Travis Hunter injury update: Is the Colorado star playing on Saturday against BYU?

Travis Hunter is fresh off winning the Heisman Trophy, but he is not done with his college football season yet. He will play with the No. 23-ranked Colorado Buffaloes one more time when they compete in the Alamo Bowl against No. 17 BYU Cougars.

Hunter has been a huge reason why the Buffaloes have been successful this season, but there was a period when he was dealing with injuries. In October, he missed parts of two straight games because of shoulder injuries. He missed the second half of the loss against Kansas State because of a shoulder injury. Then, although he returned against Arizona the next week, he missed the second half again.

At that point in the season, there was serious doubt that Hunter would contend for the Heisman Trophy. However, when he returned the following week against Cincinnati, he was fully healthy and performed at a high level for the rest of the year. The injury has not impacted him since then and will not affect his availability against BYU. Travis Hunter will play in the Alamo Bowl.

Is Travis Hunter playing this week?

Yes, Travis Hunter is playing this week. However, it is understandable if some fans thought he might opt out of the Alamo Bowl. Typically, prospective top draft picks do not play in bowl games. Since Hunter is expected to be a top-five pick, many fans did not expect him to compete against BYU.

However, Coach Prime, Deion Sanders, has said several times in recent weeks that he expects all of his draft-eligible players to compete in the Alamo Bowl so long as they are healthy. Travis Hunter is in that group and is expected to play. Sanders first spoke about this at a press conference in November.

"Our kids are gonna play in our bowl game, because that’s what we signed up to do and we’re gonna finish. We’re not gonna tap out, because that throws off the structure of next season. There’s a couple (teams), you take note, they lay an egg in the bowl game and they haven’t recovered since. We don’t plan on doing that."

Travis Hunter also indicated that he wants to be there to help his teammates who have not gotten as much attention this season. He spoke about this during interviews at the Heisman Trophy Ceremony. He said he wants to keep attention on Colorado so some of his teammates can raise their profiles for the draft.