What if Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter had played football for Kirby Smart at Georgia?

Hunter, a dazzling two-way player at Colorado, walked across the stage in New York City last Saturday night to accept the Heisman Trophy, college football’s most coveted individual award.

Coach Kirby Smart has won national titles, SEC championships and produced more NFL players than any program over the past five drafts, but it has been 42 years since Herschel Walker won UGA’s most recent Heisman Trophy in 1982.

 

Hunter starred at Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, Ga., and was recruited by Georgia before ultimately choosing to play for Deion Sanders at Jackson State in 2022, and then transferring to Colorado when “Coach Prime” took that job.

Syracuse head coach and former UGA defensive backs coach Fran Brown told DawgNation the Bulldogs not only recruited Hunter when he was in high school, but also followed up with Hunter to see if he’d be interested in playing at Georgia after his initial season at Jackson State.

“You’ve got to be a freak show to do what (Hunter) did, and your coach has to know what you can do,” said Brown, who flipped 4-star Demetres Samuel Jr. from Florida to Syracuse for a role that aims to replicate Hunter’s two-way stardom.

“We went after (Hunter), but he was always going to go with Deion.”