Ashton Jeanty's father Harry Jeanty served in the Navy for over 20 years and retired as a Chief Lieutenant. The rookie running back lived the life of a military brat as his family moving around from Jacksonville, Florida, to Chesapeake, Virginia, and even Naples, Italy, for his father's deployments.
In spite of all the constant change, his father made sure to keep him around the game of football no matter the place. Upon his father's retirement, the Jeantys choose Texas to be their permanent residence in hopes of giving Ashton a fair shot to be recruited.
"I watched my dad do a lot of hard, tough things in the military and he rose to each and every occasion," Ashton said. "He continued to work hard and level up, but no matter what we got going on in this football world, it's nothing like what we got going on."
"He got up every day early at the same time – like 4, 5 in the morning. And he didn't skip a beat ever," he added.
Harry Jeanty is getting to enjoy the fruits of his labor since seeing his son being drafted sixth overall. He was right by Ashton's side the following day in Las Vegas, seeing his son mingle with the likes of Marcus Allen, Jim Plunkett and Fred Biletnikoff.
"Hard work and discipline, the military teaches you those things. And if you take them with you, you can pass them on. Same thing I've done," Harry said. "I think what speaks volumes about that is the fact that he was able to kind of see me wake up early, doing those things on long days. I believe he learned from that. He operates himself in that way. It pays big dividends."