All the college football fans know that the athletic specimen, Travis Hunter, won the Heisman last year. The college football landscape saw nothing like it. A player who could play both sides of the ball, averaging over 100 snaps a game while being his team’s best corner and receiver. When it came down to the Heisman race, it came between BSU running back Ashton Jeanty, who led the nation in most rushing categories, but played in a weak conference, and Hunter, an athletic specimen who led Colorado to its best season since 2016. Hunter, ultimately winning the trophy, became the first ever position named “Athlete” to win the Heisman. Hunter then declared for the draft after his Junior year at Colorado and got drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars with the third overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft. But who’s the next “Athlete” in college football?
Well, let me introduce you to Minnesota’s Koi Perich. An Athlete who is playing Safety, Wide Receiver, and returning punts and kicks this season for the Golden Gophers. Perich played his true freshman season at Minnesota, playing all 13 games, racking up 28 solo tackles, 46 total tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 5 interceptions, 3 pass deflections, and a forced fumble, all just on defense last year. Now, let’s compare his defensive stats to Hunter’s Heisman season. Hunter’s stats were 13 games, 25 solo tackles, 36 total tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 4 interceptions, and 11 pass deflections. That is only their defensive stats. Perich did not play offense last year. But you could argue that Perich, even though he didn’t lead to the same team success, was better than Hunter as a DB last year. Keep in mind, Hunter was the number one player in his high school recruiting class, and he is a Heisman and a top 3 pick in the NFL draft.
It’s hard to compare someone to a Heisman winner who accomplished a lot in his college football career. But if anyone can fill the shoes, it’s Koi Perich. Perich playing 3 sides of the ball has led Minnesota to a 3-1 record so far this season. Looking to improve from their 8-5 record last year. Perich’s current stats on defense are through 4 games: 8 solo tackles, 21 total tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 0 interceptions, and 0 pass deflections. Offensively, through 4 games: 3 receptions, 55 yards, 18.3 yards per reception, and 13.8 yards per game. Perich has yet to score a touchdown this season, but hasn’t been involved in the offense a ton yet. I think if Perich got the right receiving coaching with him being the athletic beast he is, he could be an elite two-way player and be better than Travis Hunter was while playing better competition, which gets me into my next point.
Depending on Minnesota’s record this year, coaching and point differential, Perich could ultimately end up transferring at the end of the year. Minnesota plays in the Big 10 conference, which has big-name teams like Michigan, Indiana, Oregon, Ohio State, Penn State, USC, and Nebraska. Those are pretty big names in the Big 10, and 4 of them made the college football playoffs last year. Minnesota plays 3 of those teams, being Ohio State, Nebraska, and Oregon, ending their season off with tough competition, being Wisconsin.
If Perich were to transfer his current options right out of the portal would start off as Ohio State, Washington, Michigan, Florida State, and USC. He took visits to Ohio State, Washington, and Michigan. Obviously, later on in the portal, he would get more offers. But if you were to ask me who has the best fit for Koi Perich to transfer to, it would be. I would say Colorado. Travis Hunter, the latest Heisman winner, excelled at Colorado while having an inspirational coach being Deion Sanders, who also played 2 ways in college football when he played. Sanders, who has experience coaching a 2-way player while is able to feed that 2-way player the ball on offense while they exceed expectations on defense of their own. Colorado also plays in an easier conference known as the Big 12, having big names like Arizona State and BYU. Those are the biggest current names in the Big 12 conference.
What really makes Koi Perich the next Travis Hunter, though? Well, it really is that he plays both sides of the ball, and plays defense at an elite level like Hunter. Supposedly, Hunter was so good at defense that teams didn’t throw his way. Well, Perich technically had a better defensive season than Hunter did last season and did it in a better conference, so what does this mean for Perich?
