There are lofty expectations placed on Jeanty's shoulders, and for good reason considering what he accomplished at Boise State. His 2,601 rushing yards last season were the second-most by any running back in a single season in college football history.
"Ashton is as talented at back as a young guy coming in the league that I've seen. He's really special," Kelly said. "His ability to sustain runs after contact, his contact balances is kind of a really rare quality. He's got a low center of gravity, and I think it's tough to get him down and normally the first guy doesn't. And you look at all of the tape of his games last year, and it didn't matter who he played, because they obviously played in the Mountain West, but when he played Oregon and he played Penn State, you look at how he performed in those games. And I think sometimes you get caught up in just looking at the numbers, but I think it was like 35 missed tackles he created in the Penn State game."
Jeanty's not a one-trick pony either, pun intended for the former Bronco. He totaled 862 receiving yards and six touchdown catches in his three collegiate seasons. Throughout OTAs and minicamp, he's shown flashes of his abilities to make cuts at the drop of a dime. Nevertheless, training camp will give his teammates and coaches more to look forward to once pads come on.
"He's right on point with everything that we're doing," Pete Carroll said. "He's studying really hard. He's been really diligent about all aspects. There's nothing that he doesn't find important. He's going to work hard on his pass protection, the third down type of work, see if he can contribute in that kind of a role as well. So, we're not holding anything back on him."