Martel Hight reveals how much Travis Hunter impacted him playing both ways for Vanderbilt

If things work out on offense for Martel Hight, the Vanderbilt junior cornerback might need to send Travis Hunter a little “thank you” letter. Hight confirmed he’ll be playing on both offense and defense for the Commodores during the 2025 season while at SEC Media Days last week in Atlanta.

But, as it turns out, Hight credits Hunter, the 2024 Heisman Trophy winner and No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, for showing him such a move is even possible. After witnessing what Hunter, who started 22 games at both cornerback and receiver across two seasons at Colorado, accomplished last season, Hight decided to approach Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea about doing the same in 2025.

“It’s crazy because me and him played against each other in high school, so we were like back-and-forth, back-and-forth. … I (played both ways) in high school, and I didn’t think it was actually possible to actually do it (in college) because of rules,” Hight said at SEC Media Days. “But once I’d seen Travis do it, I was like, ‘Hey coach, when are you going to let me do that?’ And he kind of gave me a shot at it. So we’re going to see how it plays out.”

Hunter played an eye-popping 2,625 snaps in two seasons at Colorado, leading the entire FBS in that category in both 2023 and 2024. The versatile Hunter flashed at both positions, becoming college football’s first back-to-back winner of the Paul Hornung Award as the game’s most versatile player.

Of course, that was just one of an array of 2024 honors for college football’s single-most decorated player in college football history, also winning the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s best receiver and the Bednarik Award and Lott IMPACT Trophy as the nation’s top defensive player.

Martel Hight already practicing ’50-50′ between offense, defense ahead of 2025 season

The 6-foot, 180-pound Hight, who also contributes on punt return and was an All-SEC second-team representative as a return specialist in 2024, is still just listed as a cornerback on the official Vanderbilt online roster, but is expected to contribute at receiver in 2025. He’s already been practicing both ways throughout Spring and already has a plan for preseason practice next month.

“I am playing both ways, and it’s not really a change. I have to do both ways, but it’s like 50-50, so I have a pretty good (practice) schedule for it,” Hight explained. “Certain periods I do offense, certain periods I do defense and then with team segments, I do a certain amount of plays on offense and defense.”

Hight, who also played basketball and track and field in high school, signed with Vanderbilt as a four-star prospect out of Rome (Ga.) High as a member of the 2023 recruiting class, according to the Rivals Industry Rankings. He was named the state of Georgia’s 6-AAAAAA Region athlete/all-purpose player of the year after guiding the Wolves to a 12-2 record while playing both ways in 2022.