Travis Hunter will enter the 2024 season as the best overall player in college football and his high school football coach isn’t surprised. Collins Hill High School head football coach Drew Swick took a trip down memory lane with me to share what it was like coaching Travis, how he made an immediate impact at Collins Hill and what he means to their program.
What kind of an impact did Travis Hunter leave on Collins Hill football?
“Travis is a great ambassador for Collins Hill. You look at his younger brother, Trayvis. He’s now at Collins Hill. His brother was a freshman last year and he’ll be a sophomore this year but we keep it in the family. He’s gonna be a little bit shorter than Travis. He’s a slot receiver and also plays corner and safety for us and also does returning. He’s an unbelievable athlete, you talk to him he wants to be his own person. He’s just as good as Travis as a freshman, we didn’t have him start as a freshman like Travis but if we didn’t have as much skill as we’ve got he probably would be up there and able to start earlier. He’s an unbelievable kid with high academics and is well-respected in the building and the community. Great family overall. [Travis] has a ton of support at Collins Hill. He’s always coming back every summer, talks with the kids and shows his face. Now that his brother is here I’m assuming we’re gonna see him more.”
When did you start coaching at Collins Hill and what was it like coaching Travis?
“So 2015 when I left Presbyterian College, I came straight back to Collins Hill which is where I graduated from. Was hired as the ninth-grade coach and did that for one year and then I got pulled up to varsity to coach secondary. When it was my time to get that call as DC in 2020, nobody had us going very far in the playoffs. Collins Hill wasn’t on the map but we had guys like Travis and his entire class was super tight. I had the opportunity because of Travis to go to UGA, they were able to get me a GA and a couple of other coaches and I broke down our defense. We ran a 3-4 but we moved to a 4-3 and it was tough for offenses, especially in high school offensive linemen, to learn all those different fronts. It’s a lot but we were able to change the defense up and have Travis out there to take away half of the field, he played corner in 2020. To take the whole field away we moved him to safety in 2021 and that showed his ability that he could play all the positions on the field at a high level. Before the play would even start, his pre-snap reads were off the charts as well and he could tell the outside linebacker, safety or corner exactly what routes were coming. Then if we wanted to make a check if they were pricking us on something I would tell him one time and then he goes and does it perfectly so if we wanted to do a different bail in Cover 3 or Cover 2 to take away a quick screen, Travis knew exactly what we were talking about. It’s trickling down to our guys now. Some of our guys that were freshmen playing with Travis four years ago, we won state and some of that same stuff that he was doing trickled down to our DBs that were ninth graders or tenth graders so we reaped the benefits in the secondary and our defense has been really good. Offensively he’s just as good. He can definitely play either or in the NFL. He’s got stuff that he does at corner that nobody else can, he’s really twitchy, his first step out of his break and his play recognition can get him in position to make a lot of those plays and then the athleticism takes over.”
Travis made multiple plays last year just like you described with his play recognition skills, where does that come from?
“Coming from Florida, his mom decided to take him out and bring him up to Georgia and his dad called Coach Greg and told him, “I’ve got a guy who’s legit ready to play varsity.” When he came to us he was like a string bean then I would say really after his sophomore year going into his junior year that’s when Travis became Travis Hunter. He put in so much work that it’s not just god given ability, a lot of it is, but he goes Monday through Sunday and he’s always perfecting his craft. Like I said, he’s a great ambassador for Collins Hill and our young kids because they got to see how much he did. If he wasn’t working out he was in the cryo machine to make sure his muscles were built back up and recovering. He just put in tons of film time, tons of extra work on the days we were off he would always grab his quarterback or some of his receivers and DBs and get those guys out there on the field and get them getting extra work in. It was huge that we won back-to-back state championships, that was one of the main reasons. We had a great quarterback [Sam Horn], we had Travis Hunter who played both sides for us but a lot of people were saying that the only reason we were good was because of Travis. Well against Peachtree Ridge he got his ankle broken. That was the first drive and it ultimately made us better, I hate to say that but instead of just throwing to Travis we had to spread the ball around to the other receivers and ended up winning the game 63-0. That 2021 year because we had Travis, we had guys around him that were basically doing the same thing he was on the off days, we averaged giving up 5.6 points per game in 15 games. We scored 35 points per game. We shut out five or six teams that year.”
Travis took a nasty late hit against Colorado State, do you think other teams target him when he is lined up across from them?
“People are different, I don’t know if coaches are telling them to do that or not but you got a guy like Travis that can make plays and is the best player and if you’re taking him out of the equation, you may easily win the game. It shows his type of character, if people are doing that to him and then for him to reach out to that young man from Colorado State, it shows the type of kid he is. For him to reach out to that kid who was receiving death threats, it saved that kid’s life or career in a way. That just shows the type of kid he is. People see the flashy side of him on TV, but they’re not really getting to know Travis as an individual, a real person. Not this superstar or celebrity he is. Inside he’s a great young man, I love being around Travis, I love being around his brother, I love being around his family. They’ve got tons of energy, juice, and love for football and Collins Hill but he’s not your average guy.”
What do you remember about the first time you watched Travis play football?
“It was his freshman year, it was in practice. When somebody says we’ve got a freshman that’s ready to play varsity right now you’re like okay, let’s see. He came from Florida, he was a freak and I remember we had a really good receiver that year when he first got here he was able to kind of shut him down, and take over a senior’s spot at cornerback. It was like watching a future star.”
Coach Prime said last season that Travis doesn’t get tired and he wants to be on the field for every play. Was he the same way in high school?
“100%, I’ll tell you that when he broke his ankle he probably should not have come back his senior year. But his willingness and eagerness to win all the time, to be great, he was willing to do all of his PT and get everything done. He did more than what was needed or required of him from his physical therapist and got back. So he was out 3-4 weeks and came back for that state championship game. He never wants to come off the field, he plays every dang position: special teams, offense, defense. One thing about him is he wants everybody to be successful so like if we were to say hey you’re off this drive, he’s cheering on that guy that’s going in and coaching him up as he runs on replacing him, he’s telling him all the keys that he picked up on that can be successful. You’ve got to have that kind of stuff to win a state championship in 7A football in Georgia.”
We saw some of that last season when Travis was hurt and he was coaching up Cormani McClain. Was his great football mind developed or was that how he’s wired?
“He’s been doing stuff on his own, he’s a film junky. When he had some downtime that’s what he’s doing. He’s looking at HUDL, you look at the overall hours he has just as many hours as some of the assistant coaches. That’s what makes him special, he has the IQ and the ability to go and make plays.”
What can you tell me about Travis Hunter’s recruitment and what did you know leading up to the flip?
“So there were only a few people that knew what was going on. Florida State had done an unbelievable job recruiting him. The entire coaching staff came to our state championship game. Going into signing day, there were some rumors but I kind of knew there may be a flip when he came in with his navy blue J’s, his Air Force Ones. They were the color of Jackson State so that was kind of odd. The kid was going to do what he wanted to do to make his life better and I think he looked at it as these guys are telling me this, I gotta do this and I could set myself up for success in my future, I want to learn from the GOAT at my position which is Deion Sanders. For me, if you look at his career right now I think it’s been incredible. If I were him I wouldn’t make it any different. The ultimate thing for him is that he’s happy.”
We saw Travis throwing the football around when he was hurt last year and he can spin it. Did he ever play quarterback at Collins Hill?
“He played wildcat for us. Everybody focuses on him so you could do a rollout and we had that opposite throw to the receiver. You give a kid like that space to run around he’s gonna go make plays and he’s smart enough to be told hey if that receiver is wide open go ahead and throw it. He could play every position honestly besides offensive line.”
What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen Travis Hunter do on a football field?
“The National Championship were down by a touchdown, there’s a third and long play and he ends up mossing a kid. He jumps over the top of the kid to get the ball and then runs and scores. It was crazy. It was a third and long, it was a choice that he made and I gave him choices like this all the time but that one play he had that clutchness about him.”
