Former No. 1 Recruit Travis Hunter Is Officially Following Deion Sanders To Colorado!

Explaining that he wanted to honor his initial commitment to Deion Sanders at Jackson State, Travis Hunter announced late Wednesday night that he was following "Prime Time" to the University of Colorado.

In a genius bit of marketing strategy, Hunter tweeted that he'd announce his commitment once his YouTube channel reached 100K subscribers:

Didn't take long for that to happen, and his announcement shortly followed. A young man of his word. Gotta respect that.

You also have to respect how much of a pure, unique football talent Hunter is. Although 247Sports ranked him as the No. 1 overall prospect in the class of 2022 as a cornerback, Hunter was at Jackson State running routes as a wide receiver like this:

Not to mention putting straight-up crazy offensive reps on tape otherwise:

Look, I realize he's not playing the best competition in the world in the game tape above, yet you can't coach the type of change of direction, lateral agility and innate quickness Hunter possesses. You combine such a freaky physical skill set with the technical knowledge he'll gain from Coach Prime — not to mention how to be a true professional and continue working at one's craft — and the ceiling for Hunter as a player is truly through the stadium roof.

I'm not even being a company man/homer type of guy hyping Hunter up to this degree. Dude was the NUMBER ONE overall recruit for a freaking reason. He's absolutely no joke. He has the ideal mentor to steer him on his path to the NFL. Honestly, sticking at the FCS level wouldn't have served him in the most ideal way for a potential future in the pros, so following a Hall of Famer in Deion Sanders is a no-brainer.

What also helps in Hunter's transition to Boulder is he'll have Deion's son Shedeur as his quarterback. Whether Hunter plays more cornerback or wideout remains to be seen. It's not out of the question that he'll continue to play both ways even in the Pac-12. He had 18 receptions for 190 yards and four TDs in 2022, along with 19 total tackles, eight passes defensed and two INTs on defense.

A wild subplot to all this: With someone as high-profile as Hunter in the fold, it'll only attract more blue-chip prospects to the Buffaloes program. They may even be able to persuade this year's No. 1 CB to flip:

Obviously Cormani McClain isn't a slam-dunk commitment. Still, the fact that it's even a talking point speaks to the ripples Hunter's transfer to Colorado alongside Coach Prime has caused throughout the college football landscape.

OK I don't think I need to belabor any more points on this. Travis Hunter is damn good at football. Deion Sanders is going to build up a hell of a program at Colorado, who is coming off a 1-11 season and, excluding the shortened COVID 2020 campaign, hasn't played in a bowl since 2016. Can't wait to see Deion, Shedeur and Travis Hunter cook in 2023!!

Twitter @MattFitz_gerald/TikTok