Dec 14, 2024; New York, NY, USA; Colorado Buffaloes wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter after winning the 2024 Heisman Trophy. Credit: Todd Van Emst/Heisman Trust via Imagn Images
College FootballRadioBy Sam Neumann on

Colorado’s Travis Hunter was named the 90th Heisman winner on Saturday night.

But not everybody thought the two-way player who stars for Deion Sanders’ Buffaloes was deserving. As Zach Gelb noted, Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty was on 95.04% of the Heisman ballots, while Hunter was on 93.32%. That differentiation didn’t matter as Hunter earned 552 first-place votes, 243 more than the Broncos’ running back.

Needless to say, it wasn’t close.

Still, those percentages reveal a lot about voter behavior. In the aftermath, writers and media members flooded social media with their ballots, offering transparency — or, at times, controversy — to their followers.

Among them was Ian Furness, a Seattle sports radio host on 93.3 KJR and studio host for the Kraken Hockey Network. His X bio (formerly Twitter) confirms his status as a Heisman voter, and his ballot reflected some unconventional choices:

1) Ashton Jeanty (Boise State)
2) Cam Ward (Miami)
3) Cam Skattebo (Arizona State)

There’s not exactly anything egregious about voting for Jeanty and Ward, who were among the best players in the country. You could argue that perhaps Jeanty should’ve come away with the Heisman, being that he was first in the nation in rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, yards per carry, yards after contact and missed tackles.

But we’ve also never seen a player like Travis Hunter before.

That said, Skattebo is a bit more egregious.

The Arizona State running back wasn’t a finalist for the Heisman Trophy or the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, but that didn’t stop Phoenix sports radio host Dan Bickley from revealing that Skattebo was his Heisman vote.

It also didn’t stop Furness from including him on his ballot.

That being said, the reaction on social media was about what you’d anticipate:

Voter transparency may help the Heisman process feel more open, but ballots like these ensure it’ll never be without controversy. After all, when history remembers Travis Hunter as the 90th Heisman winner, no one will care about Furness’ ballot — just that he had one.

[Ian Furness]

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann