Travis Hunter injury update: Colorado star's status vs. Arizona

What we know as Travis Hunter looks to return from his injury for Colorado against Arizona this weekend.

Where things stand with Colorado two-way football star Travis Hunter as he looks to return from an injury this week. / Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

Colorado star two-way player Travis Hunter is expected play in Saturday’s game against Arizona, head coach Deion Sanders said.

Hunter “should play for certain” this week after leaving the second quarter of last weekend’s loss against Kansas State with an apparent shoulder injury.

Hunter appeared to sustain the injury moments after catching a 14-yard pass from quarterback Shedeur Sanders and absorbed a hard tackle from Kansas State safety Daniel Cobbs.

Minutes later, Hunter was being examined by team trainers and ultimately taken back to Colorado’s locker room for further evaluation.

Travis Hunter leaves the field with shoulder pain pic.twitter.com/BXhtsUwbIL

— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) October 13, 2024

And although he was later seen on the Buffaloes’ sideline and wearing his full uniform, Hunter did not re-enter the game, an eventual 31-28 loss that dropped the team to 4-2 overall and a 2-1 mark in Big 12 play.

Prior to the injury, Hunter had 3 catches for 26 yards on offense and 1 tackle on defense.

Hunter has emerged as a Heisman Trophy contender thanks to his stellar play on both sides of the ball, emerging as a principal contributor to Colorado’s overall improvement this season.

Offensively, he has 49 receptions for 587 yards and 6 touchdowns while posting over 112 yards per game and more than 12 yards per reception.

Defensively, he has 16 tackles, 3 pass deflections, 2 interceptions, and 1 forced fumble.

As a result of that extra load, Hunter played on 620 of a possible 689 snaps entering last weekend’s game, by far the most of any player nationally.

He then appeared on 44 of the team’s 45 total offensive and defensive snaps against the Wildcats prior to his injury.

That output has understandably raised some questions around Hunter’s long-term durability and whether he can shoulder such an intense workload.

Sanders noted that wide receiver Jimmy Horn, who also left last week’s game with an injury, should make his return this weekend.

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