“I Think I Took Home 7 Awards”: Travis Hunter Expresses Humility While Accepting the Sports Illustrated Breakout Star Honor

It’s a good thing Colorado Buffaloes superstar Travis Hunter made millions of dollars in NIL this year. He’s going to need a good chunk of change to buy a massive trophy case.

Last week, Sports Illustrated named Hunter their 2024 Breakout Star of the Year. The honor is the latest in a long line of accomplishments for Hunter following his tremendous college football campaign. Hunter released a YouTube vlog detailing his latest victory on Tuesday. In it, he spoke on capturing so many different trophies.

“First, I want to thank God… don’t know where I’d be this year without just praying every night… I want to thank my family, everybody around the Colorado program… I think I took home seven awards [this year]. That’s kind of a lot. I didn’t envision that… I wrote my goals down… and I believed in it. But I didn’t think it’d happen to this certain extent.”

Hunter then expressed his biggest aspiration was to win the Heisman Trophy. He did that, prevailing over Boise State, running back Ashton Jeanty in a close race. He also claimed five other NCAA distinctions: the Walter Camp Award, Fred Biletnikoff Award, Chuck Bednarik Award, Lott IMPACT Trophy and Paul Hornung Award. The Sports Illustrated honor was his seventh award.

“I didn’t write seven awards down. I wanted to win the Heisman [Trophy]. I got to do that, but I won seven awards… [they] mean a lot to me, and I hope they mean a lot to my family and everybody that’s been watching me this far. This year has been very special, [but I’ve] got more to prove for next year. [I] thank everybody for coming out and supporting me.”

Hunter currently has FanDuel Sportsbook’s third-best odds (+1000) to be the No. 1 pick of the 2025 NFL Draft. He’ll find out where his professional career will begin on Apr. 24.