From The U to Seattle, Travis Homer is all-in with LOUDMOUTH!
Travis Homer feels like a running back who would explode onto the scene if he was given the opportunity to do so. That is not just because of his LOUDMOUTH mouthguard – though that does leave an impression when you are looking at a player rocking the 3D Chrome Grillz – but also because he seems to have all the skills to perform at the NFL level and make an impact.
Homer was a beast in high school. The 5-foot-11, 195 pounder became the first 1,000 yard rusher at Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida. His overall stats in high school were off the charts as Homer rushed for over 3,200 yards and accounted for 50 total touchdowns as a prep player. Those numbers – and cranking them out at a high level school in the talent rich state of Florida – saw home receiver a 4-star ranking per the 247Sports Composite Rankings. He was seen as the 240th best player in the high school graduating class of 2016, the 10th best running back recruit, and the No. 34 overall player in Florida.
Homer had plenty of options when it came to playing college ball. He held offers from powerhouses like Alabama, Florida, and Notre Dame, but he turned them all down to don the orange and green of the Miami Hurricanes. This should hardly come as a shock given where Homer was born and raised, with the Hurricanes always having had the inside track on his recruitment through the sheer benefit of location.
It feels like for everything he did at Miami, Homer left something on the table there. He was able to work his way onto the field as a true freshman, though he did so only briefly as he had 44 yards on seven carries in a loaded backfield. His sophomore season was much more productive – his most productive at the school in fact – as he played in 13 games, rushing for 966 yards and eight touchdowns. Much was expected of Homer as a junior, but his year was a little underwhelming on a Miami squad that never found a true identity. He rushed for more yards (985) but his touchdown numbers were cut in half as he only found the end zone four times.
Declaring for the draft after a down season (relatively) might have been a mistake. One thing to note about Homer’s college numbers is that he was always productive. He averaged 6.0 yards per carry through his 1,995 total yards on the ground as a Hurricane, flashing the potential to be a seriously dynamic third down style back as a professional. That is why the Seattle Seahawks took a flyer on the Florida native with the 204th pick of the 2019 NFL Draft, spending their sixth-round pick on the running back.
Homer’s first carry as a Seahawk was a 29 yard gain for a first down on Monday Night Football via a fake punt. His problem in Seattle has been the presence of Chris Carson and Rashaad Penny ahead of him on the depth chart. When both those players are injured – like in Week 17 of the 2019 season – Homer always impresses. In that game he rushed only 10 times, but he did so at a rate of 6.2 yards per carry while also catching five passes for an additional 30 yards.
In two years in the league, Homer has 43 carries for 202 yards. He also has 20 catches for another 146 yards. His role currently is the very definition of a third down back, but if he is given the chance to shine as perhaps half of a split backfield, then Homer will get to show the Pacific Northwest exactly what the folks in the Sunshine State know he can do.