As a child, Ashton Jeanty enjoyed basketball more than football. So before he grew up to be a 6-foot-2 battering ram with cleats, his favorite athlete was LeBron James. Jeanty, who traveled the world as the son of a Navy officer, spent part of his childhood in Florida when James was on the Miami Heat.
“Now that I see (LeBron) exceeding all expectations,” Jeanty said, “I feel like I’ve done the same in my career.”
That’s 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 did not win the Heisman Trophy and finished second behind Colorado’s Travis Hunter. But he did rack up the most points by a Heisman runner-up and forced the smallest margin of defeat since 2009. He also took home the Maxwell Award (player of the year), Doak Walker Award (best running back) and unanimous All-American Award. honor. And Jeanty has another major milestone in her sights.
He enters the College Football Playoff this season at 2,497 rushing yards, just 131 yards shy of the official college football single-season record set by Oklahoma State’s Barry Sanders in 1988. As Jeanty is averaging 192.1 rushing yards per game this season achieved, there’s at least a decent chance he rewrites that record in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals against Penn State on Dec. 31.
But Jeanty is more than just a Heisman runner-up and future first-round NFL running back on the verge of a record-breaking statistical feat. At a Boise State program with a reputation for huge killing sprees and a rich history of running backs, he has managed to stand above the rest.
“Ashton Jeanty is phenomenal for college football, and he will be phenomenal for the NFL,” Boise State coach Spencer Danielson said. “Not only because of his play on the field, but also because of the culture he brings.”
There is some nuance to Sanders’ record. He rushed for 2,628 yards in just 11 games en route to the Heisman in 1988; Jeanty has already played 13 games. And Sanders’ unofficial record is 2,850 yards if you add the 222 yards he racked up in the Holiday Bowl, before the bowl game stats were officially tallied.
There will be those who will discount Jeanty’s record if he does set it, but Sanders won’t be among them, sending out a tweet prior to Boise’s Mountain West championship win wishing Jeanty the best of luck.
“My fans can complain, but records are made to be broken and I support you,” Sanders wrote.
Hi @AshtonJeanty2 – I wish you the best of luck tonight.
My fans can complain, but records are made to be broken and I’m rooting for you. I like seeing all this @NFL And @NCAA #RBs shows the value of the position. #RunTheRock pic.twitter.com/bk0NtPbAL0— Barry Sanders (@BarrySanders) December 6, 2024
When asked about Sanders’ performance, Jeanty said it would be “the icing on the cake to break a record that has stood for decades,” especially after coming up just short in the Heisman race. But with Boise State entering the first 12-team Playoff as the No. 3 seed in the Group of Five, 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 over 200 rushing yards. His season low was 127 yards against Portland State, and he was pulled at halftime. Jeanty single-handedly defeated 115 FBS teams this season. The next closest to him in rushing yards is North Carolina, which trails Omarion Hampton with 1,660. That is less than the 1,889 meters that Jeanty gained after the contact. He is the first since 2019 to eclipse 2000 meters quickly.
“I love watching Ashton play – the mix of physicality, speed and control,” said Alexander Mattison, a former Boise State now returning to the NFL with the Las Vegas Raiders. “But I got to know him, not only as a footballer, but also as a real person. It’s nice to see him getting everything he deserves. He loves the game, and if you love the game, it will love you back.”
There is an impressive pedigree of running backs at Boise State, with Jeanty set 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 rusher this season and broke a number of other records Minter has set since at least 1980. But the lineage of modern tailbacks extends to Ian Johnson, who famously won the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. 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.
It’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 an icon of Boise State. But after this season, no one can compare to what Jeanty has 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 council meetings.
“Every time we have those meetings, it’s nothing about Ashton. He asks about the team, a player, how he can help lead better and have more impact,” Danielson said. “That’s unusual. He is different in every facet.”
Jeanty does care about the awards and accolades. He hasn’t shied away from that, whether it’s listing the individual goals he’s scored for himself this season or lamenting his Heisman finish, saying, “I really felt like I could take the award should have walked away.” It’s part of the reason he returned to Boise State this season, believing he could accomplish anything he wanted right where he was.
But Jeanty also cares about the legacy he will leave behind. That’s why he’s embraced being a team captain, leader and de facto spokesperson. That’s why he turned down more lucrative name, image and likeness (NIL) offers to move elsewhere last season. That’s why he created the Ashton Jeanty Endowed Scholarship for Football in October, before he broke all the records and became a Heisman finalist and led the Broncos to a Mountain West title and a first-round bye CFP brought. The fair has raised more than $180,000 toward its $200,000 goal, which will support future Boise State athletes.
“He’s like a movie star here,” athletic director Jeramiah Dickey said. “We finally had to secure it so we could cut the signature and photo lines. It was our responsibility to help him because he’s such a good kid, he wouldn’t say no to anyone.”
Already the most decorated player in program history, Jeanty has put Boise State in a position to compete for a top national championship for the first time. He has a chance to set a single-season record that could stand for decades.
And none of it will last longer than what he has meant to Boise State football and the community around it.
“Culture is about the people that are here – just bringing back what Boise State has been, and having a positive impact on everyone,” Jeanty said. “People won’t remember the statistics, they won’t remember the games. But they will remember how I treated people, how I behaved during my time here and the impact that had.”
— The Athletics‘s Vic Tafur contributed reporting
(Photo: Loren Orr/Getty Images)