The No. 18 Colorado Buffaloes escaped with a 43-35 double overtime home win against the Colorado State Rams Saturday night, but lost star player Travis Hunter along the way. Hunter exited the game after a late hit from Rams’ defensive back Henry Blackburn, which had social media buzzing. Here’s that hit:
Henry Blackburn was assessed a personal foul after this late hit on Travis Hunter. pic.twitter.com/0avKi1erLU
— ESPN (@espn) September 17, 2023
After Colorado’s win, head coach Deion Sanders offered an update on Hunter’s injury. That update isn’t as bad news as many had initially feared, but the Buffaloes still look to be without Hunter for a while:
"First thing I heard is that he would be out for a few weeks. I heard that for sure."
Coach Prime gives the latest injury news on Travis Hunter ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/w73Y3vrBEA
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 17, 2023
“The first thing I heard is that he would be out for a few weeks. I heard that for sure. But we’re going to do what we gotta do to take care of him. I know Travis like a book, he’s not gonna want to be out two weeks. But we gotta make sure. His health is more important than this game.”
Hunter, one of the many players who followed Sanders from Jackson State to Colorado this offseason, has made a lot of headlines so far this year. In the Buffaloes’ season-opening win over the reigning national runner-up TCU Horned Frogs, he shone on both offense and defense, recording a team-high 11 catches for 119 yards and also coming up with three tackles and a big goal-line interception. And that even led to some Heisman talk, and to Sanders claiming Hunter might be a No. 1 NFL Draft pick.
Against the Nebraska Cornhuskers last week, Hunter had four tackles and three catches for 73 yards, and boosted his snap count on the year to 273. And he then re-upped a massive NIL deal with Celsius, and got into it with some Colorado State players ahead of Saturday’s game. But that much-criticized hit from Blackburn led to him exiting that game in the first quarter.
And it now looks like Hunter will be out for at least that “few weeks.” But for just how long is to be determined. Sanders is certainly right that his health is more important, though.
[CFB on Fox on Twitter]
