Wearing a burnt orange suit, a color reminiscent of the program he represents, Ashton Jeanty turned his head to the ground, dejected.
He had just been informed the Heisman Trophy, an accolade he had coveted for a long while, a period of time that doesn’t even reflect the number of hours he toiled to be the player he had become, was going to someone else. Some believed the Boise State running back had accomplished enough to deserve the most prestigious award in college football. But anyone could feel sympathy for how he felt in that moment, clearly despondent by a result he couldn’t control.
But after a few moments of elaborating his thoughts, that he had deserved the award, something changed. He was asked if this moment would provide additional fuel to his fire, one that had burned at an unparalleled height all season and had led him to breaking countless records.
He smirked. It will.
Jeanty will seek to lead Boise State to its first win in the College Football Playoff when the Broncos take on Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl.
“He brings a joy to the building, no matter what the mood,” Boise State quarterback Maddux Madsen said, “and then he can flip a switch and just be an elite savage.”
Jeanty has had three weeks to prepare and has also recovered from an elbow injury he said is “completely healed up” now. In fact, he said he hasn’t felt this fresh since Week 1.
He ran for 267 yards and six touchdowns against Georgia Southern in Week 1.
“Last time I was feeling this super fresh, you saw what I did,” Jeanty said. “Hopefully not just me, but the whole offense and defense, we can all play our best game.”
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Fiesta Bowl Time, Date & TV Channel
Penn State (12-2) will play Boise State (12-1) in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl on ESPN at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Dec. 31.
The game, which is one of the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal matchups, will take place at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
“For me, I want to play against the best of the best competition,” Jeanty said. “This is the biggest platform to do that in college football right now, against one of the best teams in the nation. This is always the best thing to me, to play against the best competition.”
Jeanty will undoubtedly have the attention of the country – and that of Penn State’s defense. Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin said Jeanty is arguably one of the best running backs in the FBS.
Not just this season. Ever.
“Obviously, it all starts and revolves around Jeanty,” Franklin said. “In any other year, I think he wins the Heisman, and you could make the argument that he should have won it this year. He’s hard to tackle.”
Ashton Jeanty Stats & Highlights
Jeanty is 131 yards away from breaking the FBS single-season rushing yards record set by Barry Sanders in 1988 at Oklahoma State.
The Broncos star, who was the Heisman Trophy runner-up behind Colorado wide receiver and cornerback Travis Hunter, has 2,497 yards on the ground so far this season through 13 games.
Jeanty is very much within reach of that record, considering he averages 192 yards per game. And playing a Power Four program shouldn’t prove to be an insurmountable obstacle either considering Jeanty ran for 192 yards and three touchdowns against Oregon earlier this year.
Last year as a sophomore, Jeanty ran for 1,347 yards and 14 touchdowns on 220 carries for an average of 6.1 yards per carry. He hauled in 43 passes for 569 yards and five scores.
Jeanty was a freshman in 2022 and split carries with George Holani, another Boise State great who made it to the NFL. That season, Jeanty ran for 821 yards and seven touchdowns on 156 carries for a 5.3 yards-per-carry average while catching 14 passes for 155 yards.
“That’s who Ashton is. He’s wired that way,” Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson said. “Every single day. He was wired that way against Georgia Southern, Oregon, Portland State. And let me go down the list. That’s who he is. He runs with a chip on his shoulder. He practices with a chip on his shoulder. So he does it. Is he frustrated (about the Heisman)? Absolutely, deservingly so. But he’s not going to show it on his face. He’s going to continue to go back to what he knows, which is his work. And so regardless how (the Heisman ceremony) would have gone, we’re going to get an Ashton Jeanty that’s fired up to play this game and play with his teammates. That’s coming.”
Ashton Jeanty’s Yards After Contact Stat Stands Out
Jeanty has run for 1,889 yards after contact, according to Pro Football Focus. That number alone would still rank first in the country compared to other running backs’ total rushing yards.
Jeanty averages 5.48 yards after contact per attempt. He leads the nation with 135 missed tackles forced, which is 41 more than anyone else. He’s also first with runs of 10-plus yards (60) and 15-plus yards (35).
When I asked if there’s a common trait all great running backs must have, Jeanty said the ability to break tackles is integral.
“For one, running the ball, just your mentality is always making the first man miss,” Jeanty said. “Every run play isn’t going to be blocked perfect. Sometimes somebody is going to come free. Sometimes you’ve got to make the linebacker miss, safety, whatever it is. You just got to break tackles. I think all the great running backs, they just have that mentality that the first man isn’t going to tackle them.”
Franklin’s repeatedly brought up Jeanty’s yards after contact during the week leading up to the Fiesta Bowl. He believes it’s one of the most “ridiculous” stats in college football. And there’s little reason to argue against him.
“He’s a beast in terms of his production on the field, but then also his durability,” Franklin said. “From the interviews that I’ve seen, he’s also a guy that kind of understands how to be a pro already at this point, in terms of taking care of his body, rest, and recovery, and treatment, and doing all the things necessary. I also think the way he’s built and his running style helps with that as well. There are not too many people who are able to get clean shots on him.”
Ashton Jeanty’s NFL Draft Potential
Jeanty is widely projected as a first-round pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. Some mock drafts have him going to the Dallas Cowboys, who not only need help at running back but would relish in the star power that would come with Jeanty.
“Ashton is going to do just fine for himself wherever he ends up,” Boise State offensive coordinator and former NFL head coach Dirk Koetter said. “He’s going to do just fine. The running back is making a comeback. There are teams running the ball well right now. Ashton is going to make some team very happy.”
Jeanty is so difficult to tackle because he has so many options to beat defenders, Danielson said.
If you hit him high, he’s powerful enough at the point of attack to run you over. If you try to hit him too hard because you’re worried you can’t take him down, he’ll juke you out. If you settle your feet and force him to slow down, he has the speed to accelerate past you. If you try to hit him low, he’ll hurdle you.
“Ashton Jeanty is a warrior,” Danielson said. “Even on the 13-game run, how he lived in the training room, how he was able to not only play in the games where the nation was watching with the amount of carries and yards and violent hits he took, he also was doing the same thing in practice, grinding to go play his best.”
Jeanty has also represented Boise State well, Danielson said, not just with how he plays but how he conducts himself. He was gracious and celebrated Hunter when the Colorado star won the Heisman.
Danielson called Jeanty, who was unanimously voted as a team captain, a “10 out of 10” person.
“He’s one the best leaders and one of the hardest workers we have ever had here at Boise State,” Danielson said. “He’s a generational football talent but also a generational leader and teammate here at Boise State. And then outside of the stats, Ashton puts people in conflict whenever he runs the football. Like, that’s something I know from being the defensive coordinator going against him for a couple years. But how do you deal with him?”
Penn State running backs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton have split most of the carries for the Nittany Lions, and having two or more running backs involved in an offense is not uncommon for college or NFL teams.
Which makes Jeanty, who averages over 26 carries a game, even more impressive in the eyes of Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Allen. He likened Jeanty to that of a shorter Derrick Henry because of how difficult he is to get on the ground.
“I don’t know if I’ve enjoyed it, but it’s been impressive to watch his film, studying him,” Allen said. “The thing that just sticks out is he doesn’t go down. He gets hit, and he has tremendous balance. I just think the ability for him to break tackles is really phenomenal.
“Just his toughness, his grit. He carries the ball so many times. In today’s game, that just doesn’t happen anymore. So much respect for him. Then you hear all the different things about him as a person. Just a lot of respect for what he’s accomplished. He’s a great, great player. So, to me, it’s about finding a way to do the thing that most people can’t do, which is get him on the ground.”
Jeanty’s resume. His skill set. His leadership. It’s all unique, not just to Boise State, but to the history of the sport.
Only a matter of a few hours during the Fiesta Bowl will tell if that all will be cemented by the shattering of a record that’s been set for more than three decades.
“Obviously, we played a lot of good backs over the years,” Allen said, “but he’s going to go down as one of the greatest we ever played against.”
