"People scare me": Travis Hunter opens up about the emotional toll the recent criticism had on him and what he intends to do moving on

Travis Hunter and his fiancée, Leanna Lenee, faced online criticism and backlash following his Heisman Trophy win in December. The mounting pressure led the two to deactivate their Instagram account and stay off the public space for a couple of weeks.

In a recent episode of “The Travis Hunter Show,” the former Colorado two-way star opened up about the emotional toll that online criticism has taken on him. He also shared his new strategies for dealing with people, which stem from his challenging experiences in the cyber world:

“All the haters are messing up for my supporters,” Hunter disclosed. “I rarely take pictures now because you don’t know what they’re going to do with it. People are weird. People scare me because you never know who’s got good intentions and it can always go left at any moment.”

Travis Hunters says the experience has bettered him

As the saying goes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger – and that certainly holds true for Travis Hunter after his recent challenges. The online criticism has not only made him more resilient but also helped him build stronger relationships with people around him:

“It’s bettered me," Hunter said of the change. "I live life happy. I walk around the house happy not having social media, watching YouTube, on the phone with my friends, playing a game with my friends, just having fun. I just got a different type of joy in me now, not having that stress.”

With Hunter set to transition to the professional stage, he is expected to face increased fan pressure, given the larger audience commanded by the NFL. However, his past experience have provided him with valuable insights on managing online pressure and cyberbullying.

Travis Hunter talks playing multiple sports professionally

In addition to his aspirations of playing both offense and defense in the NFL, Travis Hunter has hinted at pursuing another sport professionally. On a recent episode of his show, he talked about his versatility in various sports and the possibility of playing baseball professionally, much like Deion Sanders.

“If y'all don't know, I can play a lot of sports. But you will never know, 'cause I play football," Hunter said, per The Score. "But I could play basketball too. I can run track. I could do long jump, high jump, and track. I can do the mile ... the 400. I could play baseball if I felt like it."

Deion Sanders spent nine seasons as an outfielder in the MLB while simultaneously playing in the NFL. He played for the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants. Travis Hunter could follow in his footsteps when he gets drafted into the league too.