Colorado’s two-way throwback-type player who rarely leaves the field, was the big winner as college football’s top awards were handed out Thursday night.

In addition to being the top vote-getter for The AP player of year award (receiving 26 of 43 votes), Travis Hunter also won the Walter Camp Award as player of the year along with the Chuck Bednarik Award as the top defensive player, and the Biletnikoff Award for the best wide receiver.

“Couldn’t do what I do without my team,” Hunter said in an email. “So I view being up for these awards as team awards.”

The Jim Thorpe Award as the best defensive back went to Texas cornerback Jahdae Barron, who led the Southeastern Conference with five interceptions. Hunter wasn’t a finalist for the Thorpe award, drawing the wrath of his coach, Deion Sanders, who won it with Florida State in 1988 and vowed to give his trophy to Hunter.

Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, who was second to Hunter in the AP’s player of the year voting, won the Maxwell Award as college football’s top player, and the Doak Walker Award for the nation’s top running back after leading the nation with 2,497 yards and 29 touchdowns. Miami’s Cam Ward was the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback of the Year award winner with a nation-best 36 passing touchdowns along with 4,123 passing yards.

The coach of the year was Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, who led his team to the playoffs after being picked to finish 17th of 18 Big Ten teams.

South Carolina defensive end Kyle Kennard captured the Bronco Nagurski Trophy as the top defensive player, racking up 11 1/2 sacks and 18 1/2 tackles for loss.

Ohio State center Seth McLaughlin, an Alabama transfer, won the Rimington Trophy.

The top punter was USC’s Eddie Czaplicki, who captured the Ray Guy Award.

Louisiana’s Kenneth Almendares was picked as the top placekicker, winning the Lou Groza Award.

Georgia’s Jalon Walker won the Butkus Award as the nation’s best linebacker, heading into the playoffs with 57 tackles, including 6 1/2 sacks and 10 1/2 tackles for loss.

Texas left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. was the Outland Trophy winner as the top interior lineman.

Penn State’s Tyler Warren won the John Mackey Award given to the most outstanding tight end after setting school single-season records with 67 catches for 808 yards.

Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe won the William V. Campbell Award as the top scholar-athlete.

Oregon leading tackler Bryce Boettcher captured the Burlsworth Trophy as the best player who started his career as a walk-on.

AZTECS LOSE QB

Danny O’Neil, who became the first true freshman to start at quarterback in the Division I history at San Diego State, is entering the transfer portal.

O’Neil started every game except one while dealing with a knee injury that necessitated wearing a brace for the remainder of the season. Despite SDSU’s disappointing 3-9 finish this season, O’Neil had a successful debut. He completed 63.2% of his passes, throwing for 2,181 yards and 12 touchdowns with six interceptions.

O’Neil, an Indianapolis native, told the Union-Tribune that his decision had nothing to do with the SDSU program or pursuing NIL riches.

“It has nothing to do with the coaches,” O’Neil said. “I’m not trying to go get paid. It’s not about competition. I went in there last year and fought a transfer (sophomore AJ Duffy from Florida State) for a spot.

“With the way the room was going to look this year, I was probably going to have to do the same thing. I was willing to do that, but I just wanted to play close to home.”

O’Neil said his decision was about family.

“It was a little bit of a financial burden for my parents to be able to travel every week and come to the games,” he said. “It got very pricey. I would love to play somewhere that could fix that problem.”

Indiana and Purdue were among nearly two dozen schools that recruited O’Neil out of Indianapolis’ Cathedral High. Both schools are within an hour of his home, but O’Neil said at this point he has no idea where he’s headed.

— San Diego Union-Tribune

UNLV TABS MULLEN

Former Florida and Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen has agreed to lead UNLV’s 24th-ranked football program

The 52-year-old Mullen replaces Barry Odom, who left for Purdue on Sunday after going 19-8 and helping the Rebels receive back-to-back bowl invitations for the first time in program history. UNLV will play California in the LA Bowl on Wednesday.

Mullen, most recently an ESPN college football analyst, went 103-61 at Florida and Mississippi State.