As the 2024 college football season approaches, lists continue to drop across the media landscape. And on Friday, On3 Sports dropped their Top 10 most impactful Big 12 football players heading into the season.
And No. 1 on their list is Colorado’s all-purpose star Travis Hunter.
As On3 writes, “He makes plays on all three phases for the Buffs and averaged over 100 snaps in the games he was healthy in 2023. He’s a dangerous receiver, but he’s even more impressive as a corner where he has innate instincts, elite body control and a wideout’s hands.”
Hunter won the Paul Hornung Award as the nation’s most versatile player in 2023. He logged 1,102 snaps for the Buffs in ’23, which amounts to 115 snaps per game. Hunter posted the second-most receiving yards of any athlete at Colorado despite missing several games due to an injury sustained against Colorado State. The Georgia native recorded 57 grabs for 721 yards and five scores, trailing Colorado’s leading receiver Xavier Weaver by 187 yards. Defensively, Hunter had 31 tackles and three interceptions on the season.
The rest of the list from On3 included Oklahoma State Cowboys running back Ollie Gordon II at No. 2. Gordon is followed at No. 3 by Arizona Wildcats wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, West Virginia offensive lineman Wyatt Milum at No. 4 and Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders rounds out the Top 5.
No. 6 through No. 10 on the On3 list included Arizona QB Noah Fifita, Texas Tech running back Tahj Brooks, UCF running back R.J. Harvey, Iowa State defensive back Jeremiah Cooper and Arizona cornerback Tacario Davis.
Despite having two players in the Top 5, the Colorado Buffaloes are projected to finish 11th in the Big 12 Preseason Poll.
Utah (906 points) was picked to win the league with 20 first-place votes, just beating out Kansas State (889), who received 19 votes to finish as the league’s champion.
Oklahoma State (829) was picked to finish third with 14 first-place votes. Kansas (772) checked in at No. 4 in the polls with five first-place votes, while Arizona (762) was just behind them at No. 5 with the final three votes to finish atop the league.
Iowa State (661), West Virginia (581), and UCF (551) are the next three teams at seven through nine in the polls, while Texas Tech (532) and TCU (436) round out the Top 10.
