Ashton Jeanty was more interested in basketball than football when he was a child. So, before he became a 5-foot-9 battering ram in cleats, his favorite athlete was LeBron James. Jeanty, who bounced around the globe as the son of a naval officer, he spent part of his childhood in Florida when James was on the Miami Heat.
“Seeing (LeBron) beat the odds,” Jeanty said, “I feel like I’ve done the same thing in my career.”
This is why the Boise State Running back will forever be the answer to that same question: Who is your favorite athlete? – for a generation of Broncos fans.
Jeanty didn’t win the Heisman Trophy, finishing second behind Travis Hunter of Colorado. But he tallied the most points by a Heisman finalist and forced the narrowest margin of defeat since 2009. He also won the Maxwell Award (player of the year), the Doak Walker Award (best running back ) and the unanimous All-American award. honors. And Jeanty has another major milestone in her sights.
He enters the College Football Playoff with 2,497 rushing yards this season, just 131 yards short of the official college football single-season record set by Oklahoma StateBarry Sanders from 1988. Given that Jeanty averaged 192.1 rushing yards per game this season, there’s at least a good chance he’ll rewrite that record in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals against State of Pennsylvania on December 31.
But Jeanty is more than just a Heisman finalist and future first-round NFL running back who is on the verge of achieving a record statistical feat. In a Boise State program known for its giant slayings and rich running back history, he managed to stand out from the rest.
“Ashton Jeanty is phenomenal for college football, and he’s going to be phenomenal for college football. NFL” said Boise State coach Spencer Danielson. “Not only from his play on the field, but also the culture that he brings with him.
There are some nuances to Sanders’ record. He rushed for 2,628 yards in just 11 games on his way to the Heisman in 1988; Jeanty has already played 13 matches. And Sanders’ unofficial record is 2,850 yards if you add the 222 yards he had in the Holiday Bowl, before bowl game stats were officially counted.
There will be those who ignore Jeanty’s record if he sets it, but Sanders won’t be among them, sending a tweet before Boise’s Mountain West championship victory wishing Jeanty good luck.
“My fans may complain, but records are made to be broken and I support you,” Sanders wrote.
Hey @AshtonJeanty2 – I wish you good luck this evening.
My fans may complain, but records are made to be broken and I support you. I love seeing all this @NFL And @NCAA #RB showing the position value. #RunTheRock pic.twitter.com/bk0NtPbAL0–Barry Sanders (@BarrySanders) December 6, 2024
Asked about Sanders’ mark, Jeanty said it would be “like icing on the cake, to break a record that’s been there for decades,” especially after narrowly falling short in the Heisman race. But as Boise State enters the first 12-team playoff as the No. 3 seed in the Group of 5, the record — achieved or not, contested or not — doesn’t change what Jeanty has accomplished.
The statistics are staggering, as if Paul Bunyan played high school football. Nearly 2,500 rushing yards, an FBS-leading 30 total touchdowns, 7.3 yards per carry and six games with 200-plus rushing yards. His season low was 127 yards against Portland State, and he was removed at halftime. Jeanty single-handedly outscored 115 FBS teams this season. The next closest player to him in terms of rushing yards is the North Carolina running back. Omarion Hampton with 1,660. This is less than the 1,889 yards gained by Jeanty after contact. He is the first to eclipse 2,000 rushing yards since 2019.
“I love watching Ashton play — the mix of physicality, speed and control,” said Alexander Mattison, a former Boise State running back now in the NFL with the Las Vegas Raiders. “But I got to know him, not just as a football player but as a genuine person. It’s fun to see him get everything he deserves. He loves the game, and if you like the game, he will love you back.
There is an impressive pedigree of running backs at Boise State, with Jeanty poised to become the next in a long line of Broncos bell cows who have gone on to play in the NFL. Jeanty surpassed Cedric Minter as the program’s all-time leading runner this season and broke a number of other records that Minter had held since at least 1980. But the string of modern setbacks extends to Ian Johnsonwho won the 2007 Fiesta Bowl during the Statue of Liberty transfer, followed by Jeremy Avery, Doug Martin, DJ Harper, Jay Ajayi (the former single-season record holder), Jeremy McNichols, Mattison and George Holani.
That’s quite a list, and that’s just the running backs. Former quarterback Kellen Moore is the winningest QB in FBS history (50) and the program’s only other Heisman finalist (he finished fourth in 2010). He remains a Boise State icon. Yet after this season, no one compares to what Jeanty produced on the field or what he embodies off it.
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“He is a unanimous captain and part of our leadership council,” said Danielson, who added that he meets with Jeanty one-on-one every week after those council meetings.
“Every time we have these meetings, it has nothing to do with Ashton. He asks questions about the team, about a player, and asks how he can help lead better and have more impact,” Danielson said. “It’s rare. It is different in every way.
Jeanty cares about awards and accolades. He didn’t shy away from it, whether recounting the individual goals he set for himself this season or lamenting his Heisman success, saying, “I really felt like I ‘should have walked away with the prize.’ That’s part of why he returned to Boise State this season, believing he could achieve whatever he wanted right where he was.
But Jeanty also cares about the legacy he will leave behind. That’s why he agreed to be captain and team leader and de facto spokesperson. That’s why he rejected more lucrative name, image and likeness (NIL) offers to transfer elsewhere last offseason. That’s why he created the Ashton Jeanty Endowed Football Scholarship – in October, even before he broke records and became a Heisman finalist and led the Broncos to a Mountain West title and a wild card. -go to the first round of the CFP. The scholarship raised more than $180,000 toward its goal of $200,000, which will support future Boise State athletes.
“He’s like a movie star here,” athletic director Jeramiah Dickey said. “We ultimately had to keep him safe so we could cut the autograph and photo lines. It was our responsibility to help him because he’s such a good boy that he didn’t want to say no to anyone.
Jeanty is already the most decorated player in program history and helped lead Boise State to its first time competing for a high-profile national championship. He has a chance to set a single-season racing record that could stand for decades.
And none of that will outlive what he meant to Boise State football and the community around it.
“Culture is about the people that are here — just bringing back what Boise State was, having a positive influence on everyone,” Jeanty said. “People won’t remember the stats, they won’t remember the games. But they will remember the way I treated people, the way I conducted myself throughout my time here and the impact that had.
— AthleticsVic Tafur de ‘sa contributed reporting
(Photo: Loren Orr/Getty Images)