The 2024 College Football season was slated to be an entertaining one. The season brought huge upsets and miraculous finishes. It was also the beginning of the 12-team college football playoff era. Nothing was more waited upon than the Heisman trophy race.
The four finalists included Dillon Gabriel (Oregon, QB), Cam Ward (Miami, QB), Travis Hunter (Colorado, WR/CB), and Ashton Jeanty (Boise State, RB). There may have been four finalists, but two stood out and it was clearly Hunter and Jeanty.
Travis Hunter was a five-star recruit out of high school and shocked the world when he chose small Jackson State over Florida State on signing day. However, he only chose to play at Jackson State to play under NFL legend and now coach, Deion Sanders. After Hunter’s Freshman year, coach Sanders got a head coaching job for the University of Colorado. Sanders’ son Shedeur followed, along with Travis Hunter himself. He model’s his game after his head coach who played both offense and defense during his time in college. Not only can Hunter play both sides, he thrives on both sides of the ball. Travis is now a Junior and will likely be a top 3 draft pick in the April NFL Draft.
Ashton Jeanty flew under the radar this season. Being a Running Back in Boise, Idaho may not buy as much attention as the guy that was number one in his class out of high school. Ashton was known by experts and media, but nobody could have predicted his electrifying, Heisman-worthy season performance. He originally put his name in the transfer portal after last season, but after all the thinking and discussions, Jeanty stayed put and would continue his collegiate career as Boise State Bronco. Jeanty is also a Junior and will be an NFL draft pick this spring.
Now that we’ve introduced our Heisman trophy front runners, let’s get to the statistics. In just his first game this season, Jeanty torched Georgia Southern with 267 yards and 6 touchdowns. His lowest rushing game this season was 127, as they pulled him out at halftime because they were winning in a landslide. Jeanty finished the year with 2,497 yards and plummeted 29 touchdowns. Impressively, the next closest rusher in yards was 837 behind Jeanty. Ashton Jeanty put his Boise State team on his back this year and carried them to a 3 seed and a bye in the College Football Playoff. With that game still to come on New Years Eve, Ashton needs 132 yards to break the single season rushing yards record set by the legendary Barry Sanders in 1988. Chances are the record will be broken that New Years Eve night.
Mr. Do-It-All, Travis Hunter can lock up your best receiver and route up your best defensive back without missing a snap. Travis piled up 1,152 yards receiving (6th in the nation) and 14 touchdowns (2nd in the nation). He did not lead a single stat at the Wide Receiver spot, but was right up toward the top of all of them. Hunter won the award for best Wide Receiver, but many argue that San Jose State receiver Nick Nash should have won the trophy, leading nearly every single statistical category there is for Wide Receiver. Besides that, Travis hauled in 4 interceptions on defense adding onto his resume. Four interceptions put him middle of the pack in the stats, but don’t get it twisted, the Quarterback would have to think about throwing toward the receiver Hunter was guarding before every drop back. Safe to say Travis Hunter had the intimidation factor. However, the media also awarded Travis the best defensive player. Once again this had fans questioning things, as Travis couldn’t hardly be found in the top 10 of any defensive statistics. Some may argue that Hunter wasn’t even the best defensive back in the country, as Michigan’s Will Johnson would make a good debate. Hunter and his Colorado Buffaloes finished 9-3 and missed the College Football playoff, but will hold a consolation bowl game vs BYU on the December 28.
Based on everything that was said, the media (the voters) seemed to favor Travis Hunter and the fans favored Ashton Jeanty. The highly-anticipated moment came as the envelope was opened and read that this year’s Heisman trophy winner was Travis Hunter. Uproar began on social media as the majority of College Football fans found this to be a popularity contest instead of the true best player. Hunter’s margin of victory over Jeanty was the smallest in 15 years.
If you compare how the teams of the two candidates performed, it’s just another reason Ashton Jeanty should have won. Boise State finished the regular season 11-1, their only loss coming from the best team in the country, Oregon, who was undefeated and took down Boise 37-34. Boise State improved to 12-1 after winning their conference title and getting that bye week in the playoff. Selection Sunday gave Boise the #3 seed and also got ranked #9 nationally. Boise State’s whole offense was centered around Jeanty, but teams still could not contain him averaging a gargantuan 190.7 yards per game. Travis Hunter and Colorado went 9-3, missed the playoffs, and was ranked #23 nationally.
Fans like myself think this was more of a popularity contest than anything else. Hunter was the number one player in his high school class, his coach is an NFL legend who is heavily well known, and Colorado has a bigger representation on the sport than Boise State. The only thing that Travis Hunter had over Jeanty was snaps played, simply because Travis played offense and defense. The average football fans out there know that snaps are not a statistic. The Heisman trophy should not be based on popularity or the logo on your helmet. Stats and team success shows who the real winner was. “I really felt like I should’ve walked away with the award, but kudos to Travis for winning,” Jeanty said via ESPN. Ashton Jeanty was simply robbed of the Heisman trophy.
