Ashton Jeanty says he ‘should have walked away’ with the Heisman Trophy

On December 16, 2024By Littum

Saturday night, Colorado‘s Travis Hunter hoisted the Heisman Trophy, gave a moving speech in front of an assembled group of former winners and took the 45-pound cast bronze statue back to the Mountain Time Zone.

The player he narrowly beat for the honor believes he should have been the one to do all that.

Boise State running back Ashton JeantyHeisman runner-up, told reporters after the ceremony that he “should have gone away” with college football’s most prestigious individual award.

“Kudos to Travis for the win, but yeah, it’s that simple,” he said. “Work harder, walk harder.”

In virtually any other year, when he didn’t have to compete for the trophy against someone who held the historic distinction of being both one of the nation’s best cornerbacks and best wide receiver, Jeanty likely would have secured the award.

Entering Boise State’s College Football Playoff game against either Penn State or SMU, Jeanty has rushed for 2,497 yards and 29 touchdowns while averaging 7.3 yards per carry. carry. His rushing total is the fourth-highest in FBS history, putting him 131 yards behind Barry Sanders’ single-season record set in 1988. Sanders, who won the Heisman that season, reached that mark in just 11 games.

Jeanty did it while carrying Broncos to a 12-1 record, a Mountain West Conference championship and a first-round bye in the upcoming playoffs.

Hunter earned 552 first-place votes, to Jeanty’s 309, and finished with 2,231 total points, putting him just ahead of Jeanty’s 2,017. No other player had more than 516 points. It was the closest Heisman vote since 2009.

Although it never escalated into a full-blown feud, Jeanty and Hunter engaged in some back and forth during the 2024 season as their Heisman candidacy was debated against each other.

In October, Hunter downplayed Jeanty’s production during a podcast interview with former Heisman winner Robert Griffin III, says it “it’s not like we haven’t seen a good running back that’s good” unlike himself, a rare player in the modern era who excels on both offense and defense.

Jeanty pretty much took the high road, praising Hunter’s season, noting that he was “just speaking his mind” while defending his own statistical output.

“For me, what I’ve done hasn’t been done in 36, 37 years, so it’s something special,” Jeanty said. “If I keep at it and break a record that’s been around for 36 years, I feel like you can’t really compete with that.”

With Jeanty’s runner-up finish, a running back hasn’t won the Heisman since Derrick Henry in 2015. A position that used to dominate the award has won it just three times since 2000.