Lane Kiffin is apparently a big fan of Travis Hunter Jr. The 47-year-old head coach of Ole Miss offered Colorado’s two-way star some advice on how to deal with the haters following the Buffaloes’ blowout loss to the Oregon Ducks on Saturday.
Coach Prime and his program turned college football on its head over the first three weeks of the season. Colorado rattled off three-straight wins over TCU, Nebraska and Colorado State to begin its first year of the new era and did so while talking a lot of talk.
Unfortunately, Hunter lacerated his liver while taking a dirty hit against the Rams. He will be out for at least a “few weeks” and missed Saturday’s game in Eugene as a result.
The Buffaloes got smacked 42-6. They were down 35-0 at halftime.
At that point, Hunter allegedly went live on Twitch. The former No. 1 overall recruit is a big gamer who often streams himself playing various games. Apparently, he was playing NBA 2K while his team was making adjustments before the second half.
Hunter did go live at some point on Saturday, however, it is unconfirmed whether he was playing video games while the Colorado game was still going on. The poster of the video was asked about the timing and insisted that it happened during halftime.
“i’m the one recorded while the game was going on”
— @BeGotGame2 on X, formerly known as Twitter
“lol i recorded it while watching the game. you can look at chat too”
Either way, Hunter did not play. Colorado’s loss does not fall on his shoulders.
And yet, the haters were out in full force anyway. Social media quickly turned on the Buffaloes. Even Hunter, who was not at the game, was the target of trolls.
That bummed him out.
What Do You People Get Out Of Hating ?
— Travis Hunter Jr on X, formerly known as Twitter
Kiffin was quick to respond.
It’s truly sad Travis. I’m a big fan. Keep grinding. It’s what they do
— Lane Kiffin on X, formerly known as Twitter
He also offered Hunter some advice. Kiffin told him to remember a passage from Theodore Roosevelt’s ‘The Man In The Arena’ when “[the haters] make all of those comments.”
It reads:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how strong the man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deers; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
— Theodore Roosevelt
Kiffin is very familiar with the haters. They have followed him to Oakland, Tennessee, USC, FAU and now Ole Miss.
Hunter has not experience the haters to the extent that he and his teammates did on Saturday. They are not going anywhere, any time soon.
Moving forward, Kiffin hopes that Hunter will remember the words of Roosevelt. What a sentence!