Joel Klatt identifies the knock against Ashton Jeanty in Heisman race

Joel Klatt remains a major fan of Ashton Jeanty, even if he acknowleged some concerns over the Boise State running back’s Heisman Trophy candidacy this season.

Jeanty finished second to Colorado two-way superstar Travis Hunter in a closer-than-anticipated 2024 Heisman Trophy vote tally, with Hunter besting Jeanty in both the total points (2,231-2,017) and first-place votes (552-309) on Saturday evening. Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel and Miami quarterback Cam Ward finished a distant third and fourth in voting with 516 and 229 total points, respectively.

Of course, while Hunter was a somewhat controversial pick for college football fans, Jeanty’s status among the Top 3 was overwhelming amid his ongoing chase to break Barry Sanders‘ NCAA single-season rushing record. Thanks to his NCAA-best 2,497 rushing yards through 13 games this season, Jeanty appeared on 882 of the 928 possible ballots sent out to voters (Hunter was on 866 total ballots).

That included Klatt, whose own Heisman ballot had Hunter and Jeanty 1-2 with Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders in third. Still, Klatt acknowledged there were clear limitations on Jeanty’s Heisman resume that may have cost him some votes.

Joel Klatt: Ashton Jeanty-Barry Sanders comparisons ‘a bit of a stretch’

“(Jeanty is) phenomenal. He’s a remarkable player. I love watching Ashton Jeanty play. He is, in a lot of ways, everything you want in a ‘back — everything,” Klatt said Monday on The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast. “(But) I’d say the knock against Jeanty was probably the Mountain West aspect of this. You wonder to yourself at times, ‘well are there other guys that could’ve done that? What could (Cam) Skattebo have done if he had played a Mountain West schedule?’ And I think that can enter your head. Now is that a knock against Jeanty? No, it’s not. I think it’s the reality of the levels of college football and maybe the schedule that he played.”

Klatt also attacked the idea that Jeanty’s 2024 season is even comparable to Barry Sanders‘ record-shattering 1988 season, when the Oklahoma State running back ran for an NCAA single-season record 2,628 rushing yards and 37 touchdowns in 11 games that season. Sanders then added 222 yards and five touchdowns in the 1988 Holiday Bowl vs. Wyoming, but the NCAA didn’t include bowl stats in its records at the time. With Sanders’ bowl stats added in, Jeanty is currently 353 yards shy of Sanders’ historic mark.

“I think that his production being compared to Barry Sanders was a bit of a stretch. Barry did it in 11 games, folks. Barry’s mark doesn’t even encapsulate his season because at the time in 1988, they didn’t count bowl game yards, which he had another 300 yards and his real number is 28-something,” Klatt continued. “Like that’s the real number. So to say, oh he’s about to break Barry’s mark … no, no he’s not. Which is fine. Again, (Jeanty) was tremendous. That’s why I put him at No. 2. In a lot of ways that was unprecedented for me to put a Group of Five player at No. 2 on my Heisman ballot. I thought that was an acknowledgement of how great his season was. And again, I think he has a bright future.”