Travis Hunter is arriving in the NFL with a huge profile thanks to his stellar college career.
The two-way star landed the Heisman Trophy after dominating as a wide receiver and cornerback for the Colorado Buffaloes.
Hunter got an early taste of the increased spotlight he will face in the league after his fiancee Leanna Lenee went viral when he picked up the award earlier in December.
Lenee was blasted by fans as footage showed the Buffaloes’ head coach, NFL legend Deion Sanders, allegedly having to tell her to stand up when Hunter was announced as the winner of college football‘s highest honor.
Critics labeled her reaction as ‘disinterested’, and asked why she wasn’t more ‘hyped’.
More viral clips then surfaced which appeared to show Lenee getting annoyed with Hunter taking pictures with a female fan.
“What do you want me to do… I’ll just sit here then,” she appeared to say while looking visibly annoyed.
Former NFL receiver turned TV personality Nate Burleson insists the couple only have themselves to blame for the negative attention.
“It’s their business. And by that, I mean, it’s everybody else’s business because that couple put it out there,” he told TMZ.
“All these clips have been put out on social media. So people are responding to Travis Hunter and his girlfriend and pulling up old clips that you, Travis, and her put out to the public.
“You can’t complain when people respond. That’s social media. You can’t say ‘mind your own business’ or ‘keep your opinion to yourself’ when you have shared with everybody.”
Burleson did say that 21-year-old Hunter and Lenee, who turned 23 in November, need to be given time to get used to their relationship being under such scrutiny.
GettyBurleson thinks the couple need time to adapt to their fame[/caption]
“You’ve gotta give Travis grace and you’ve gotta give her grace,” he added. “They are both navigating these waters for the first time.”
Social media users were outraged on Hunter’s behalf, with some advising the projected top-three pick in the 2025 NFL Draft to dump his significant other.
Hunter has since deleted his Instagram account after a video appearing to show Lenee dancing with another man went viral.
Three-time Super Bowl champ Shannon Sharpe fired back at their critics on his Nightcap podcast.
“Everybody has had a situation where they’ve had a parent tell them, ‘I don’t want you to see that person,’” he said.
“And the more they tell you they don’t want you to see that person [the more you try to go and see them].
“I get it, I get it, you don’t want the man to be taken advantage of. Nobody does… But just protect yourself, protect your wealth down the road.
“But y’all don’t dictate anything! Y’all don’t see it?!
“Y’all gotta let the man make his mistakes, he’ll figure it out, hopefully sooner than later.
“But he loves this woman. This is not an act! The more y’all try to pull them apart the more you drive them closer together.”
Sharpe added that he ultimately wants what’s best for Hunter, who is a months away from signing a massive rookie contract.
“I want the young man to be happy. Stop trying to tell people what to do,” he continued.
“I want Travis Hunter to do the best that he possibly can. I want him to be smart. He’s about to come into more money than he ever dreamed of, and I want to protect himself.
“Sometimes you have to bump your own head before you realize how much it hurts.”
Hunter and Lenee met at Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, Georgia.
The future NFL star has stood by his fiancee and wants to marry her when he signs his rookie deal.
“She might look irritated towards me, but at the same time, there’s a lot of stuff she deal with during the game. There’s a lot of stuff people don’t see off the camera,” Hunter recently said on The Pivot Podcast. “I just let people talk.”
“Me, I’m a big troller so I just troll the internet. I really don’t care what they think or what they say about us so, I just go on there and troll.
“They talk about her, I post her to make them even more mad than they already are so they try to find something to hate, try to find something to break up on our relationship but ain’t nothing there, ain’t nothing you can find cause I love my woman.
“She’s my closest to everything, she helped me with everything. It’s kind of hard sometimes but she’s always there.”