Former Tennessee Vols cornerback Colton Hood has a message for former Colorado star Travis Hunter
Former Tennessee Vols cornerback Colton Hood, who started his career at Auburn and Colorado before landing on Rocky Top, is hoping to be selected in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft.
Former Tennessee Vols cornerback Colton Hood had a friendly message this week for Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter.
Hood and Hunter were teammates at Colorado in 2024.
The former Vol was asked about Hunter during an appearance Thursday on Good Morning Football.
Hood praised Hunter before confidently saying he would shut his former teammate down if given the chance in the NFL.
“I think he’s different,” said Hood. “That’s the first guy I’ve seen go out on the football field and he didn’t get tired ever. So he’s definitely a dog. And whatever position he’s at, he’s going to excel. Hopefully I get to guard him in the league.”
“I’m gonna put them straps on him,” added Hood when asked how defending Hunter would go.
Hunter is expected to see more time at cornerback in 2026, but he’s still expected to see action at wide receiver, too.
The Houston Texans, who play in the same division as Hunter and the Jaguars, have the No. 28 overall selection in the 2026 NFL Draft. Houston brought Hood in for a pre-draft visit earlier this week, so there’s a chance the former Vol gets his wish.
Colton Hood had good things to say about his time at Colorado
Hood was asked at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis earlier this offseason about the differences in playing for Colorado head coach Deion Sanders and Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel.
“I won’t really get into the differences,” said Hood. “I would say, at Tennessee, Coach Heupel, he definitely cared about his players. So he definitely did the best to keep us healthy and get to Saturday. He did a great job with that. Just a great coach, a player’s coach. I love Coach Heupel.”
“The best thing I learned from him was just how intensely you need to study film to be the best version of yourself and how it can make me a great player,” added Hood of what he learned from Sanders… It was definitely a great experience. Just getting to be around all the NFL talent there, and going against Travis Hunter every day. We had four NFL receivers on that team.”
After Hood’s comments about Heupel and Sanders were taken out of context by some folks in the media, the former Vol took to social media to clarify that he enjoyed playing for Coach Prime.