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Ashton Jeanty is less than 48 hours from fulfilling his lifelong dream of hearing his name called at the NFL Draft.
The former Boise State star became a superstar in the 2024 season by rushing for the second-most yards in a college season ever, coming up just short of Barry Sanders’ all-time record.
But in a time when running backs are seldom picked early anymore, Jeanty is going to be a first-round, maybe even top 10, pick.
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Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty (2) runs past Penn State linebacker Kobe King during the Fiesta Bowl at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., on Dec. 31, 2024. (IMAGN)
Jeanty will be at the draft in Green Bay to take advantage of the “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
“The draft, watching it on TV, I always told myself, ‘One day, you’ll be a first-round pick. If you put the work in and get the opportunity, you got to go,'” Jeanty told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. “Walk across the stage, shake the commissioner’s hand … it was a no-brainer to have that experience.”
That moment with Goodell is certainly on his mind, and he’s planning on making it go viral.
“Got to do a little handshake. But I might get him to hit a few dance moves, a two-step or something,” Jeanty said of his plans. “I don’t think he can dance like that, but we’re going to have to get him going.”
Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty runs against Penn State during the Fiesta Bowl at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., on Dec. 31, 2024. (Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images)
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Jeanty isn’t sure which team’s hat he’ll be wearing when he starts dancing with Goodell. The top three candidates, he believes, are the Bears, Raiders and Cowboys. But the NFL Draft always comes with some twists and turns.
“I think there are teams that might possibly trade up, but you never know. It could be a team you didn’t even talk to that makes a move,” he said.
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He had a direct message to all 32 teams last week in a piece for “The Players’ Tribune” in which he implored each of them to “draft the guy they can’t tackle.” There wasn’t a whole lot of tackling of Jeanty last year as he scampered for 2,601 yards and 29 touchdowns.
Those numbers are unheard of in the NFL, but Jeanty is confident he will live up to his hype.
Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty (2) pushes away from the arms of UNLV defensive lineman Tatuo Martinson in the first half of the Mountain West Championship on Dec. 6, 2024, in Boise, Idaho. (AP Photo/Steve Conner)
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“The work I put in each and every day, I’m just confident in how I work and continue to get better,” he said. “Obviously, it’ll be a learning curve with a new offense, but skill is there. If you have skill, it doesn’t matter what offense you’re in, what scheme you’re running. You can bring those skills to life. Breaking tackles, it doesn’t matter what scheme you’re in. You just have that ability.
“And I feel like in my time at Boise State, I had a different OC pretty much every year and a different offense, but the main thing remained the same: I was able to break tackles and be a playmaker. I feel the same thing will happen at the next level.”
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