Urban Meyer: Travis Hunter should be No. 1 pick in 2025 NFL Draft, play both ways

Whether Colorado Buffaloes two-way superstar Travis Hunter will play both wide receiver and cornerback in the NFL continues to be a hot topic, as does whether the Tennessee Titans should select him with the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

But for college football coaching legend and “Big Noon Kickoff” analyst Urban Meyer, the answer to those two questions is simple.

“It would be hard for me to not take Travis Hunter with that first pick,” Meyer said on Tuesday’s edition of “The Herd.”

“I love that guy. I think he’s a once-in-a generation, once-in-a lifetime player. He can do things that I’ve not seen people do. His stamina, the quality of kid [he is]. I’ve done some homework on him. We had him on our set [on Big Noon Kickoff] with us, and I was shocked how big he is.”

“I would never say this other than [with] that guy, I’d play him both ways. On the 160th play of the game, he’s blocking guys 25-30 yards downfield. I know it’s college, I get that, but in my lifetime, I’ve not seen a guy do that.”

Hunter, who played both ways across his two seasons at Colorado (2023-24) and one season at Jackson State (2022), won the 2024 Heisman Trophy. As a wide receiver, Hunter totaled 96 receptions for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns. Hunter’s reception and touchdown totals led the Big 12.

As a cornerback, Hunter, a two-time All-American, totaled four interceptions, 11 passes defended and 36 combined tackles last season, helping him earn Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors. Should Tennessee, which has a murky long-term future at quarterback, pass on Hunter in favor of a signal-caller at No. 1, the Cleveland Browns select second, followed by the New York Giants at third.

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Meanwhile, Hunter’s college quarterback, Shedeur Sanders, has been in competition with Miami’s Cam Ward, a finalist for the 2024 Heisman Trophy Award, to be the first signal-caller off the board. However, of late, the consensus has been that Ward has separated himself from Sanders and every other quarterback in the 2025 draft. On Sanders, there has been speculation that he could be sliding down the draft board.

Meyer offered his take on why Sanders is dropping and what the quarterback brings to the table.

“I called a GM friend of mine, and he’s [Sanders] slipped a little bit here, and the reason he’s slipping is they’re looking at the competition that he played. I don’t know if I necessarily agree with that because what I saw is a guy that’s athletic enough to get out of trouble, a live arm, stays alive, competes his butt off, and he’s always on the run because his offensive line struggled,” Meyer said about Sanders. “And this year, they were a little bit better on the offensive line at Colorado but not much. But I understand throughout the NFL there’s a concern about if he can make the throws in the tight windows because in the Big 12 Conference he didn’t have to do that very much.

“You look at his big plays, a lot of them were on the run, and that’s not necessarily what they’re looking for in the NFL. They want a guy that can drop back and make that tight window throw. There’s some question marks if he can do that.”

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Sanders, who claimed Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year honors, totaled 4,134 passing yards, 37 passing touchdowns, 10 interceptions and a 168.2 passer rating last season, while completing 74% of his passes. His passing yards and touchdowns, passer rating and completion percentage were all first in the Big 12.

Hunter, Sanders and the Buffaloes went 9-4, finishing 25th in the final AP poll.

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