Utah State has now learned what Georgia Southern, Oregon, Portland State and Washington State learned before them — Ashton Jeanty is the real deal.
In the eyes of the Aggies interim head coach Nate Dreiling, Jeanty is more than just that though.
The Boise State running back just might be the best player in all of college football.
“I do not have a vote because I did not win the Heisman,” Dreiling said. “If I did, I would be voting for him.”
The Aggies only played against Jeanty for a half of their Mountain West Conference opener, as the Broncos star wasn’t needed at all in the second half as Boise State opened up a 49-17 first-half lead over Utah State, en route to a 62-30 win.
Jeanty only carried the ball 13 times too. He wasn’t exactly a workhorse.
Still, in that limited window USU found out exactly how good he was.
On the first play from scrimmage for Boise State, Jeanty reeled of a 63-yard touchdown run, the lesser of his two highlight touchdowns as he later added a 75-yard TD run (he also had a 6-yard TD run for good measure).
“Versus that offense you miss a fit or miss a tackle and you see what they can do,” Dreiling said. “The 70 to 80 yard (touchdown) with probably the best player in the country.”
He continued: “That first play of the game, probably practiced that 30 times. But that is the deal when you are playing a team of that caliber. It has to go right. You have to win your one-on-ones and we just didn’t. On his other one (TD) he broke two tackles on the outside zone. That’s a play we’ve repped, we just had to fit it perfectly and we knew that coming in.”
Utah State actually did fairly well against Jeanty outside of those two explosive touchdown runs and limited him to 48 yards and a TD on 11 carries otherwise.
But even then he averaged more than 4 yards a carry, so it wasn’t as though the Aggies really slowed him down.
“And he only played the first half,” Dreiling said. “Let’s be honest. He would’ve ran for a lot more. What an unbelievable player.”
USU safety Ike Larsen praised Jeanty as well, but true to form he also was a bit defiant and hesitant to be too supportive of a conference rival.
“I never got a chance to really tackle him,” Larsen said. “At the end of the day I respect him, but he’s another running back. You know what I mean. In the most respectful way, he’s just another person. Yeah, he’s good. Yeah, he scored three, four touchdowns. Cool. We just gotta contain him. We contain him, the game’s different.”
More than just Jeanty’s on-field talent, Dreiling actually came away more impressed with Jeanty as a person.
As he tells it, Jeanty is a truly special player. One of a kind at a program that has had its fair share of standouts.
“The best part about it, and hardly anybody knows this and I’ve heard it from three people today, they said he is legitimately the best kid on the team, one of the best players, one of the best people they’ve ever had at Boise State,” Dreiling said. “That is a walking billboard (for that program). When one of your best players is your hardest worker, that is why you have success. Just so impressive off the field, and on it.”
