Colorado State Coach Reacts To Dirty Hit On Travis Hunter: 'Play That Happens'

Colorado State coach Jay Norvell doesn't think there was any malice in Henry Blackburn's hit that sent Travis Hunter to the hospital.

Hunter suffered an absolutely brutal hit during the Buffaloes-Rams game this past week, and will now miss several weeks after the blow to his midsection.

The hit received extreme criticism because Hunter appeared to be completely defenseless when Blackburn lowered the boom.

Jay Norvell reacts to Travis Hunter getting destroyed.

Now, Jay Norvell has opened up about the situation, and it doesn't sound like he has any interest in dragging it out.

"I reviewed the play. It’s a play that happens sometimes. When you throw a deep ball and have a guy playing middle safety, he’s got to react on the boundary and he’s going full speed. It was a bang-bang type of a play. The officials looked at it and we looked at it. It’s certainly not something that we teach or coach. It happens in football sometimes. Seems to have been a lot of attention about that play, but it’s a play that happens," Norvell told the media Monday when discussing Blackburn's hit, according to the Coloradoan.

Translation: Don't expect the Rams safety to be suspended.

Henry Blackburn allegedly receiving death threats.

While Jay Norvell might be interested in moving past Blackburn's hit on Travis Hunter, others apparently are not letting it go. Colorado State's AD Joe Parker claimed Blackburn has received death threats since the game Saturday.

"We’re very concerned about our player’s safety, as Henry and his family have continued to receive these threats. Henry never intended to put anyone in harm’s way on the football field. It’s not what we teach or coach. We hope that the irrational vitriol directed at Henry stops immediately," Parker said in a Monday statement.

If death threats are happening as Parker claimed Monday, it's absolutely insane and needs to stop. It's a football game. Even if it was a dirty shot (definitely looked to be), threatening to kill someone over it is nuts.

Jay Norvell reacts to Henry Blackburn's hit on Travis Hunter. (Photo by Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

Hopefully, Hunter is back in a few weeks and the outrage comes to an end sooner than later. The hit was bad, death threats are bad and the whole situation seems to have gone way too far.