Boise State’s Jeanty wins Doak Walker, Maxwell awards

Time will tell whether he wins the Heisman Trophy this week to join the likes of Barry Sanders, but Boise State junior Ashton Jeanty already has his name alongside some of college football’s all-time great running backs, such as LaDanian Tomlinson, Reggie Bush, Derrick Henry and Jonathan Taylor.

Jeanty, who leads the nation in rushing yardage (2,497) and rushing touchdowns (29), was named the winner of the 2024 Doak Walker Award on Thursday night, an honor given to the top running back in the country. North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton and Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson were the other finalists.

Later in the evening, Jeanty also won the Maxwell Award, which is given to the player of the year. Eight of the past 10 Maxwell Award honorees have won the Heisman.

Jeanty received the awards during an ESPN show to hand out many of college football’s top honors. It was held in New York City, with Jeanty in the city with his family — just as he will be Saturday night at the Heisman Trophy ceremony. He is one of four finalists for that award, along with Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter, Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel and Miami QB Cam Ward.

“You know, this is exactly why I stayed at Boise State,” Jeanty said during an ESPN TV interview. “Everything I wanted to accomplish, I knew it would be possible at Boise State.”

Earlier in the day, Jeanty finished second to Hunter in voting for The Associated Press college football player of the year. Hunter received 26-of-43 votes to grab that award, with 16 votes for Jeanty and one for Arizona State running back Cam Skattebo.

Jeanty started the season by stamping himself as college football’s next superstar running back. He rushed for 267 yards and six touchdowns — his very first carry was a 77-yard TD — in the opening game at Georgia Southern, and put together five more 200-yard games. He averaged 7.3 yards per carry on the year, and his lowest single-game output was 127 yards on 11 carries against Portland State, when he played only the first half.

Jeanty’s most-recent game was a 209-yard performance in Boise State’s 21-7 win over UNLV in the Mountain West championship game last Friday. That victory clinched a College Football Playoff berth, and his next game will be in the Fiesta Bowl, where the third-seeded Broncos will face the winner of No. 6 Penn State vs. No. 11 SMU.

Either of those teams will have their hands full with Jeanty.

“You face running backs, they’re fast or they’re powerful. Rarely do you see ones that are both, with the lateral agility ... and they can get full speed going north and south,” ESPN analyst Booger McFarland said after Jeanty won the Doak Walker. “His physicality, to me, would bother me as a defender.”

Jeanty could surpass Oklahoma State legend Sanders’ single-season NCAA rushing record of 2,628 yards in the Fiesta Bowl, but that requires some explanation. In Sanders’ Heisman-winning season at Oklahoma State in 1988, his 222-yard effort in the Holiday Bowl did not count in his total under NCAA rules at the time. That would have given him 2,850 yards.

Sanders amassed the 2,628 total in just 11 games (238.9 per game), whereas Jeanty has played 13 already — though he sat out the second halves of two games. Jeanty is averaging 192.1 yards per game, meaning a typical performance in the Fiesta Bowl would allow him to set the record, since he needs 132 yards.

“It’s amazing,” Jeanty said on ESPN, noting that Sanders gave him a shoutout last week and said he hoped the Boise State star would set a new rushing mark. “Barry’s one of the best to ever play the game. To be mentioned in the same breath as him, on track to break his record ... it’s just a blessing.”

The Doak Walker Award has been handed out every year since its inception in 1990. It is named after Ewell Doak Walker II, an All-American running back who won the Heisman Trophy in 1948 with SMU.

Jeanty, who had a season full of highlights, was a finalist along with Hunter and Gabriel for the Maxwell Award, which goes to the person deemed to be college football’s best all-around player.

Jeanty is the first player to win the Doak Walker and Maxwell awards in the same season since Derrick Henry in 2015. Henry, of Alabama, also won the Heisman that year. Jeanty also is the first player outside the power conferences to win the Doak Walker since BYU’s Luke Staley in 2001.

Doak Walker Award winners since 2015:

2024 — Ashton Jeanty, Boise State

2023 — Ollie Gordon II, Oklahoma State

2022 — Bijan Robinson, Texas

2021 — Kenneth Walker III, Michigan State

2020 — Najee Harris, Alabama

2019 — Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin

2018 — Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin

2017 — Bryce Love, Stanford

2016 — D’Onte Foreman, Texas

2015 — Derrick Henry, Alabama

Maxwell Award winners since 2015:

2024 — Ashton Jeanty, Boise State

2023 — Michael Penix Jr., Washington

2022 — Caleb Williams, Southern Cal, QB

2021 — Bryce Young, Alabama, QB

2020 — DeVonta Smith, Alabama, WR

2019 — Joe Burrow, LSU, QB

2018 — Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama, QB

2017 — Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma, QB

2016 — Lamar Jackson, Louisville, QB

2015 — Derrick Henry, Alabama, RB