If you're a football fan who didn't know the name Ashton Jeanty before this year's college football season, you surely do now. The small running back took the nation by storm and made Bosie State must-watch television throughout the fall en route to a Heisman Trophy runner-up bid. His coming up short, however, was not for lack of effort, as Jeanty dazzled fans and pundits to the tune of 2601 yards at seven yards per touch; in addition to 29 total TDs.
What's most remarkable about this year, especially with Jeanty, is that teams have gone so far out of their way to gameplan around him since Bosie State isn't exactly an offensive juggernaut outside of him, and they still couldn't stop him. Not (likely) soon-to-be National Champions Oregon, Washington State, UNLV, no one. There was a point in November where Jeanty was averaging SEVEN POINT NINE YARDS PER CARRY AGAINST EIGHT MAN BOXES on the year. That figure put him over a full yard better than his total YPC number at that point and 0.9 higher than it is now.
Jeanty's football journey has taken him from Jacksonville, Florida, to Chesapeake, Virginia, to Naples, Italy (his father was a naval petty officer, and Jeanty played his freshman season across Europe against Military Base schools), to Texas and Idaho, and in a matter of months, he'll be able to say he's an NFL running back. Running Back value be dammed; he very well could be the best player in this entire class right alongside Travis Hunter and a whole group of blue-chippers.
Player Bio
Name: Ashton Jeanty
Jersey: No. 2
Position: Running Back
School: Bosie State
Class: Junior
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 215 lbs
Games Watched: vs. UCLA (LA Bowl), San Diego State, and Colorado State (2023), vs. Oregon and Washington State (2024)
Player Breakdown
Vision (14.75/15)
Jeanty's ability to see holes in real time and then have the patience to wait for things and even see things line up exactly right for himself is spectacular. Rarely, if ever, did I feel like he hit a wrong gap, and his ability to parlay his eyes and feet to find rushing lanes, especially when things get claustrophobic, is nothing short of extraordinary. Here's a great example of most of what I just described earlier in the year when Bosie State took on UNLV.
Contact Balance (15/15)
Any questions??? Perfect; moving on.
Explosiveness (9.5/10)
The fact that Jeanty was able to be a big play in a box with the amount of traffic he frequently faced off the snap is nothing short of extraordinary. Combining his vision, contact balance, and ability to make things happen in the open field, Jeanty's explosiveness can translate to the pros immediately. His high-end speed can be a bit inconsistent, but he was able to get through those initial few gears very well once he found a hole he liked.
Long Speed (8.5/10)
While Jeanty is prone to breaking off long touchdown runs, it's not with truly elite breakaway speed, and I imagine there's a handful of linebackers and no shortage of defensive backs who could match him step for step. Then again, he could still put up runs like this against Oregon, and the folks over at Reel Analytics had him clocked at 21.5 mph on a 50-yard score vs. Air Force a season ago.
Short-Area Burst (9/10)
It's not perfect, but I loved Jeanty's ability to shoot through open gaps in the run game quickly; better than his long-speed abilities, anyway. If he wasn't forcing second-level defenders to turn around to get in pursuit after hitting gaps, they were moments away from likely bouncing off of him, which I would call great, but it's a matter of perspective, quite frankly.
Change of Direction (9.75/10)
One of Jeanty's best traits isn't inherently his ability to change direction (not that it isn't excellent), but rather that he's able to keep up a lot of speed after cuts. It was the first clip in those contact balance examples, but here's that LA Bowl run one more time from both angles.
His lateral agility is nothing if not fantastic, and that allows him to turn negative plays into positive plays, and even good plays into great plays. Multiple zone runs popped up in which he turned things the other way on his own accord for plus-gains.
Power (8/10)
I don't know if I'd say Jeanty has elite power per se given that he's naturally limited. Even so, there runs on tape where he's literally dragging defenders, and this one in particular, into the endzone against Wazzou. I don't know if he's going to ether people in the open field, ala Brandon Jacobs, but you can't watch stuff like this and tell me there's no upside for a guy like Jeanty in the power/short-yardage run game.
Or this if you want a more recent example.
Ball Security (6.75/10)
No Jeanty fumbles appeared on the tape, but he ended 2024 with four fumbles in his last six games and put the ball on the ground five times in his sophomore campaign. Not exactly great, especially when two of them popped up in the Fiesta Bowl against Penn State (one of which didn't result in a turnover). This would be my biggest concern with him, and obviously, it's a huge one despite all of the great traits he brings to the table.
Receiving Ability (8/10)
Jeanty won't exactly wow you with his pass-catching ability on every opportunity, but his hands are good, has experience in the slot and on the boundary. Additionally, it largely goes without saying, but leaving Jeanty unattended as a check-down option would be a massive, massive mistake; he's an instant home run threat if he can make those first one or two defenders miss.
Pass Blocking (4/5)
Consistency will be the key for Jeanty in blitz pickup/pass pro in the NFL, but I walked away largely impressed with his ability to pick up pass rushers. The biggest thing for him would be to be a bit more decisive in his blitz pickup from the interior, but he held up as well as you'd hope, standing at 5'9". Oregon was a pretty good game for him in this regard.
Player Summary
My biggest fear with Jeanty is that he'll end up with a team with a bad offensive line/offensive line trending downwards, with said team thinking he's the fix (Dallas Cowboys), but that's unfortunately out of his hands. His fumble issues certainly should be kept in mind as well, with many interested NFL teams being well aware by now, but be that as it may, there's a ton, and I mean a ton, of good with a guy like Ashton Jeanty.
Jeanty's blend of contact balance, vision, directional agility, and big-play potential comfortably makes him one of this draft's best outright players. That doesn't mean he'll go top 10 in April, given the mix of teams and their needs with those first 10 picks, but as a pure talent, he's as good as advertised.
I've seen comparisons to De'Angelo Williams for Jeanty, but I've also seen some Marshawn Lynch floated around. While I can't say that's a perfect (or fair from an expectations standpoint) 1-for-1 comp for multiple reasons, I'd be lying if I told you I don't at least see some of it. Contact balance, for sure. In any case, with this class touting names like Omarion Hamption, Kaleb Johnson, Nick Singleton, and a whole heap of good backs, no one's holding a flame to the 21-year-old out of Bosie State.
Rookie Projection: Instant Impact Starter
Third-Year Projection: Pro Bowl/All-Pro Caliber Running Back
Final Grade (93.25/100): Top 10 Talent
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