Barth’s 2025 Draft Profiles: Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty scouting report
After a historic 2024 season, Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty heads to the NFL draft with as much hype as any running back in recent memory. Just five running…
BOISE, ID – NOVEMBER 29: Running back Ashton Jeanty #2 of the Boise State Broncos stands ready for the start of the play during the second half against the Oregon State Beavers at Albertsons Stadium on November 29, 2024 in Boise, Idaho. Boise State won the game 34-18. (Photo by Loren Orr/Getty Images)
Loren Orr/Getty ImagesAfter a historic 2024 season, Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty heads to the NFL draft with as much hype as any running back in recent memory. Just five running backs have gone top 10 in the last decade, will he join the list?
Ashton Jeanty scouting report
Loren Orr/Getty Images<em><sup>Ashton Jeanty stands ready for the start of a play against Oregon State.</sup></em>
Background
College: Boise State
Rookie year age: 21
Height: 5'9
Weight: 211
Awards: Maxwell Award (2024), Doak Walker Award (2024), Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award (2024), Unanimous All-American (2024), First-Team All-American (2024), Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year (2023, 2024), First-Team All-Mountain West (2023, 2024)
Ashton Jeanty played his first few years of high school football in Europe, while his dad (a U.S. Navy chief petty officer) was stationed overseas. He didn't play his first full season of high school football until his senior year at Lone Star High School in Frisco, Texas. That season was enough to earn him a four-star rating by 24/7, which ranked him as the 29th-best running back in the Class of 2022.
After that season Jeanty had about a dozen FBS offers and ended up going to Boise State. He had a breakout year as a sophomore, and turned down a seven-figure NIL transfer deal to return to the Broncos as a junior in 2024 ahead of his historic season, when he finished as the runner up for the Heisman Trophy.
For more player breakdowns, scouting reports, and all things 2025 NFL Draft, check out the 98.5 The Sports Hub Offseason Hub page.
Stats
| Year | Team | Class | G | Att | Yds | Y/A | TD | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Boise | FR | 14 | 156 | 821 | 5.3 | 7 | 14 | 155 | 0 |
| 2023 | Boise | SO | 12 | 220 | 1347 | 6.1 | 14 | 43 | 569 | 5 |
| 2024 | Boise | SR | 14 | 374 | 2601 | 7.0 | 29 | 23 | 138 | 1 | Career | 40 | 750 | 4769 | 6.4 | 50 | 80 | 862 | 6 |
Strengths
-Elite contact balance, rarely allows the first defender to bring him down and creates hidden yardage by falling forwards
-Bounces off tacklers who come in at the wrong angle
-Gets in an out of cuts efficiently without losing momentum, always a big-play threat to defenses on cut-back runs
-Reads the field well and can adapt mid-play to changes in blocking quickly
-Has the burst to pull away once in the open field
-Showed an ability to create big plays independent of blocking
-Projects as a three down player as a strong pass blocker who has experience catching the football as well
Weaknesses
-Already has a lot of milage - his 750 carries over the last three years would be the fifth-most in the NFL in that span
-Will be challenged by bigger defenders in the NFL than he was in the Mountain West
-More of a check-down option in the passing game than a route-runner
Video breakdown
Bottom line
As far as running back prospects go, Ashton Jeanty checks just about every box. The running back position has been devalued in recent years, but in the copycat league that is the NFL that could be changing - especially with the performances of Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry in 2024. If a team does want to try to replicate that with their own star running back, Jeanty has all of the tools to be that kind player if given an opportunity.
