No presents under the tree this year. At least, no pictures of them — not from Travis Hunter’s fiancée, Leanna Lenee.
The link to Lenee’s Instagram’s returns a “sorry, this page isn’t available” error message, indicating she has followed Hunter’s suit and deleted her account after being criticized online for how she reacted after Hunter’s Heisman victory.
The Instagram account of Hunter, the Colorado Buffaloes two-way star and potential top pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, appeared to be deactivated on Monday.
The limelight on Hunter has grown brighter and brighter throughout his age-21 season. And all along, the headlines about Lenee, his partner of five years, have followed close behind.
In the weeks leading up to the Heisman ceremony in New York, the internet dug into an awkward hug the two shared on the field following the Buffaloes’ final regular-season game.
Travis Hunter/Instagram
Hunter responded to the criticism during an appearance on an episode of “The Pivot Podcast,” hosted by former NFL stars Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor and Channing Crowder.
“She might look irritated towards me, but at the same time, there’s a lot of stuff she deals with during the game,” Hunter told the podcast hosts. “There’s a lot of stuff people don’t see off the camera.”
It wasn’t the first time Hunter had come to Lenee’s defense, nor would it be the last.
Scrutiny followed the couple across the country and into the Lincoln Center when the wide-receiver/cornerback took home college football’s highest honors.
In videos of the moment after Hunter is announced as the Heisman winner, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders appears to have told Lenee to stand up out of her seat and applaud.
Shortly thereafter Lenee responded to chides that were coming in from all corners of social media.
“When his name was called, I instantly was going to get up — if you watch the video, his mom didn’t get up, so I was like, ‘Oh, maybe I don’t get up, I just sit here,’” she said on TikTok. Later in the eight-minute video she clapped back at the detractors, calling them “bird-brained.”
In a live-stream on Twitch, Hunter told his audience that all the vitriol was taking its toll on both he and his fiancée.
“Y’all hate on me then you go hate on my girl,” he said. “I feel the same thing that she feels. We’re inseparable. We’re with each other. If she’s hurting I’m hurting [and vice versa] … she’s still sleeping. She’s lump. You know when you’re hurt you just cry yourself to sleep and you be gone. She’s drunk OD amount tonight for no reason.”