Hard times to be an athlete: Colorado State Player Henry Blackburn Receives Death Threats Following Hit Over Travis Hunter

On Saturday, September 16, a very intense rivalry renewed as The Colorado Buffaloes, led by former HBCU head coach Deion Sanders, took on the Colorado State University Rams, led by Jay Norvell. It was a game for the ages, and as the week went by, all eyes were on the two respective teams. In addition, a lot of hype from the coaches, players, and even the fans built up, which might have led this to be an early NCAA college game of the year. The Colorado Buffs have mega talent on their team now, with some of their key players transferring from an HBCU school following their coach, Deion Sanders. One of the most important players who happened to follow was Travis Hunter, an outstanding athlete who plays on both sides of the ball, which can cause him to be up for the Heisman watch list. Going into this game, Hunter was in everyone’s mind to be the main reason that the Buffs would win the game. Unfortunately, that didn’t turn out to be during the late 1st quarter; Colorado State defensive back Henry Blackburn took a critical hit on Hunter, leading him to miss the rest of the game and even a few more weeks.
Colorado went on to win the game, but for Colorado State’s Henry Blackburn, that wasn’t the rest of the backlash from the game, as he started to receive terrible threats for a late hit on Hunter. Recently, reports came in that mysterious people have been harassing Blackburn and his family with phone calls, text messages, and following his whereabouts. It is known that his parents’ home address was posted on social media, giving the feeling that they didn’t feel safe in their own home anymore. People even have been calling the school to try to get Blackburn’s scholarship revoked. While Blackburn battles the outright death threats, players and coaches on the opposing team from last week’s game stood up for him regardless of what people think.
A few days ago, Colorado Buffs athlete Travis Hunter spoke on the hit from the game on his podcast and said that Blackburn did what he was supposed to do as he stated, “It’s football; something bad is going to happen on the field sooner or later just got to get up and fight again.” Coach Prime spoke with the press supporting Henry and his family, stating that Blackburn shouldn’t receive death threats over a football game. Coach Prime mentioned that the player is a good player who played a phenomenal game and made a mistake that he forgives him for, so does Travis, and the team does as well, and they are praying for the Blackburn family. In sports, bad plays come and go, and like Coach Norvell said, “Sadly, that’s the state of the world we live in. It’s a football game; let’s not make it more than that.” Hopefully, Blackburn and his family will recover from the terrifying threats and get their lives back to normal because the fans must remember that athletes should be able to be protected the same as everyone else.