CU’s Travis Hunter, CSU’s Henry Blackburn turned hit into positive legacy

FORT COLLINS — This week’s personal. Not because of Travis Hunter. Or Boulder. Or CU. Because Henry Blackburn’s had it, frankly, with the blasted trophy case at Canvas Stadium.

The one he’s walked by a million times now. The one that won’t stop staring back with emptiness. The one that mocks him, silently, reminding him what should’ve been. And wasn’t.

“I’ve only won one trophy here, so that definitely (hacks) me off,” Blackburn, the CSU Rams’ senior safety, told me earlier this year. “And it’s something that we all are aware of and definitely working to make sure that doesn’t happen in my last season. We’re all aware of our rivalry games and we’ve got two at home … so yeah, those are definitely huge games for us that we need to win.”

Once the bruises and pride start talking, they never stop. Rocky Mountain Showdown Week opens up all kinds of old wounds. Shedeur Sanders turning into Tom Brady. The Rams letting one slip away late, a recurring theme for 2023 that nobody wanted.

“Henry wants to see us win. He wants to see us do the things we need to do to win,” added third-year CSU coach Jay Norvell, who’s seeking his first rivalry win on Saturday night when the two 1-1 rivals lock horns at Canvas Stadium for the first time.

“And I think that’s probably been the biggest difference in our leaders is that they’ve been super-focused on making everybody else accountable … going to class, making sure you’re on time for workouts, finishing workouts, all the things that we ask our kids to do in our program. Our leaders have been super detailed in making them accountable. And so I just think Henry’s been dialed in with that.

“He’s one of those guys that just loves to play, whether it’s practice or a game. And he reminds me a lot of myself, to be honest, when I was in college.”

Despite some dings this past spring, Blackburn’s playing faster than ever. Counters in the chess game on the field come quicker. So does the first step.

The Boulder native says he power-cleaned 300 pounds earlier this year. He maxed out at 275-ish in spring 2023. The 225-pound bench press reps, another NFL combine test, went up to 17 this past spring after hovering in the 12 range the year before.

“Just everything, my whole game and every facet, (is) improved physically,” Blackburn said. “And then obviously, the mental side has been something I’ve been really working to improve as well.”

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This week’s special. Just not in the ways you’d think. Blackburn’s turned enough pages from last year’s Rocky Mountain Showdown to make George R.R. Martin blush.

“I mean, he’s a good dude and I wish him the best in his career,” Blackburn said of Hunter, the Buffs two-way star who left last September’s Showdown at Folsom Field after taking a blow from the CSU safety near the home sideline. “I don’t have any (ill will). We’re good.

“And obviously, we’re going to have to play again, strap it up again, and that’ll be a fun game. But yeah, I’ve got good feelings toward him and everything and wish him the best in his career.”

Beyond that, Blackburn declined to dive into specifics.

Everyone wants to move on. The social media benefits of the Coach Prime Effect have been a tide that lifts all boats for CU athletics. But when the narrative gets ugly, that wave can turn into a tsunami. Lines get crossed. Five individuals were reportedly charged last year with making threats against Blackburn and his family.

“Yeah, it was kind of frustrating because, being on the (CU) side, they didn’t really have to do that,” CU defensive back Isaiah Hardge told me. “But at the end of the day … it’s football, anything can happen.”

What got lost in the hit that rocked Folsom Field was the good souls in both the Buffs and Rams locker rooms that worked behind the scenes to mend fences.

Hardge was one of them. The Florida native’s older brother, Ron Hardge III, played for the Rams last year. Last September, the younger Hardge was playing NBA 2K with Hunter when Ron called him up and said he was sitting next to Blackburn.

“I was talking on the mic with (Hunter) and that’s when I had my brother, who was next to Henry,” Isaiah Hardge recalled. “We were just kind of talking, and he heard him, so I was kind of the middle man.”

Ron rang up Isaiah and he merged the call with Hunter.

“So I had called Henry and then put him on the phone with (Travis) on a merge,” Isaiah said. “And that’s when they were talking … that’s when we kind of set it up with the bowling thing. That’s how it all happened.”

You know the rest. Blackburn and Hunter agreed to bowl in Westminster for charity. Both players wound up contributing $1,000 each to the cause of Blackburn’s choice: Fort Collins-based Realities For Children. The nonprofit, whose motto is, “because no child should be forgotten,” works to improve the lives of children who have been abused, neglected, or are at risk.

Former CSU and Broncos star Shaq Barrett and his wife, Jordana, have backed the organization in the past, and it’s got some cool things afoot. RFC is constructing a Healing Sanctuary Campus on a 4-acre lot adjacent to the organization’s headquarters.

“I met Henry when I went up to Fort Collins with my brother,” Hardge said. “I keep in contact with him. He’s good. Yeah, he’s a good guy, he’s a cool guy. I mean, it just blew up.

“Everybody was saying that was a foul hit. But at the end of the day, they came and squashed the beef. I mean, (there) was no beef. It was good sportsmanship, everybody getting along. And then just coming together and just solving the problem.”

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Hundreds of problems, actually. Thanks in part to Hunter and Blackburn, RFC recently filled and distributed 1,005 backpacks full of supplies this summer for local schoolchildren.

Last year, RFC provided emergency funding services for 5,116 children and distributed items to more than 15,000 children and their families while providing youth activities and facilities space for nearly 6,500 kids and guardians.