By: Robert Craft

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

After winning the Heisman Trophy, Colorado’s Travis Hunter hugged his fiancée and then his mom.

When he got to Buffaloes’ coach Deion Sanders, the hug lasted a little longer.

He even went back in for another, putting his head on Sanders’ shoulder, and you could hear Hunter getting choked up.

Hunter thanked Coach Prime for changing his life, but the same can be said the other way around. Hunter is Sanders’ proof of concept.

Travis Hunter’s rise to stardom, fulfilling the promise of his five-star potential while playing full-time on both offense and defense, is Sanders’ most significant accomplishment as a college football coach. Hunter is the example Sanders can hold up to every other blue-chip recruit in the country.

More importantly, Hunter’s spectacular season should serve as an example to all those blue-chippers pondering where to go to school: Those coaches need you more than you need them. Don’t be afraid to chart your own path.

“I wanted to be different,” said Hunter, who also won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s best receiver and the Bednarik Award as the best defender. “So, you know me, being different makes me feel more comfortable than doing the norm.”

Coaches sell players on their ability to get guys to the NFL all the time. The numbers suggest the Alabamas, Georgias and Ohio States are better than most at developing NFL players.

The reality, though, is what really sets those programs apart is their ability to recruit more players with NFL potential.

Hunter, a Florida native, could have gone to any school in the country after playing high school ball in Georgia.

He was committed to Florida State, but at the last moment flipped to Jackson State, a historically Black university in the FCS.

It was truly a road not taken. In the modern era of recruiting rankings, where the best of the best are identified and sorted earlier and better than ever, no player with Hunter’s pedigree had ever chosen to play in Division I’s second tier instead of the top.

For Sanders, it was the ultimate recruiting coup, swiping Hunter from his old school in Tallahassee.

Sanders sold something bigger than just getting Hunter to the league. During ESPN’s Heisman show, Sanders said he encouraged Hunter to be “unapologetically” himself.

Hunter’s mom, Ferrante Edmonds, called her son Travis a little goofy. He wears onesies. He said he never really listened to music until his fiancé opened his ears to Lil Wayne (who showed up on Saturday to congratulate Hunter).

Hunter’s favorite thing besides football is fishing. He said he spent his Friday night in New York watching fishing videos to chill out.

How many coaches would have given Hunter the opportunity to play both ways to the extent of Sanders, who probably could have done the same when he played for Bobby Bowden at Florida State, did with Hunter?

Hunter, along with Sanders’ son and star quarterback, Shedeur, will play their last games for No. 23 Colorado on Dec. 28 in the Alamo Bowl against No. 17 BYU.

Sanders has been adamant about his intent to remain Colorado’s head coach when his sons (he includes Hunter with Shedeur and defensive back Shilo) move on.

Hunter is unicorn of a football player, the legacy he leaves behind hopefully encourages more players to take the road less traveled.