Don't sleep on Ashton Jeanty: Boise State star RB deserves everyone's attention, Heisman Trophy love

Jeanty is must-see television as the nation's top running back

Ashton Jeanty was like a pinball Saturday night, bouncing off Washington State defenders over and over again on the way to another dominant rushing performance. Jeanty made an undefeated Washington State defense look like it didn't even belong on the same field as him. The 5-foot-9, 215-pound running back totaled 259 yards and four touchdowns on 26 carries -- as impressive a display as you'll ever see. 

At least until the next time Jeanty takes the field. 

"He plays this game only one way and that's violent and explosive," Boise State coach Spencer Danielson told CBS Sports. 

The Boise State star back has become must-see television even if most of the nation might be sleeping when he plays. Jeanty is the best running back in the country, and it's beyond time we start talking about him as a realistic Heisman Trophy candidate. Quarterbacks have dominated the sport's top honor in recent years, winning eight of the last 10 bronze statues, but why can't a running back based in Boise, Idaho, hoist the trophy in New York this December? 

If anyone deserves to be in the mix in a wide-open year, it's Jeanty. 

The numbers are straight out of a video game. Jeanty's averaging a first down every time he gets handed the ball -- recording an incredible 10.3 yards per carry. He leads the nation with 845 rushing yards in only four games. His closest competition, Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson, is 160 yards in the rearview mirror.  

Below is a look at Jeanty's stats through four games compared to running backs who've won the Heisman Trophy in the 21st Century.

Jeanty made a preseason bet with a teammate: If he rushed for 2,000 yards, he'd have to cut off his dreads. But when he thought about it, he realized that was more a punishment than an incentive. So, he flipped it: If he doesn't rush for 2,000 yards, he reluctantly gets a haircut. 

"I don't want to cut the dreads off," Jeanty told CBS Sports. His on-field play has reflected that as he's currently on pace to rush for more than 2,700 yards this season. If he does that, he'd best Barry Sanders' single-season rushing yards record (2628) set in 1988.

It's not like he's just beating up lesser opponents, either. Jeanty had 192 rushing yards and three touchdowns in a 37-34 loss to No. 7 Oregon. He has that home-run ability -- Jeanty's notched five touchdowns of 50 yards or more -- but he can slowly wear you down run after run, too. Jeanty is the perfect blend of strength, speed and footwork that makes him practically impossible to stop. You almost felt bad watching Washington State defenders haplessly attempt to tackle him last Saturday night. 

If you want to take him down, you better bring it. Jeanty is one of the strongest players on the Boise State roster, frequently working out with the offensive linemen and squatting 605 pounds this spring. He likely could have done even more, too, if the strength and conditioning coaches let him. 

"Defenders are constantly in conflict when they are trying to tackle Ashton Jeanty," Danielson said. "If you don't come in with low pads to brace, he'll run you over. If you come in too high, he's going to make a move and he's gone, you won't catch him. They don't know how to take it because he's got such great balance, such great extreme power and he's an absolute weapon in the pass game, as well."

Danielson can still remember Jeanty's first scrimmage as an early enrollee in 2022. The true freshman, who started working with the first-team from practically the minute he got on campus, got the ball on a third-and-1 on the 20-yard line. Danielson, then the program's defensive coordinator, made a defensive call to completely sell out to stop the run. It didn't matter; Jeanty blew through the B-gap, ran over a linebacker and galloped all the way for an 80-yard touchdown. Danielson was beyond upset at his defense, but it came with a realization that the freshman running back was going to be special, and soon enough opposing defensive coordinators would have a big problem on their hands. 

Jeanty has only gotten better since and could end up being the best of a stacked Boise State running back alumni class that includes Doug Martin, Alexander Mattison and Jay Ajayi. He is a near-lock to be the first running back taken in the 2025 NFL Draft and is currently projected as a first-rounder. 

That Jeanty is still at Boise State in this modern era of college football feels like a miracle in itself. After a standout sophomore season in which he ran for 1,347 yards and 14 touchdowns, the vultures were circling the Broncos' offensive star. Jeanty was lightly recruited out of Lone Star High School in Texas, but all the big boys wanted him this time around. The interest was so extreme, desperate even, that Jeanty says other programs directly called Boise State running backs coach James Montgomery about him. 

"It's a crazy world we live in in college football today," Jeanty told CBS Sports with a laugh recounting the experience.

Jeanty prayed about the situation and consulted family members about what to do, but he never truly wavered in his commitment to Boise State. He had a good relationship with Danielson, who got promoted to the top job on Dec. 3, and valued that Boise State believed in him in a way that the in-state Texas schools didn't until it was too late. 

"Ever since I've been here all they've been doing is trying to keep me here and keep me in this program," Jeanty said. "The Texas schools, all the schools, they know what they let slip by. I'm not going to say schools, but they tried to come after me after last season seeing what I could do, but that's on them. They missed out." 

Don't be like those opposing schools and miss out on the magic of Ashton Jeanty this season. There is still plenty of room on the bandwagon as it makes its journey from Boise to its likely destination in New York.