Ashton Jeanty was into basketball greater than soccer as a child. So earlier than he grew as much as be a 5-foot-9 battering ram in cleats, his favourite athlete was LeBron James. Jeanty, who bounced across the globe because the son of a Naval officer, spent a piece of his childhood in Florida when James was on the Miami Warmth.
“Seeing (LeBron) beat all the odds,” stated Jeanty, “I feel like I’ve been doing that same thing in my career.”
It’s why the Boise State working again will without end be the reply to that very same query — Who’s your favourite athlete? — for a era of Broncos followers.
Jeanty didn’t win the Heisman Trophy, ending second to Colorado’s Travis Hunter. However he did acquire essentially the most factors by a Heisman runner-up and compelled the narrowest margin of defeat since 2009. He additionally took house the Maxwell Award (participant of the yr), Doak Walker Award (greatest working again) and unanimous All-American honors. And Jeanty has one other main milestone in his sights.
He enters the Faculty Soccer Playoff at 2,497 speeding yards this season, simply 131 yards shy of faculty soccer’s official single-season file, set by Oklahoma State’s Barry Sanders in 1988. Contemplating Jeanty has averaged 192.1 speeding yards per recreation this season, there’s not less than an honest probability he rewrites that file within the quarterfinals of the Faculty Soccer Playoff in opposition to Penn State on Dec. 31.
However Jeanty is greater than only a Heisman runner-up and future first-round NFL working again who’s on the verge of a record-breaking statistical accomplishment. At a Boise State program with a repute for big slaying and a wealthy historical past of working backs, he has managed to face above the remainder.
“Ashton Jeanty is phenomenal for college football, and he’s going to be phenomenal for the NFL,” stated Boise State coach Spencer Danielson. “Not only from his play on the field but also the culture he brings with him.”
There’s some nuance to Sanders’ file. He rushed for two,628 yards in solely 11 video games on his technique to the Heisman in 1988; Jeanty has already performed 13 video games. And Sanders’ unofficial file is 2,850 yards in the event you add within the 222 yards he racked up within the Vacation Bowl, earlier than bowl recreation stats had been formally counted.
There shall be those that low cost Jeanty’s file if he does set it, however Sanders gained’t be amongst them, sending a tweet forward of Boise’s victory within the Mountain West championship wishing Jeanty luck.
“My fans can gripe, but records are made to be broken & I am rooting for you,” Sanders wrote.
Requested about Sanders’ mark, Jeanty stated it might be “like the cherry on top, to break a record that’s been around for decades,” particularly after he got here up simply quick within the Heisman race. However as Boise State enters the inaugural 12-team Playoff as a No. 3-seed from the Group of 5, the file — attained or not, contested or not — doesn’t change what Jeanty has achieved.
The stats are staggering, like if Paul Bunyan performed highschool soccer. Practically 2,500 speeding yards, an FBS-leading 30 complete touchdowns, 7.3 yards per carry and 6 video games with 200-plus speeding yards. His season low was 127 yards in opposition to Portland State, and he obtained pulled at halftime. Jeanty outrushed 115 FBS groups this season all by himself. The subsequent closest participant to him by way of speeding yards is North Carolina working again Omarion Hampton with 1,660. That’s lower than the 1,889 yards Jeanty has gained after contact. He’s the primary again to eclipse 2,000 yards speeding since 2019.
“I love watching Ashton play — the mix of physicality, speed and control,” stated Alexander Mattison, a former Boise State working again now within the NFL with the Las Vegas Raiders. “But I’ve been able to get to know him, not just as a football player but a genuine person. It’s fun to see him get everything that he deserves. He loves the game, and if you love the game, it will love you back.”
There’s a formidable pedigree of working backs at Boise State, with Jeanty set to turn into subsequent in a protracted line of Broncos bell cows who’ve gone on to play within the NFL. Jeanty surpassed Cedric Minter as this system’s all-time main rusher this season and broke quite a few different data Minter has held since not less than 1980. However the string of modern-day tailbacks stretches to Ian Johnson, who famously gained the 2007 Fiesta Bowl on the Statue of Liberty handoff, adopted by Jeremy Avery, Doug Martin, D.J Harper, Jay Ajayi (the previous single-season file holder), Jeremy McNichols, Mattison and George Holani.
It’s fairly an inventory, and that’s simply the working backs. Former quarterback Kellen Moore is the winningest QB in FBS historical past (50) and this system’s solely different Heisman finalist (he completed fourth in 2010). He stays a Boise State icon. But after this season, nobody compares to what Jeanty has produced on the sphere or what he embodies off it.
GO DEEPER
Boise State and Ashton Jeanty: The Cinderella in a steel-toe boot
“He’s a unanimous captain, part of our leadership council,” stated Danielson, who added that he meets one-on-one with Jeanty every week after these council conferences.
“Every single time we have those meetings, it is nothing about Ashton. He’s asking about the team, a player, asking how he can help lead better, have more of an impact,” stated Danielson. “That is uncommon. He’s different in all facets.”
Jeanty does care concerning the awards and accolades. He hasn’t shied from that, whether or not rattling off the person targets he had for himself this season or lamenting his Heisman end by stating: “I really felt like I should’ve walked away with the award.” It’s a part of why he returned to Boise State this season, believing he may obtain every thing he wished proper the place he was.
However Jeanty additionally cares concerning the legacy he’ll depart behind. It’s why he embraced being a group captain and chief and de facto spokesperson. It’s why he spurned extra profitable identify, picture and likeness (NIL) presents to switch elsewhere final offseason. It’s why he established the Ashton Jeanty Endowed Scholarship for Soccer — in October, even earlier than he broke all of the data and have become a Heisman finalist and carried the Broncos to a Mountain West title and first-round bye within the CFP. The scholarship has raised greater than $180,000 towards its $200,000 objective, which is able to assist future Boise State athletes.
“He’s like a movie star here,” stated athletic director Jeramiah Dickey. “We had to finally get him security so we could cut off the autograph and photo lines. It was our responsibility to help him because he’s such a good kid, he didn’t want to say no to anyone.”
Jeanty is already essentially the most embellished participant in program historical past and has put Boise State in place to compete for a top-flight nationwide championship for the primary time. He has an opportunity to set a single-season speeding file that would stand for many years.
And none of it would outlast what he has meant to Boise State soccer and the group that surrounds it.
“Culture is about the people who are here — just bringing back what Boise State’s been, having a positive influence over everybody,” stated Jeanty. “People won’t remember the stats, they’re not going to remember the games. But they’re going to remember how I treated people, how I carried myself throughout my time here and the impact that had.”
— The Athletic’s Vic Tafur contributed reporting
(Picture: Loren Orr / Getty Photographs)
