Travis Hunter on Why He Should Win Heisman Trophy: You've Never Seen a Player Like Me

Colorado two-way superstar Travis Hunter vouched for his Heisman Trophy candidacy during his appearance on The Pivot Podcast.

When asked if he felt he deserved to win it, the Heisman finalist had this to say (conversation begins at 20:14).

"I definitely believe I deserve to win it," Hunter said. "What player you know can play receiver, get double teamed, still get a 1,000 yards, and the gameplan is about you on the offensive side of the ball, and then you go to the defensive side of the ball, and the gameplan is still about you, and I still ended up with four interceptions, 11 pass breakups and [31] tackles, which I shouldn't be tackling...

"I gave them one touchdown, which was all my fault. Sleeping out there, getting too relaxed. But guess what? I bounced back, locked up my side of the field. I should have had at least seven interceptions. Defense is way harder than catching the ball on offense. I had butterfingers on defense the last couple games. Still was able to come back with one more before the season ended. I definitely think I should win it. You've never seen a player like me, as we was talking about earlier. I don't think there's ever going to be another player that go out there and plays 1,000 snaps a season..."

In 12 regular-season games, Hunter caught 92 passes for 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns in addition to his aforementioned four interceptions, 11 pass breakups and 31 tackles.

Hunter is one of four Heisman finalists alongside Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel and Miami signal-caller Cam Ward. At this time, Hunter is a monstrous -2500 favorite to win the trophy, per DraftKings Sportsbook. That gives him implied odds of just over 96 percent to win, per Action Network.

So Hunter is all but a lock to win the award, which is certainly understandable given his two-way prowess. But the fact of the matter is Hunter has to exude a lot of energy each week to play elite ball on both sides. And not only that, but he's hustling on every play, as he alluded to in his remarks on the podcast.

"It's kind of crazy. They always talk about, 'he playing a lot of snaps.' But if you actually look at the game, you know, instead of the highlights, you see I'm always out there running 100 percent. It's a lot of stats out there just hustle plays that you don't get to see. You know I'm out there running people down there trying to you know put in all my effort, and then I come back and the next play I'm fully energized to do it again. There's not a lot of people that can do that."

In most other years, Jeanty's phenomenal season would be enough to earn a Heisman. The leader of the College Football Playoff's No. 3 seed has accounted for 2,613 total yards and 30 touchdowns. He rushed for 200 or more yards in six of the 12-1 Broncos' 13 games, including 209 in the Mountain West Championship Game.

But it looks like Hunter's year. Simply put, he's a generational talent, and that looks as if it'll be recognized with a Heisman on Dec. 14 in New York.