While many in the media seriously debated Travis Hunter’s recent comment about Shohei Ohtani, that conversation took a fun turn Monday on the Nightcap podcast.
Co-hosts Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson hilariously chided Hunter’s response to a question at the NFL Scouting Combine. The Heisman Trophy winner, who plays both offense and defense, was asked about the Los Angeles Dodgers two-way superstar.
“What’s more difficult, what you do in football, or what Ohtani does in baseball?” the reporter asked.
“Probably me, what I do in football, because it’s a lot on your body,” Hunter said. “Ohtani, he’s a great player, but you gotta do a lot in football.”
Travis Hunter told me he thinks what he does on a football field is harder than what Shohei Ohtani does in baseball. pic.twitter.com/IK77LB7KAr
— Al Butler (@ALaboutSports) February 27, 2025
As noted, there was some serious debate on that topic in sports media, with the overwhelming consensus that Ohtani’s feat is much more difficult.
Sharpe and Johnson had some fun picking apart Hunter’s comment.
“Ain’t even close,” Sharpe said.
“Hey Trav, until you can get in that batting cage, just the batting cage … just the machine. Tell them to turn that up to 90-95 miles per hour and let me see you hit it. Just the fastball, I ain’t talking about no slider, I ain’t talking about no curve. I ain’t talking about no sinker.
“The most difficult thing to do in this world is hit a baseball coming at you. Just the fastball. … As difficult as the game of football is, and I love you, you’re an exceptional talent. But it’s not even comparable.”
“We can only track two players in Major League history to play baseball, pitch and hit,” Sharpe said. “We’re talking Babe Ruth and Shohei Ohtani. … Shohei Ohtani is the No. 1 player in baseball.
Sharpe added he’d talked to both Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders, who played in both MLB and the NFL, and they told him hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do.
Hunter is expected to go within the first few picks of the upcoming NFL Draft. Both Johnson and Sharpe expect the former Colorado star to shine in the NFL, although Johnson said there’s no way he’ll be able to play as extensively on both sides of the ball as he did in college.
Ochocinco sees a great upside for Travis Hunter as a wide receiver.
“The last wide receiver I heard with this kind of confidence … and live up to everything he said, was Ja’Marr Chase,” Johnson said.
Sharpe thinks he has a higher ceiling at cornerback.
“I think right now you could just drop him in at DB, and he understands, having been coached by (Sanders). I think he has great timing, his ball skills are really good,” Sharpe said. “He can get in and out of breaks really well, he tracks the ball exceptional, great hands.”
Sharpe shared some interesting comments on Travis Hunter a couple of months ago. After the star accepted the Heisman Trophy, fans noted his fiancée’s seeming disinterest in the proceedings. She said Hunter initially wasn’t her “type,” prompting Sharpe to joke, “Well, it seems like your type might be George Washington, Ben Franklin, Ulysses Grant.”
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.