Travis Hunter didn’t need a spotlight to make an impression in Jacksonville. He was just driving his truck when he came across a group of youth athletes preparing for a 2.7-mile run, and what happened next fit the same mold Colorado fans got used to seeing from him.
The former Colorado Buffaloes Heisman Trophy-winning wide receiver and cornerback stopped to speak with the group, which was led by motivational speaker and coach Nahshon Nicks. Hunter finished the exchange by offering a few simple messages that landed with the kids.
"Stay positive, show some love. Keep doing what y'all are doing,” Hunter said in a video of the interaction. “Listen to your coaches"
Nicks said the moment carried real weight for the young athletes, and he made that clear in a post that included the video.
“A few words may seem small, but they can make a lifelong impact,” Nicks wrote. “You [Hunter] didn't have to stop.
You didn't have to say anything at all. Yet you made yourself accessible and simply said, ‘Keep pushing.
Listen to your Coaches.’ Those words meant more than you know.”
That kind of response tracks with the player Hunter was at Colorado. He was receptive to Coach Prime, worked with an unwavering effort, and fit the character-first standard Deion Sanders has pushed since taking over the program.
Hunter has also been open about how much that environment shaped him. After he was taken No. 2-overall in the 2025 NFL Draft, he credited Sanders for getting him ready for the moment. He said Sanders helped prepare him not just as a player, but as a professional who could handle the next level.
He also said Sanders prepared him for life after football during his time in Boulder.
Sanders’ emphasis on building quality men first has continued beyond Hunter’s time at Colorado. Safety Randon Fontennette is one recent example, and the Vanderbilt Commodores transfer has already been active in charity work since arriving in Boulder.
On July 2, Fontennette, working with NIL manager Mike West and through his personal charity, the Rize Up Foundation, committed a donation to a Houston community. He donated groceries to Sunnyside Community, the oldest African-American community in southern Houston.
West later said on X that more events are coming, as Fontennette continues to expand his work through the foundation.
Taken together, Hunter’s moment with the youth athletes and Fontennette’s community work point to the same thing: the standard Sanders set at Colorado keeps showing up in the players who come through the program.
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