Latest news with #Big12DefensivePlayeroftheYear
Mint
a day ago
- Sport
- Mint
Travis Hunter set to shine as NFL two-way player; here's list of iconic dual-role stars in league history
Travis Hunter, the 2025 Heisman Trophy winner, is set to bring the rare art of the two-way player back to the NFL. Drafted No. 2 overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars, Hunter's ability to excel as both a wide receiver and cornerback has sparked excitement about a potential shift in the game. Travis Hunter's 2024 season at Colorado showcased his versatility. Starting at both wide receiver and cornerback, he registered 1,523 snaps, 750 on offense and 773 on defense, averaging over 117 snaps per game. No other FBS player averaged more than 85 snaps. Hunter claimed 96 catches for 1,258 yards and 16 total touchdowns on offense, plus four interceptions on defense. His dominance earned him the Fred Biletnikoff Award as the nation's top receiver and the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. The Jaguars traded up to secure Hunter. After starring as a two-way player in high school and college, Hunter is ready to make waves in the NFL. Since 1966, a select few players have made significant impacts on both offense and defense. Here are some standouts: Hall of Fame safety Brian Dawkins, known for his hard-hitting play with the Eagles and Broncos, showed his versatility in 2002. Catching a 57-yard touchdown on a fake punt against the Houston Texans, he became one of only three modern players to record a receiving touchdown and an interception in the same game, joining Jim Houston (1966) and Roy Green (1981). Former college quarterback Julian Edelman became a key two-way player for the Patriots in 2011. He logged 15-plus snaps on both offense and defense in a single game, helping New England reach Super Bowl XLVI. Edelman shares this rare feat with Mike Furrey (2009) and Scott Matlock (2024). In 2022, Patriots rookie Marcus Jones made history as the third rookie in the Super Bowl era to record a reception and an interception in the same game, doing so twice. He also joined Mike Vrabel (2005) and JJ Watt (2014) as one of the few to score both a receiving and interception-return touchdown in a season. Hunter's college coach, Deion Sanders, set the standard in 1996 with the Dallas Cowboys. A first-team All-Pro cornerback, Sanders started eight games on both offense and defense, recording 36 catches for 475 yards and a touchdown as a receiver. Linebacker Mike Vrabel, a three-time Super Bowl champion with the Patriots, was a goal-line tight end with a knack for scoring. All 10 of his career receptions were touchdowns, including scores in Super Bowl XXXVIII and XXXIX. He also returned an interception for a touchdown in 2005. JJ Watt, a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year with the Texans, scored three defensive touchdowns and three offensive touchdowns as a goal-line tight end.
USA Today
6 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Indiana Fever sign veteran guard Odyssey Sims to hardship contract
The Indiana Fever announced on Sunday that the team has signed veteran forward Odyssey Sims to a hardship contract following the season-ending injuries to Sydney Colson and Aari McDonald, opening up a roster spot through their qualified hardship waivers. Sims, a former No. 2 overall pick in the 2014 WNBA Draft, has averaged 11.2 points, 3.8 assists, and 2.5 rebounds per game throughout her 11-year WNBA career. During her winding WNBA journey, she has spent time with the Tulsa Shock (2014-15), Dallas Wings (2016, 2023-24), Los Angeles Sparks (2017-18, 2024-25), Minnesota Lynx (2019-20, 2022), Atlanta Dream (2021), and Connecticut Sun (2022). Her best season of her career so far was in the 2019 campaign with the Lynx, where she was named to her first WNBA All-Star team and the All-WNBA Second Team. During that season, Sims averaged 14.5 points on 41.5% from the field to go along with a career-high 5.4 assists, career-high 3.4 rebounds, 1.4 steals, and 0.1 blocks on 31:54 minutes per game through 34 contests. As a collegiate athlete, Sims played at Baylor University, where she was a part of the 2012 NCAA National Championship team and earned Big 12 Player of the Year and Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2014. As Sims spent the first part of the 2025 season with the Sparks, where she averaged 9.8 points per game and 3.5 assists per game in 11 games started, she should provide a decent scoring boost and fill the void at the point guard position, with Caitlin Clark still recovering from a right groin injury. As Sims is signed on a regular hardship contract, her status on the team is not necessarily tied to the 10-available player rule that governs emergency hardship contracts. This could create some roster "gymnastics" if certain additional moves are made, as the team technically has room for up to two hardship players with Colson and McDonald out for the season and Clark out now for more than three consecutive weeks. If Sims is the only hardship player signed, the team is not required to release her once Clark returns. However, if the Fever decides to sign another hardship player, they would need to release either Sims or the second hardship player upon Clark's return. Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes, and opinions. Follow Scout on X: @SpringgateNews.
Fox Sports
31-07-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
'Absolute Freak Show': Koi Perich Set to Follow Travis Hunter's Path as Two-Way Star
LAS VEGAS — From his position behind the microphone in a crowded ballroom at Mandalay Bay, where Big Ten Media Days unfolded last week, Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck only needed a few moments — seconds, even — to utter the name everyone had envisioned since he teased the idea of deploying safety Koi Perich on both sides of the ball this coming season: Travis. Hunter. "He got a ton of credit for being a two-way player, right?" Fleck said. "There's not a lot of people who can do that and do it successfully. We feel Koi can. "And I'm not comparing him to Travis Hunter by any means. But I'm saying that [Hunter] is somebody who did it within the last decade [and showed] how hard it really is. And if you're going to do it, you've got to be both feet in on it. But if there's one person that can do it, it's Koi." Lest anyone forget, Hunter won the Heisman Trophy last December after authoring arguably the greatest individual season in college football history while starring for head coach Deion Sanders at Colorado. As a cornerback, Hunter logged 748 snaps while racking up 36 tackles, 11 pass breakups, four interceptions and one forced fumble to finish with the best INT-per-target ratio of any player in the Power 4 conferences. He was a shoo-in for Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and garnered unanimous All-American status. He even took home a pair of national defensive player of the year honors by securing the Bednarik Award and the Lott IMPACT Trophy. And as a wide receiver, where Hunter played 714 snaps, he caught 96 passes for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns — all of which ranked among the top five nationally. He received the Biletnikoff Award, which is given to the sport's best wideout, and became the first repeat winner of the Paul Hornung Award, which recognizes the country's most versatile player regardless of position. He was a consensus All-American on this side of the ball, splitting time between first- and second-team lists depending on the publication. Not long after, the Jacksonville Jaguars traded up to select Hunter at No. 2 overall in this year's NFL Draft with the unabashed intention of deploying him on both sides of the ball. "I think that's a perfect person just to lean on and learn from," said Perich, a first-team all-conference performer as a true freshman in 2024. "He just had the best season, ultimately, that probably college has ever seen from a single person. Obviously, you can learn from that, and if you want to play two ways, that's the blueprint. You've just got to do your best to imitate that. And I think that's what me and my coaches are trying to do." Hearing Minnesota's contingent outline the broad strokes of this vision at Big Ten Media Days only invited more questions given the supreme rarity and difficulty of what Hunter achieved last season. The chief inquiries were as follows: Just how real is the possibility of the Gophers utilizing Perich, a former blue-chip recruit who chose Minnesota over Ohio State, as anything close to a full-time, two-way player? And if the team's plan is to be accepted as legitimate, meaning Perich hardly comes off the field, what makes him the right choice for such a physically and mentally taxing role? For all the skeptics Hunter converted week after week despite playing more than 84% of Colorado's snaps in 2024 — a year in which no other FBS player eclipsed 56% playing time from scrimmage — there were other high-profile rumors about potential two-way players that never came to fruition. Last May, Michigan cornerback Will Johnson told reporters that he and then-offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell had engaged in discussions about the All-American getting involved at wide receiver, where the Wolverines were hurting for talent. And then last June, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day told the local press corps that star safety Caleb Downs, a transfer from Alabama, took some reps at running back during spring practice, returning to a position he dominated at youth levels. But once push came to shove in the regular season, and once the coaching staffs at both programs realized exactly how much they'd be risking by exposing two of the best players in the nation to even more contact than necessary, the possibility of broadened roles for Johnson and Downs devolved into nothing more than a midsummer night's dream from the doldrums of talking season. Neither player logged a single snap on offense across the entire 2024 campaign. Back in Las Vegas, however, Fleck assured reporters that the circumstances surrounding Perich would be different. He told the media that discussions about incorporating Perich on offense dated back several years to the recruiting process when Perich, an in-state prospect, caught people's attention as a two-way star for Esko High School, roughly two hours north of Minneapolis. Fleck went so far as suggesting Perich would have gotten involved on offense last season had he been among the Gophers' early enrollees and participated in spring practice, rather than arriving on campus in June. "We're going to do as much as Koi will allow us to do," Fleck said. "Koi works really hard in the unrequired, not just practicing. He's doing a ton of stuff on his own ever since January because we took last year as a snippet. We dabbled in it a little bit [by practicing some things with him on offense], but now we're going to commit to it." The reason Fleck and everyone associated with Minnesota believes the 6-foot-1, 200-pound Perich can handle a two-way role is because of his remarkable athletic profile. In addition to playing all three phases on the football field at Esko High School — he scored touchdowns as a runner, receiver, passer, punt returner, kick returner and defender in his senior year alone — Perich was also a standout basketball player and track athlete, with a 2022 Class A long jump state championship to show for it. He runs the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds, according to Fleck, and has a vertical leap north of 40 inches, something Perich showed off with a 360-degree windmill dunk during basketball warmups with his future head coach in the bleachers for a recruiting visit. Equally important, Fleck said, is Perich's singularity of focus when it comes to getting better at football. Fleck lovingly explained that Perich is not the type to "answer questions about world history and American history" or spend his interview sessions in Las Vegas telling media members that he "collects rocks and he collects pennies and coins — that's not his deal." Playing and competing is Perich's deal, according to Fleck, and because of that, Perich spent the spring and summer focusing on little more than conditioning himself for what he expects to be a significant offensive role. "He's an absolute freak show," Minnesota quarterback Drake Lindsey said of Perich. "He's very smart, he knows all our plays really well, he's doing a good job learning the playbook. And he's just very special with the ball in his hands. I personally like how he plays really fast. He doesn't think much, he just goes, and I think that's one of the best qualities about Koi." Coach and players alike were hesitant to reveal any specifics about exactly where Perich will align this fall, though the safe bet might be a broad application. There were whispers that Perich could become the Gophers' wildcat quarterback considering he ran the ball 61 times for 708 yards and 16 touchdowns as a senior in high school. Fleck reminded the media that Perich has a great arm and is more than capable of attempting a pass. And the five interceptions Perich notched last season, which were tied for fourth nationally and most in the country among freshmen, suggest that getting the ball in his hands at wide receiver — a la Hunter — is probably the smartest course of action. So while the likelihood of Perich ever matching what Hunter did at Colorado is exceedingly slim, if not outright impossible, he's still desperate for enough snaps to try. "Hopefully I get that chance," Perich said. "That would be very fun. Obviously, I think I have the ability to do it, and it all just comes down to opportunity." Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account , and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! FOLLOW Follow your favorites to personalize your FOX Sports experience College Football recommended Item 1 of 3 Get more from the College Football Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
USA Today
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Travis Hunter shines at Jaguars practice, shows off two-way potential
Travis Hunter shines at Jaguars practice, shows off two-way potential Travis Hunter's greatest gift might be his athleticism, and after it being on full display for two years at Colorado, the former Buffaloes star is ready to show out on Sundays in the NFL. The 2024 Heisman Trophy winner is not waiting for Sundays to show out. At Tuesday's Jacksonville Jaguars practice, Hunter showed why he was the No. 2 overall pick and a true two-way player. Hunter lined up at cornerback against wide receiver Darius Lassiter and made a spectacular one-handed tip, diving interception that, by the video, looked like it prevented a touchdown. After beginning OTAs, practicing with the offense and getting reps in at wide receiver, Hunter has spent the majority of the last few days with the Jaguars' defense and looks to have fit in seamlessly. Hunter is a true unicorn and might be the first ever NFL player to truly play both sides of the ball at an elite level. During his final year at Colorado, the two-way superstar racked up 36 total tackles, four interceptions, 11 pass breakups, one tackle for loss and one forced fumble en route to the Heisman Trophy and the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. The odds are stacked against him to continue his elite two-way play at the highest level, but if anyone can do it, it is Hunter, who has an inspiring amount of self-belief to go along with his top-tier talent. Follow Charlie Strella on X, Threads, and Instagram. Contact/Follow us @BuffaloesWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Colorado news, notes and opinions.
USA Today
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Former Longhorns DT Casey Hampton on ballot for 2026 College Football Hall of Fame
Former Longhorns DT Casey Hampton on ballot for 2026 College Football Hall of Fame The National Football Foundation has announced the list of players nominated for the 2026 College Football Hall of Fame. This list includes 79 players and nine coaches from the Football Bowl Subdivision. One former Texas Longhorn that made the cut is former defensive tackle Casey Hampton. Hampton starred on defense for Texas from 1996-2000. One of his teammates from that era was Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams. Halfway through Hampton's career on the 40 Acres, Texas hired Mack Brown as head coach. "Casey Hampton was a great player, a pleasure to coach and an even better person. He was a guy that always set the pace and brought his best, whether it was in offseason workouts, practice or games. He was just a relentless competitor who was unbelievably productive and led some of the best defenses in Texas history. Casey was so strong and physical and really unblockable. He drew double and even triple teams every snap, yet still led our team in tackles from an interior line position and anchored our defense for four seasons. What he did in the NFL, playing 12 seasons as a key cog on great Steelers defenses is truly incredible, as well. He is an all-time great as a college and pro player and so deserving of consideration for the College Football Hall of Fame." - Former Texas Longhorns coach Mack Brown The Galveston Ball product was the anchor of the 1999 defense that ranked sixth in the nation and seventh in 2000. Hampton was the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2000 and was named All-Big 12 three times. He finished second all-time (now fifth) in tackles for loss. He became the first defensive lineman to lead Texas in tackles two consecutive seasons (1999–2000), and recorded 329 tackles (177 solos) to rank 11th on the school's all-time list. Hampton registered 56 quarterback pressures and caused nine fumbles in his college career. He earned consensus first-team All-American in 2000. Hampton was drafted 19th in the 2001 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers where he thrived for 12 years, winning two Super Bowls. With the Steelers, Hampton was named to the Pro Bowl five times, is on the Steelers All-Time Team, the the Pittsburgh Hall of Honor and Hall of Fame. Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) at @LonghornsWire.
