ATHENS — What would have happened if Travis Hunter had signed and played his college football with 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.”
But what if?
Had Hunter chosen Georgia, he most certainly would have won at least one national championship in 2022 — and maybe two more.
And maybe even the Heisman Trophy.
It’s not a stretch to say the 2023 Bulldogs might have been a healthy receiver away from beating Alabama in the 2023 SEC Championship Game, as Ladd McConkey and Brock Bowers were slowed by injuries in the 27-24 loss.
These 2024 Georgia Bulldogs are in prime position to win yet another national championship, and if Hunter were in and with the program, one imagines their odds would be even better.
How many catches, and yards and touchdown passes would Hunter have caught from Carson Beck this season?
Hunter wouldn’t have needed any self-promotion in the 2024 Heisman Trophy race: Georgia was the most-watched team in college football with an average of 8.6 million viewers, and three of the top-watched games (Texas twice, and at Alabama).
In fact, Georgia played in an eye-popping nine of the Top 25 most-watched games! (See chart below).
Worth watching
Hunter in a UGA uniform is an interesting thought, and one that might have come to fruition had Hunter not had his heart set on returning to his home state to play at Florida State from the early stages of his recruitment.
Sanders changed Hunter’s mind late in the recruiting process, convincing him to come to Jackson State. One year later, Sanders brought Sanders with him to Colorado, where he has starred the past two seasons.
Worth noting: The Top 10 most-watched teams all came from the SEC and Big Ten — no Colorado, as the Golden Buffaloes played only one game that drew more than 6 million viewers (vs. Kansas).
It’s a shame, because Hunter was one player worth watching, as his Heisman Trophy and Top-3 NFL draft stock would indicated.
Nick Saban’s comparison
Lenny Gregory, head coach at Gordon Central and formerly at Collins Hill, said both Smart and former Alabama coach Nick Saban did their due diligence with the appropriate personal and staff visits to watch and visit with Hunter while he was still a high school prospect.
Saban once likened Hunter to DeVonta Smith, who won the Heisman Trophy playing receiver at Alabama during the Tide’s 2020 CFP Championship season.
It may not be such a well-known fact that Smith - who ran an 10.67-second time in the 100 in high school, was such an outstanding man-to-man cover corner that Saban had also considered using him in the secondary.
But there were enough other skilled NFL prospects in the Tide’s secondary — experienced ones, at that — that Smith’s talents were focused on offense.
Certainly, had Hunter signed with Georgia, it’s hard to imagine him breaking into the starting lineup in a UGA secondary in 2022 that included experienced future NFL picks Kamari Lassiter, Kylee Ringo, Javon Bullard, Chris Smith and Tykee Smith.
Hunter could have certainly contributed in the 2022 receiving corps, even with established targets Brock Bowers, Ladd McConkey, Darnell Washington, Marcus-Rosemy Jacksaint and Kearis Jackson.
As it was, Hunter managed only 18 catches for 190 yards as a freshman in 2022 at Jackson State, while making 19 tackles and 2 interceptions on defense.
Hunter could have put those numbers up as a freshman at Georgia in 2022, and history suggests Smart wouldn’t have hesitated to utilize his two-way talents.
Two-way Champ
Smart has seen two-way excellence before — from inside the huddle in 1998.
Hall of Famer Champ Bailey, who played alongside Smart at Georgia his three years (1996-98) in Athens, had a more productive two-way season his junior season than Charles Woodson had in 1997 when Woodson won the Heisman Trophy.
Bailey, in 1998, had 52 tackles, 3 interceptions and 7 PBUs while piling up 1,138 all-purpose yards on offense.
Bailey made 47 catches for 744 yards and 5 touchdowns at receiver, with another 84 yards coming on 16 carries, while also returning 12 kicks for 261 yards and four punts for 49 yards.
Energy? You bet, Bailey played more than 100 snaps of SEC football in Georgia’s last seven games of that 1998 campaign.
As a side note, Bailey wasn’t just a two-way player, he was also a two-sport standout, setting the men’s indoor long jump record at 25 feet, 10.75 inches.
Back to football, and reflecting on Woodson’s 1997 season, the Wolverines’ all-time great had 44 tackles, 7 interceptions and 9 PBUs on defense and 514 yards of total offense his Heisman Trophy season.
Woodson also had 11 catches for 231 yards and two touchdowns as a receiver and returned 33 punts for 283 yards and a touchdown.
Career maker
Smart hasn’t had a Champ Bailey or Charles Woodson on his roster of late, but it wasn’t so long ago Mecole Hardman got a look on both sides of the ball.
Hardman — once the No. 1 “Athlete” in his recruiting class — was looking at a two-way role in the spring of 2017.
Hardman started out as a defensive back at Georgia before getting reps on offense and working his way into starting on that side of the ball while earning the feature return man position.
Hardman was such an explosive and effective return specialist that it made more sense for him and the team to utilize his athleticism as a dual-unit star on offense and special teams.
In 2018, Hardman accounted for 353 yards on 14 kick returns, 321 yards on 16 punt returns and was the team’s second-leading receiver with 532 yards on 34 catches. In total, Hardman had 64 touches for 1,253 all-purpose yards and 8 touchdowns on 531 snaps.
It was an efficient usage of talent, and it has paid large dividends for Hardman, as his six-year NFL career has been buoyed by his special teams excellence.
Third lung
Hunter’s usage at Colorado was split between offense and defense, with special teams plays providing him time to rest.
Hunter had 92 catches for 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns on offense, and 32 tackles, 11 pass deflections and four interceptions on 709 snaps on offense and 713 on defense in 12 games this past season.
“I bet if they did a medical study on him,” Gregory quipped, “he might have a third lung.”
It certainly worked well for Hunter, who has parlayed his athletic excellence into more than 25 NIL deals and more than $5 million in estimated wealth in this new age of college football.
But it’s likely Hunter would have cashed in on his talents at Georgia, too — perhaps not with the same story or same script — but quite possibly a championship ending.
The 50 most-watched games of the 2024 season
1. Georgia-Texas, SEC Championship -- 16.6 million (ABC)
2. Georgia-Texas -- 13.19 million (ABC)
3. Michigan-Ohio State -- 12.3 million (Fox)
4. Georgia-Alabama -- 11.99 million (ABC)
5. Penn State-Oregon, Big Ten Championship -- 10.5 million (CBS)
6. Alabama-Tennessee -- 10.23 million (ABC)
7. Tennessee-Georgia -- 9.96 million (ABC)
8. Ohio State-Penn State -- 9.77 million (Fox)
9. Ohio State-Oregon -- 9.6 million (NBC)
10. Texas-Michigan -- 9.19 million (Fox)
11. Texas-Texas A&M -- 9.45 million (ABC)
12. Indiana-Ohio State -- 9.32 million (Fox)
13. LSU-USC -- 8.62 million (ABC)
14. Georgia Tech-Georgia -- 8.47 million (ABC)
15. Notre Dame-Texas A&M -- 7.92 million (ABC)
16. Alabama-LSU -- 7.9 million (ABC)
17. Texas-Oklahoma -- 7.63 million (ABC)
18. Clemson-Georgia -- 7.58 million (ABC)
19. Auburn-Alabama -- 7.16 million (ABC)
20. Georgia-Ole Miss -- 7.08 million (ABC)
21. Alabama-Oklahoma -- 6.98 million (ABC)
22. Florida-Georgia -- 6.97 million (ABC)
23. Iowa State-Arizona State, Big 12 Championship -- 6.9 million (ABC)
24. Georgia-Kentucky -- 6.6 million (ABC)
25. Miami-Florida -- 6.35 million (ABC)
26. USC-Michigan -- 6.32 million (CBS)
27. Tennessee-Oklahoma -- 6.27 million (ABC)
28. Colorado-Kansas -- 6.22 million (Fox)
29. LSU-Florida -- 6.02 million (ABC)
30. Clemson-SMU, ACC Championship -- 6 million (ABC)
30. South Carolina-Alabama -- 6 million (ABC)
32. Nebraska-Ohio State -- 5.96 million (Fox)
33. Tennessee-Arkansas -- 5.93 million (ABC)
34. Colorado-Nebraska -- 5.67 million (NBC)
35. Texas A&M-South Carolina -- 5.56 million (ABC)
36. Missouri-Alabama -- 5.54 million (ABC)
37. LSU-Texas A&M -- 5.06 million (ABC)
38. Oklahoma-Auburn -- 5.04 million (ABC)
39. Alabama-Wisconsin -- 5.03 million (Fox)4
0. Florida State-Georgia Tech -- 4.99 million (ESPN)
41. LSU-South Carolina -- 4.94 million (ABC)
42. Auburn-Georgia -- 4.93 million (ABC)
43. Texas A&M-Florida -- 4.8 million (ABC)
44. North Dakota State-Colorado -- 4.76 million (ESPN)
45. Texas-Arkansas -- 4.56 million (ABC)
46. Kentucky-Texas -- 4.47 million (ABC)
47. Iowa-Ohio State -- 4.46 million (CBS)
48. Boston College-Florida State -- 4.44 million (ESPN)
49. Michigan-Indiana -- 4.39 million (CBS)
50. Mississippi State-Ole Miss -- 4.33 million (ABC)
