Colorado's Travis Hunter sat out the second half to rest his sore shoulder

Colorado's two-way star Travis Hunter did not play in the second half of Saturday's 34-7 win over Arizona out of an abundance of caution.

The Heisman Trophy contender suffered a shoulder injury last Saturday against Kansas State and sat out the second half of the Buffaloes' 31-28 loss. Hunter caught two passes for 17 yards at wide receiver and recorded one tackle at cornerback in the first half against Arizona, playing 41 snaps on offense but just 13 on defense.

“Sore and banged up,” coach Deion Sanders said after the game against Hunter. “Travis wanted to play. I don't know if he was 100 percent ready, but half of Travis is a whole person. So you have to understand that it affects us on two sides of the ball. But he went out there and showed his face and tried his best to do what he's capable of.

After Colorado took a 28-7 halftime lead in Tucson, Hunter emerged from the locker room in street clothes early in the second half.

Sanders said Hunter couldn't extend his body to reach the first fade pass thrown to him during the game, so the team decided to exercise caution.

“I said, 'Man, that's not you. What are you doing? Are you OK?'” Sanders said. “And he didn’t want to leave the field, you know how he is. But I'm proud of him. The boy is phenomenal. He’s a competitor and just wanted to play.”

Sanders said Hunter didn't practice “much if at all” during the week.

Hunter leads all FBS players in snaps played this season and ranked third in the Big 12 in receiving yards entering Saturday with 49 receptions for 587 yards and six touchdowns.