Bosie State running back Ashton Jeanty wasn't even a teenager when Derrick Henry won the Heisman Trophy back in 2015. Since then, no running back has taken home the award, but Jeanty has a chance to be the first.
Jeanty and Colorado two-way wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter are considered the two top contenders, and Henry backed his fellow running back in the race.
"I've got a special place for running backs in my heart, so hopefully, he gets to win it," Henry said. "But him and Travis, they've both had a great year. They can go either way, and I feel like, [with] the close ones, it always happens that way; it can get either side. But they've definitely been balling out, and I'm ready to see them in the playoffs [to] see what he does."
Jeanty has his Broncos in the College Football Playoffs as the No. 3 seed on the back of his historic season. Jeanty has run for 2,497 yards and 29 touchdowns, both more than Henry's Heisman season, and he's just 131 rushing yards shy of the FBS record set by Barry Sanders in 1988.
Henry hopes Jeanty breaks it and gets some hardware, too.
"He's incredible, man," Henry said. "[He's] a player [who] is the whole gameplan. Defenses know what's going to happen, and they still can't stop it. [We haven't] seen [someone] like that for a long time. I know he's close to getting to the record. I hope he gets it."
