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

On Saturday night, Colorado’s Travis Hunter hoisted the Heisman Trophy, gave a moving speech to a gathered group of past 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 done it all.

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

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

Required reading:Colorado’s Travis Hunter wins the 2024 Heisman Trophy over Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty

In virtually any other year where he didn’t have to compete for the trophy against someone who had the historic distinction of being both one of the best cornerbacks and the best wide receiver in the country, Jeanty probably would have secured the award.

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

Jeanty accomplished this, leading the Broncos to a 12-1 record, a Mountain West Conference championship and a first-round bye in the upcoming playoffs.

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

Required reading:Colorado’s Travis Hunter and Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty lead the USA TODAY Sports All-America team

Although it never escalated into a true feud, Jeanty and Hunter got into a few arguments over the course of the 2024 season as their Heisman candidacies were debated against each other.

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

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

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