Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise State

He won't be available when the Vikings pick.

Montana Tom wrote:
He won't be available when the Vikings pick.

Probably not, but you never know how the draft season is going to go. Injury concerns, off-field shit. Dalvin Cook was a consensus top 15 pick before some knee injury concerns popped up that made him slide to the 2nd round.

He has been beyond impressive, another RB I saw this weekend who looked great was Devin Neal from Kansas, ran all over Colorado.

He could drop slightly as the Boise offense runs through him & teams could be concerned about the number of miles on him already. Still, in this draft where there's not projected to have a lot of blue chip talent, I can't see this dude dropping out of the top 16.

In 2023 when we drafted Addison around pick 22, I was hopeful pre-draft that Bijan Robinson might fall into our range. Didn't happen but yeah I'm more than fine spending top capital on the right player. Especially if we think our "window is open", prioritizing guys who can make a year 1 impact would be wise. Rookie RBs traditionally fit that bill.

Jeanty looks a cut above but if we miss out, hopefully our scouts can identify value later. Chase Brown (5th rd) is having a great rookie year in Cincinatti, for example. Pacheco (7th) for KC a year or two prior.

Kid is unreal. Wow!

I was watching an interview with Todd McShay the other day and he says this could be a "historic" class of running backs with Jeanty being the crown jewel. There is depth, so if the Vikings want to go running back there will be talent no matter where we end up picking.

There's going to be some very good RB options in next year's draft. Kaleb Johnson & Omarion Hampton are a couple that I like as well.

Jonah Coleman is a guy I watched recently. Kid's a bowling ball. 5-9, 230 lbs. I don't know that much about him. Most draft observers don't have him top 10 among RBs, but I took notice when Kiper put him 4th the other day...

GBN's current big board ranks their top 80 players for the upcoming draft and 8 of those players are running backs including both Ohio State backs. Good draft year if you need a running back. For being such a good team, the Vikings could go in a lot of different directions in the draft this year

I am a Hawkeye fan living here in Iowa but don't overlook Kaleb Johnson. He is a Junior but most feel he will declare for the draft. He has the ability to take it to the house every time he touches the ball. His stats so far this season is 1,500 yards and 21 touchdowns. He is averaging 6.7 yards a carry behind a mediocre offensive line. If you get a chance watch one of his games.

Greylock wrote:
I am a Hawkeye fan living here in Iowa but don't overlook Kaleb Johnson.  He is a Junior but most feel he will declare for the draft.  He has the ability to take it to the house every time he touches the ball.  His stats so far this season is 1,500 yards and 21 touchdowns.  He is averaging 6.7 yards a carry behind a mediocre offensive line.  If you get a chance watch one of his games.

He's a beast and I think he'll be a good NFL RB.  There are lots of good college RBs every year, but the special ones really jump out at you and Kaleb pops every time you watch him.

Highly doubtful we get close to drafting Jeanty...

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Travis Hunter and Ashton Jeanty make final arguments for Heisman Trophy as both dominate in final regular season games

Colorado two-way superstar Travis Hunter and Boise State standout running back Ashton Jeanty made their final cases for the 2024 Heisman Trophy in their final games of the college football regular season on Friday.

Hunter, who has made headlines by playing both wide receiver and cornerback, stuffed the stat sheet on both sides of the ball as the 9-3 Buffaloes routed Oklahoma State 52-0, while Jeanty made yet more history as the No. 11 Broncos defeated Oregon State 34-18 to move to 11-1.

The Heisman Trophy, awarded to the most outstanding player in college football, has been dominated by quarterbacks in recent years, with QBs claiming the trophy in 12 of the last 15 seasons.

The last wide receiver to win the award was Devonta Smith in 2020, and a running back has not won the trophy since former NFL Offensive Player of the Year Derrick Henry took it in 2015. Both players had their Heisman seasons under legendary head coach Nick Saban at Alabama.

Hunter caught three touchdowns against Oklahoma State and totaled 116 yards, his seventh game of the season with at least 100 yards. On defense he had an interception and broke up two passes.

The dynamic Jeanty has emerged as his main competition and the 20-year-old had a commanding display of his own on Friday. He carried the ball a career-high 37 times and rushed for 226 yards and a touchdown in the victory.

This took Jeanty’s all-purpose yard total on the season 2,390, passing the previous record set by Jay Ajayi in 2014 for the most in a single season in Boise State history, per the school. He also tied a program record with his 28th TD of the year, and became the Mountain West conference single-season record holder for rushing yards with 2,288

Jeanty made sure to credit his team after the game.

“It felt amazing. Not only just for me, but for the team,” Jeanty said during his on-field interview postgame. “The personal success that I’ve had doesn’t just come from me, it comes from team success. Great offensive play and defensive play.”

He has proved to be almost unstoppable this year and has caught national attention as a result. Even Shedeur Sanders found time to talk about Jeanty in his postgame press conference on Friday, saying that the running back was doing an “amazing job.”

The Heisman Trophy winner will be announced in a ceremony on December 14.

Source: CNN

purplefaithful wrote:
Highly doubtful we get close to drafting Jeanty...

Ha!

I guess there's always that...