This season Heisman finalists were Dillain Gabriel, Ashton Jeanty, Cam Ward, and Travis Hunter, but it really came down to two players, Ashton Jeanty and Travis Hunter. This is one of the closest and most controversial Heisman selections ever, with Travis Hunter winning it.
One hundred and thirty-one yards…That is what Ashton Jeanty needs to break the single-season record for rushing yards. This season Ashton Jeanty leads the league in rushing yards and touchdowns having 2,497 rushing yards and 29 touchdowns. He is also close to the rushing touchdown record by only 8 touchdowns. Ashton Jeanty led Boise State to a 12-1 record with their only loss against Oregon, the number one-ranked team in the nation. They are also heading into the college football playoffs. Jeanty’s season is so electric that the difference between first and second place in rushing yards is 837 yards. Jeanty’s stats last season were 1347 yards and 14 touchdowns, and he was the 11th-ranked running back in the league. Don’t get me wrong, he had a great season, but nothing like this year. Also, Jeanty led the league in yards after contact that year which should have been a sign of greatness to come. If you were to look at the top 5 rushing leaders you would see a close battle between 2-5 places with all around 1600 yards. If you only took Ashton Jeanty’s rushing yards after contact he’d still be in 1st place in rushing yards by more than 200 yards. This shows his pure dominance in the league. This year Jeanty won the Maxwell Award which is given to the most prestigious player voted by coaches and media members and the Doak Walker Award which is given to the best running back that year.
This year Travis Hunter is ranked 6th in receiving yards. Now being in 6th place in receiving yards is impressive amongst a stacked receiver league, but not close enough in the race for the Heisman against the best college running back in the league and possibly of all-time. So why was the Heisman given to a 6th-ranked receiver rather than the 1st-ranked receiver? In high school, Travis Hunter was the number one player of the class of 2022 and was a five-star recruit. He made a controversial decision to decommit from Florida State and to commit to Jackson State. Travis wanted to play for Deion Sanders, the head coach of Jackson State, so he could learn from one of the best cornerbacks of all time. It makes sense for him to want to learn from him, but he plays receiver, which brings up why Travis is in the Heisman conversation for the 2024/25 season. Travis Hunter wanted to play both wide receiver and cornerback in college. Travis is a phenomenal athlete but no one thought he would be able to succeed playing both sides of the ball. Playing football in college takes a toll on your body just playing either offense or defense. Hunter wanted to play both. After his freshman year, Coach Dion Sanders became the head coach at Colorado State so Travis entered the transfer portal so he could continue playing under Coach Sanders. Colorado finished the 2023/24 season with an underwhelming record at 4-8. Still, Travis was electric for his first year in a new program racking up over nine hundred receiving yards, twelve touchdowns, thirty-six tackles, three interceptions, and six pass deflections officially proving everyone wrong about playing both ways. Now in the current season, Travis is the Heisman winner. He is the sixth-ranked receiver in receiving yards and 2nd receiving touchdowns; he also has thirty-one tackles, tied for 4th in interceptions, and has eleven pass deflections.
With Travis being the winner this year there are a lot of people who disagree because he isn’t ranked 1st in any statistical category but plays both ways at an efficient level. On the other hand, Aston Jeanty who is ranked 1st in almost every running back category, is in the top 5 all-time in rushing yards. At the same time, people say he only put those numbers up because he plays in a weak conference and weak teams besides Oregon. Honestly watching them both play this year is a blessing, they both had an amazing season and you could argue with either side all day long because of how close this was. Who do you think should have won?
