Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty has ‘amazing’ start in NYC, wins prestigious Doak Walker Award

Time will tell whether he wins the Heisman Trophy this week to join the likes of Barry Sanders, but Boise State junior Ashton Jeanty already has his name alongside some of college football’s all-time great running backs, such as LaDanian Tomlinson, Reggie Bush, Derrick Henry and Jonathan Taylor.

Jeanty, who leads the nation in rushing yardage (2,497) and rushing touchdowns (29), was named the winner of the 2024 Doak Walker Award on Thursday night, an honor given to the top running back in the country.

North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton and Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson were the other finalists. Jeanty received the award during an ESPN show to hand out many of college football’s top position honors.

It was held in New York City, with Jeanty in the city with his family — just as he will be Saturday night at the Heisman Trophy ceremony. He is one of four finalists for that award, along with Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter, Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel and Miami QB Cam Ward.

“You know, this is exactly why I stayed at Boise State,” Jeanty said during an ESPN TV interview.” Everything I wanted to accomplish, I knew it would be possible at Boise State.”

Earlier in the day, Jeanty finished second to Hunter in voting for The Associated Press college football player of the year. Hunter received 26 of 43 votes to grab that award, with 16 votes for Jeanty and one for Arizona State running back Cam Skattebo.

Jeanty started the season by stamping himself as college football’s next superstar running back. He rushed for 267 yards and six touchdowns — his very first carry was a 77-yard TD — in the opening game at Georgia Southern, and put together five more 200-yard games. He averaged 7.3 yards per carry on the year, and his lowest single-game output was 127 yards on 11 carries against Portland State — when he played only the first half.

Jeanty’s most recent game was a 209-yard performance in Boise State’s 21-7 win over UNLV in the Mountain West championship last Friday. That victory clinched a College Football Playoff berth, and his next game will be in the Fiesta Bowl, where the third-seeded Broncos will face the winner of No. 6 Penn State vs. No. 11 SMU.

Either of those teams will have their hands full with Jeanty.

“You face running backs, they’re fast or they’re powerful. Rarely do you see ones that are both, with the lateral agility … and they can get full speed going north and south,” ESPN analyst Booger McFarland said after Jeanty won the Doak Walker. “His physicality, to me, would bother me as a defender.”

Jeanty could surpass Oklahoma State legend Sanders’ single-season NCAA rushing record of 2,628 yards in the Fiesta Bowl, but that requires some explanation.

In Sanders’ Heisman-winning season at Oklahoma State in 1988, his 222-yard effort in the Holiday Bowl did not count in his total under NCAA rules at the time. That would have given him 2,850 yards. Sanders amassed the 2,628 total in just 11 games (238.9 per game), whereas Jeanty has played 13 already — though he sat out the second halves of two games.

Jeanty is averaging 192.1 yards per game, meaning a typical performance in the Fiesta Bowl would allow him to set the new record, since he needs 132 yards.

“It’s amazing,” Jeanty said on ESPN, noting that Sanders gave him a shout-out last week and said he hoped the Boise State star would set a new rushing mark. “Barry’s one of the best to ever play the game. To be mentioned in the same breath as him, on track to break his record … it’s just a blessing.”

The Doak Walker Award has been handed out every year since its inception in 1990. It is named after Ewell Doak Walker II, an All-American running back who won the Heisman Trophy in 1948 with SMU.

Jeanty, who had a season full of highlights, also was a finalist along with Hunter and Gabriel for the Maxwell Award, which goes to the person deemed to be college football’s best all-around player.

Hunter was the favorite, as he is for the Heisman, with Jeanty considered the second-favorite.

Doak Walker Award

RECENT WINNERS

2024 — Ashton Jeanty, Boise State
2023 — Ollie Gordon II, Oklahoma State
2022 — Bijan Robinson, Texas
2021 — Kenneth Walker III, Michigan State
2020 — Najee Harris, Alabama
2018, ‘19 — Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin

PROMINENT WINNERS

2015 — Derrick Henry, Alabama
2014 — Melvin Gordon, Wisconsin
2006, ‘07 — Darren McFadden, Arkansas
2005 — Reggie Bush, USC
2004 — Cedric Benson, Texas
2000 — LaDanian Tomlinson, TCU
1997, ‘98 — Ricky Williams, Texas
1995 — Eddie George, Ohio State