The Colorado star appeared to have a shoulder injury

Colorado and Kansas State played one of the most exciting games of the 2024 college football season late Saturday night, with the teams scoring three touchdowns in the final seven minutes to secure a 31-28 back-and-forth win for the No. 19 Wildcats in Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado.

The duel was characterized as much by who wasn't on the field as who was.

Required reading: Colorado can't pull off another miracle after losing Travis Hunter and other stars to injuries

Although they staged a 10-point comeback in the fourth quarter and almost won without him, coach Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes played without Travis Hunter for much of the evening.

The two-way sensation from Colorado, a leading Heisman Trophy candidate entering Week 7, left the game in the second quarter with an apparent shoulder injury.

The junior wide receiver and defensive back was one of several key players the Buffaloes lost in their loss to Kansas State. The team's top two remaining receivers, Jimmy Horn Jr. and Omarion Miller, also left the game with injuries in the second and fourth quarters, respectively.

Despite the lack of healthy, available targets, Colorado star quarterback Shedeur Sanders still managed to complete 34 of his 40 passes for 388 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. After the game, as exciting as it was, most of the attention remained on Hunter, one of the most captivating players in the country whose stellar 2024 season hit a roadblock.

Here's a closer look at Hunter's injury and how his playing status is shaping up:

Required reading: What Deion Sanders said after Colorado football's loss to Kansas State

Travis Hunter injury update

The play that ultimately knocked Hunter out of the rest of the game came with about eight minutes left in the second quarter, when he hauled in a 14-yard pass from Shedeur Sanders and absorbed a score from Kansas State safety Daniel Cobbs.

Shortly thereafter, Hunter left the game. He was examined by a team trainer and taken back to the locker room for evaluation. He returned to the sideline in full uniform at the start of the third quarter but did not rejoin the contest.

Before his injury, Hunter had three catches for 26 yards on offense and one tackle on defense. When Deion Sanders was asked about the status of Hunter, Horn and Miller after the game, he had no new information.

“I have not received any information about these particular young men,” he said. “Hopefully they can do it again. But we won't rush them. Their safety and their health are much more important than this game.”

The player who replaced Hunter at cornerback, Auburn transfer Colton Hood, intercepted a pass from Kansas State's Avery Johnson and returned it 59 yards to the Wildcats' 17 yards. Two plays later, the Buffaloes scored the go-ahead touchdown with 3:12 left in regulation.

Hunter has shouldered a tremendous load for Colorado and was a key reason the Buffaloes started 4-1 this season, Sanders' second coach.

At the halfway point of Colorado's regular season, Hunter has 49 catches for 587 yards and six touchdowns, the first two of which are team highs, as well as 16 tackles, three pass break-ups, two interceptions and a forced fumble.

Because of his importance to the team on offense and defense, Hunter has played the vast majority of the Buffaloes' snaps this season. Before his injury on Saturday, he had been on the field for 44 of the game's 45 offensive and defensive shots.

“The loss of Jimmy (Horn Jr.), Travis (Hunter) and others was certainly huge because they are an important part of our team, an important part of our identity, an important part of who we are,” Deion echoed Sanders the game Saturday night. “It took a lot of us, but other guys had the opportunity to step up and they did. I’m proud of her.”

This extraordinary performance has raised questions about its durability and whether it can withstand such an enormous workload.

Colorado returns next Saturday with a game at Arizona before returning home for a game against Cincinnati on October 26th. With two more wins, the Buffaloes will qualify for only their third bowl since 2008.

Travis Hunter injury update

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