The star player for Colorado beat out other Heisman-hopeful and Boise St. star runningback Ashton Jeanty (2,017 points), Oregon quarterback Dillion Gabriel (516), Miami quarterback Cam Ward (219), and Arizona State runningback Cam Skettabo (170).
Hunter received 552 first-place votes to Jeanty's 309, Gabriel's 24, Ward's six, and Skettabo's three.
"I never thought I'd be in this position," Hunter said during his acceptance speech. "It's crazy. Your belief will take you a long way. It's actually crazy, man. Thank you, thank you, thank you. First, I want to thank my fiancée and my mother. They've been with me since the first time I had surgery my first year of college. They never took a step away from me. All the hard hours. All the hard days. All the times I didn't want to wake up and even get on my phone, look at football, y'all stayed with me. I'm very thankful for y'all."
Hunter earned first-team All-Big 12 honours on both offence and defence and won the conference's 2024 Defensive Player of the Year.
The top player in the nation had 1,152 receiving yards and caught 14 touchdowns through the air for the Buffaloe while also recording 15 pass deflections and four interceptions, making him the number one dual-threat player in the nation.
Hunter is the first defensive back to win the Heisman Award since Charles Woodson achieved the feat in 1997 and the first wide receiver since Desmond Howard, ironically both from Michigan.
"I'm thankful. I'm thankful for my mother. She took me out of Florida. Bad area, I'm always getting in trouble, to now look where I'm at. It's crazy."
Hunter played an astounding 1,443 snaps in just 12 games for Colorado this season and fully intends on entering the upcoming NFL draft.
Nine of the last 10 Heisman winners were drafted in the first round of the NFL draft, with the odd man out being future Hall of Fame running back Derrick Henry, who was drafted in the second round (45th overall).