Mel Kiper (Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Veteran draft analyst Mel Kiper has named the player he believes is the most formidable ahead of the NFL’s selection process in 2025.

Kiper has amassed extensive experience as a judge of football talent, having done this for several decades. He recently claimed that Colorado’s Travis Hunter is unlike any player he’s ever seen.

Hunter starred on both sides of the ball for the Buffaloes this season, helping push the program back into relevance and finish 9-3 in his second year. He’s now set to make the jump to the pros, and Kiper reckons he’s the clear-cut player to go No. 1.

“Everything about him screams the best player in this draft. He is the clear-cut player to be #1 on the board,” he said on ESPN this week.

“I’ve been doing this for 50 years and we have never had this before. The #1 everything.”

Will Travis Hunter Be Allowed To Operate As A WR & CB In The NFL?

While Kiper hasn’t seen anyone excel on opposite sides of the ball the way Hunter has, there’s no guarantee he will get to do so in the NFL.

If he isn’t allowed to, it won’t be because he can’t, but the CU star has every intention of playing at wide receiver and cornerback in the pros after giving a remarkable account of himself in college.

You’d have to imagine any coach would be cautious as the tread on his body would come twofold, but time will tell whether the college stud will be let loose as a dual-position piece once he makes that step up to the league.