Is Ashton Jeanty the Next Barry Sanders? Boise State's Rushing Sensation on the Verge of History!

Just 39 FBS running backs (minimum 25 carries overall) have seen a heavy box on at least half their runs. They’ve averaged 5.5 yards. Jeanty, despite all the bodies aligned to stop him, averages twice that.

More points of comparison:

On carries against a “bad box,” with eight defenders or more, Jeanty averages 8.9 yards. The national average for tailbacks on those runs is 3.7 yards. Just five running backs have seen 30-plus carries against eight-man boxes or heavier, and four of them average between 3.4 and 5.6 yards on those carries. Jeanty’s average against a heavy box, however, is 8.9 yards.
On carries in which the offensive line allows a run disruption – a defender at the point of attack clogging a gap or beating his man, essentially – Jeanty averages 10.7 yards. The national average for running backs on such carries is 2.2 yards. Jeanty is quintupling the typical back in how he performs when a defender blows up a play.
After contact, Jeanty averages 6.5 yards. The national running back average: 2.1. Among running backs with 50 carries or more, the next best after-contact average is 3.9 yards.
Jeanty averages 0.43 missed or broken tackles per touch, leading all running backs. The average running back breaks 0.15, just more than a third of what Jeanty eludes.

Meanwhile, Jeanty “only” averages 4.8 yards before contact. That’s 11th in the country among backs who have carried at least 50 times. Jeanty is benefitting from solid blocking by the Boise State offensive line, but he is a one-man stick of dynamite who has made defenses crumble before his 5-foot-9 frame.