Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty is being compared to the greats. Specifically: Adrian Peterson, Bo Jackson, Earl Campbell, and Tony Dorsett, by The Ringer’s Tyler Parker in a piece titled “Ashton Jeanty Will Make You Fall in Love With Football Again.”
“There is something romantic about the hero running back,” Parker prefaced before saying, “Something magical about a player who could go the distance every time he touches the ball. Something that makes you start naming the greats: Bo Jackson. Adrian Peterson. Earl Campbell. Tony Dorsett. Something that makes you pause the television, rewind, and call your friends into the room. Something that makes you say, ‘Man, look at this s***.’”
Jeanty is the Heisman frontrunner heading into Week 7 of the college football season. Boise State is 4-1 and is seen by many to be the likeliest Group of 5 school to reach the College Football Playoff.
While he may be seen as a big fish in a small Mountain West pond by some, Jeanty is still achieving previously unreached heights. That caveat is a lazy one anyway when you consider his 192 yards and three touchdowns against Oregon at Autzen Stadium in a 37-34 loss.
There’s no competition he wouldn’t be running through. He’d be more worn down in the SEC or Big Ten, but if Jeanty is on the field, he’d likely be putting up video game numbers.
Derrick Henry is the last RB to win the Heisman Trophy
Jeanty could accomplish something that hasn’t been done since 2015 if he wins the Heisman: win as an RB. Derrick Henry was the engine of that all-time Alabama team, being the last to have won the award from the position. Henry, fellow Nick Saban-era RB Mark Ingram, and Reggie Bush are the only Heisman-winning RBs since 2000.
Four RBs (Ron Dayne, Ricky Williams, Eddie George, Rashaan Salaam) won the award in the 1990s. Football may as well have been a different sport back then. Well, for everyone but Army, Navy, and Air Force, at least.
