Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise State
Size:
Height: 5084
Weight: 211
Arm: 29 ¼”
Hand: 9 ¼”
Accomplishments:
Heisman Finalist (2024) • All-American (2024) • First-Team All-Mountain West (2024, 2023) • Doak Walker Award Winner (2024) • Maxwell Award Winner (2024) • Honorable Mention All-Mountain West (2022)
“Ashton Jeanty is a highly skilled and versatile running back prospect who wins with vision, footwork, and a natural ability to force missed tackles by defenders.”
Strengths:
Contact balance
Vision
Fluid mover and direction-changer
Receiving playmaker
Missed-tackle generator
Concerns:
Reliability in pass protection
Initial burst/acceleration
Physically capped
Film Analysis:
Ashton Jeanty enters the NFL Draft as one of the premier prospects of the 2025 class. He had an impressive career, capping it off with a 2,600-yard rushing season in 2024. Jeanty has lateral agility, quickness, and contact balance, which allow him to force missed tackles. He possesses a combination of skills and upside that could make him a centerpiece of an NFL offense. Jeanty offers a dual-threat skill set, being a fluid, sudden mover as a ball-carrier, but he also has strong, reliable hands as a receiver out of the backfield, making impactful plays for his offense.
Jeanty boasts a dense, bowling-ball frame with a low center of gravity. He has good contact balance and can ping-pong off defenders after contact, with great leg drive to keep churning for extra yards. He excels on zone runs, where he can press outside and make quick, decisive decisions. His quick and sudden footwork allows him to plant and cut upfield if the perimeter is walled off.
Jeanty is a fluid and electric mover with little to no wasted movement when changing directions. He is great at forcing missed tackles with quickness in tight spaces. Paired with his run strength, Jeanty is difficult to tackle on initial contact, especially when escaping the backfield. In space, he reads and cuts against defenders' leverage. His vision for finding lanes as they open is impressive. His eyes and feet are well-coordinated, allowing him to make effective cuts and jump-cuts into voided space.
He is an effective space player with the ball in his hands. Jeanty operates as a safety valve and check-down receiving option for his quarterback. He transitions from receiver to runner quickly and will finish plays falling forward due to his physical momentum. He had more than 500 receiving yards in 2023 with limited route usage. Jeanty is an all-around playmaker at the running back position.
The concerns for Jeanty lie in his burst and acceleration, which appear adequate, but it remains to be seen whether they will translate to the NFL. While Jeanty can create initial separation, sustaining it and converting opportunities into touchdowns will be a question mark for NFL teams. Playing in the Mountain West, there are questions about the level of competition he faced, and these can't be fully answered. Another concern is how much of his production comes from breaking tackles and picking up extra yardage. This is also a question of competition level—if Jeanty faces better defenders in the NFL, his production could decrease.
Overall, Jeanty is one of the most versatile running backs in college football. He projects as a dual-usage starting running back who thrives in a multiple-run scheme offense. Jeanty’s patience and quickness through open lanes work well in pin/pull action and outside zone concepts. Despite his shorter frame, Jeanty has the tools to be a highly productive, all-purpose running back who can make an immediate impact in the NFL.
Prospect Projection: Day 1 — Pro Bowl Caliber
Exposures: Oregon (2024), UNLV (2024), UNLV (2024 CC), Penn State (2024), Memphis (2023), Washington (2023), San Diego State (2023), Colorado State (2023), UCLA (2023)
