Colorado football star Travis Hunter could miss up to four weeks after a late hit against Colorado State sent him to the hospital on Saturday night.
CU has not released details on Hunter’s injury, but Fox’s Skip Bayless, the host of Undisputed, reported Monday on his show that Hunter suffered a lacerated liver and would be out three or four weeks. Carl Reed of 247Sports reported that CU head coach Deion Sanders told him Hunter would be out for three weeks.
A BuffZone source confirmed Bayless’ report on Monday morning.
Bayless said the injury is “not considered terribly serious,” but it does appear to be serious enough to take the best player off the field for the 19th-ranked Buffaloes for two of their most important games of the season. CU (3-0) visits No. 10 Oregon in the Pac-12 opener on Saturday (1:30 p.m. MT, ABC) and will host No. 5 USC on Sept. 30 at Folsom Field (10 a.m. MT, Fox).
A rare two-way starter, Hunter plays cornerback and receiver for the Buffs. He was playing receiver at the time of his injury in Saturday’s 43-35 double-overtime win against the Rams.
With about 5 minutes remaining in the first quarter, CU quarterback Shedeur Sanders tried to hit Hunter on a deep pass down the left sideline. CSU’s Ayden Hector was flagged for pass interference, but the hit that injured Hunter came after the play. CSU safety Henry Blackburn was about 5 yards away from Hunter when the ball fell incomplete but he continued pursuit, lowered his shoulder and hit Hunter in the mid-section.
Blackburn, a graduate of Boulder’s Fairview High School, was given a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Hunter immediately took his helmet off and rolled over in pain, staying on the ground for a few moments. Although he came back into the game briefly, Hunter was taken to the hospital, where he was kept overnight on Saturday.
After the game, Coach Prime said, “First thing I heard that he would be out for a few weeks. I heard that for sure. But we’re gonna do what we got to do to take care of him. I know Travis like a book. He probably is gonna want to be out for two weeks. But we’ve got to make sure … his health is more important in this game.”
On the field, however, it’s a tough loss for the Buffs, as Hunter is considered one of the best all-around players in the country. He caught two passes for 21 yards and recorded two tackles before his injury.
Hunter has caught 16 passes for 213 yards and recorded nine tackles and two pass breakups this season while playing the majority of snaps on both sides of the ball.
“The bad thing about losing Travis, man, you lose such a crucial piece of our team,” safety Shilo Sanders said. “He’s on offense and defense, so it’s like you’re losing two players in one. So that was pretty rough.”
Shedeur Sanders quickly confronted Blackburn after the hit and said after the game it was tough to see Hunter go down.
“When Travis went down like it made me feel some type of way, honestly, because you took, like, one of my brothers, you know, on the offensive side,” Shedeur said. “It really hurt me a lot knowing the work he put in and everything just leading up to the game and knowing you could always count on him in those moments.”
