunter does at receiver, but I tripped,” Shedeur cracked. “I see how hard it is to be a receiver.”

Trust your eyes.

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