Ashton Jeanty is on the brink of a historic season for a running back, and the Boise State star thinks that should have been enough to push him to the Heisman Trophy over Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter.
“I really felt like I should’ve walked away with the award, but kudos to Travis for winning,” Jeanty told reporters Saturday after finishing as the Heisman runner-up. “But yeah, it’s simple as that. Work harder, go harder.”
Hunter won the Heisman after receiving 552 first-place votes and 2,231 points. Jeanty was second with 309 first-place votes and 2,017 points, making it the closest margin of victory since 2009, when Alabama running back Mark Ingram edged out Stanford running back Toby Gerhart.
Jeanty has rushed for 2,497 yards this season and needs 132 in the College Football Playoff to break Barry Sanders’ single-season rushing record of 2,628 that was set at Oklahoma State in 1988.
The Broncos will face the winner of the SMU–Penn State game in a CFP quarterfinal at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 31.
Jeanty, who on Thursday won the Maxwell Award as college football’s top player and the Doak Walker Award for the nation’s top running back, said he was “100%” motivated by not winning the Heisman.
“There’s a lot more to come,” he told reporters. “This isn’t the end, this is just the beginning. So I just have to do that much more to get the things that I want.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
