The stars have aligned in Travis Hunter’s favor. Unlike his buddy Shedeur Sanders‘ draft stock going up and down, the Buffs dual-threat has been consistent in the draft race. Just for once did things go awry for him. His slip while commenting about the MLB star Shohei Ohtani. But he has gone back to the track. Going by NFL Network’s mock draft, Hunter will be landing as the No.2 pick. But before that, 32 NFL teams got a heads up about the Buffs’ two-way star. All thanks to the man who knows Hunter the best. 

Things were a bit difficult for Hunter. After all, he had been pretty confident with his dual-threat skills. The two-way star proved himself by bagging the Heisman Trophy, wrapping up his college football career with a record of 1,979 total yards. But most NFL scouts were in two minds about Hunter’s ability to manage as a two-way player in the pro league. For instance, the Cleveland Browns and the Tennessee Titans had shown interest in landing Hunter; both of them wanted to land him in any one position. For the Browns, it’s the WR, while the Titans believe it’s the cornerback. But he got a clean chit from someone special. That’s none other than former Jacksonville Jaguars HC and now-turned-commentator Urban Meyer.

He said, “It would be hard for me to not take Travis Hunter with that first pick. 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.”

While the NFL giants might have got some clarity on Hunter’s calibre, there is still a field where the two-way star is likely to falter. When coming from Hunter’s first-ever trainer, Drew Johnson, aka Coach Drew, you need to believe that. After all, who knows the young chap better than Drew?

On April 23, the coach appeared on The Travis Hunter Show. Instead of showing his student as an example of perfection, he addressed the elephant in the room on what’s going to pester the player the most. “I think the playbook just knowing everybody’s game.” However, is he giving up his hope about Hunter? Not at all! Coach Drew said, “But that’s kind of what he does.” Hunter chimed in to complete Drew’s sentence, “doing that whole time.”

Tagging him as the “lockdown” guy, the coach believes that it would be a cakewalk for his student to play the pigskin. The coach thus ticks off all the boxes in the scouts’ checklist for Hunter. “Locker room, he’s already a locker room guy, not a problem. Off the field issues [are] not a problem. The playbook, and I think, just adjusting to be a pro. He already treats himself like a pro. He takes care of his body.” Well, it’s true. The Buffs’ two-way star has spent this off-season, ulking himself up. 

Why is Coach Drew’s review of Travis Hunter real? 

Well, pro league is a lot different than college football. And Hunter knows that. He thus has started with the preparations for a grueling journey ahead quite early. He left no stone unturned to pave his path to the NFL. On March 13, the Buffs’ two-way star released a clip on his YouTube channel. The video was shot when Hunter was engrossed in intense offseason workouts. And the true Hunter fans could not miss his refined footwork and explosiveness on the field. The caption of the video was enough to ward away all the doubts. It read, “ROAD TO DRAFT: TRAVIS HUNTER’S HIGH SCHOOL TRAINER PERFECTS HIS CRAFT.” 

All thanks to Coach Drew, who Hunter found by his side since his Collins High School days. The clip showed how the Buffs’ two-way star had put him on the edge, to bring out his best version. Clad in his pink sneakers, he ran like nobody could catch him. Just to push himself harder, he tied himself with resistance bands that were tied to a pole. The best part of the training came with his strength training. The 190lbs dual-threat did take part in some pull-up sessions, and trained with weights to oomph up his arm strength game. Now, in case scouts believe that Coach Drew has blinders on for Hunter, then that’s not the case.

Drew Johnson did not think twice before recalling the time in high school when Travis Hunter ‘wasn’t good.’ “You came out there like a baby deer. You weren’t very good… He could track the ball, he couldn’t catch it. I was like, are you sure you don’t just want to hoop? But nah, we put that work in and he trusted me.” It’s clear now: Coach Drew’s words about Travis Hunter aren’t just flattery—they’re grounded in facts, not favoritism.