Colorado’s Travis Hunter is one of the most dynamic two-way players in college football in recent memory, and on Wednesday he was honored for his versatility.

Hunter has been named the 2023 winner of the Paul Hornung Award, presented annually by the Louisville (Ky.) Sports Commission to the most versatile player in college football.

“I would like to thank the Louisville Sports Commission for this award,” Hunter said in a news release from CU. “Paul Hornung accomplished great things that I also want to accomplish, and to be given the award in his name is truly amazing. I’d like to thank all my teammates for their support and Coach Prime for the opportunity to play both ways and do whatever I can to help the Colorado Buffaloes.”

The award is in honor of the late Hornung, considered one of the greatest all-around players in the history of the sport. At Notre Dame, Hornung starred on offense, defense and as a kicker and punter, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1956. During his 10-year Hall of Fame career with the Green Bay Packers, Hornung was a halfback and kicker.

Hunter didn’t kick for the Buffaloes (4-8, 1-8 Pac-12), but he did just about everything else.

A sophomore who transferred to CU from Jackson State last winter, Hunter was a full-time starter on offense and defense. Although he missed three full games due to injury, Hunter played more snaps from scrimmage than anyone in the country. He played 566 snaps on defense and 436 on offense, as well 30 special teams snaps.

On offense, he caught 57 passes for 721 yards and five touchdowns. He ranks in the top 20 in CU history for single-season catches (tied for 13th) and receiving yards (19th). On defense, he had 30 tackles, three interceptions and five pass breakups.

“Travis is a special player, a generational player, who has changed the game,” CU head coach Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders said. “We had to find ways to utilize him to the best of his ability on both sides of the ball, where he could utilize his strengths and be a force. Thank you to the award committee for seeing in Travis what we do, not only that he’s a tremendous player, but also a tremendous person. Travis hasn’t reached his full potential as of yet and his best is still coming!”

Before this year, Georgia’s Georgia’s Champ Bailey in 1998 was the last player to post at least 40 receptions and three interceptions in the same season.

Hunter is the first CU player to earn one of the major national awards since punter Mark Mariscal won the Ray Guy Award in 2002.

Overall, Hunter is the 14th CU player in history to win any national award and just the fourth since Marsical. Sefo Liufau was the Polynesian player of the year in 2016, Laviska Shenault won the Paul Warfield Award in 2019 and Jarek Broussard was one of three recipients of the Mayo Clinic Comeback player of the year award in 2020.

The Hornung Award has been presented annually since 2010. This is the second consecutive year a player from the Pac-12 has won the Hornung Award, which went to Oregon State’s Jack Colletto last year. All three finalists this year were from the Pac-12, as Hunter was chosen ahead of Arizona State’s Cameron Skattebo and Utah’s Sione Vaki for the award.

Previous winners of the Hornung Award include Alabama’s DeVonta Smith (2020), Penn State’s Saquon Barkley (2017), Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey (2015) and LSU’s Odell Beckham (2013).