Think you know how strong Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty is? You really don’t

Ashton Jeanty didn’t have a very large biological window when it came to his height. His dad is 5-foot-8, his mom 5-foot-6.

But the Boise State running back, listed generously at 5-foot-9 on the roster, always found the family history a bit funny, he told the Idaho Statesman in an interview this week.

“It’s crazy, because on my mom’s side, there’s a lot of tall family members,” Jeanty said through a laugh, after noting he and his father are basically the same height. “And my dad, all his brothers are like, 6-foot-plus. So it’s like, ‘What happened with you, man?’”

What Jeanty did have control over was his strength, and he wasn’t about to let his height, whatever it wound up being, stop him from becoming the athlete he is today — a junior running back who’s on numerous preseason award watch lists and is seen as a Heisman Trophy candidate.

Watching Jeanty break tackles, toy with defenders and require three or four guys to bring him down gives fans a pretty good idea of his strength.

But they don’t know the half of it, according to Boise State’s director of sports performance, Benjamin Hilgart. He described Jeanty as the strongest player he’s ever coached, pound-for-pound — and Hilgart has done this for nearly 25 years, at schools such as Ohio State and Arizona.

“And I think even more impressive about that is he’s got a unique skill set in terms of he’s strong, but he’s also fast,” Hilgart told the Statesman. “A lot of times, the guys that are strong, they might be good accelerators, but (Jeanty) can run past you. He can jump over you.”

How fast is Jeanty? Hilgart said he was clocked running 21.5 mph during fall camp, those powerful legs eating up the turf. That’s only marginally slower than 2024 Olympic champion Noah Lyles, who won gold in the 100 meters and has a top recorded speed of 22.8 mph, according to USA Today.

Jeanty attributes his speed and power to the “natural strength of his lower body,” but it’s not just genetics that’s gotten him this far. He grew up in a military family, which led to a short stint abroad in Naples, Italy. It was there, as a 13-year-old, that Jeanty turned toward weightlifting.

He said he could have been sitting at home playing video games like all the other kids, but he decided to hit the gym instead. And that lower body, those Earl Campbell-like legs, just got bigger and stronger.

“I’m like, man, I’m probably not going to grow that tall, just based off my mom and dad’s height,” Jeanty said. “So the way I can get an advantage is being one of the strongest, most explosive guys.”

So how strong is Jeanty? He recently squatted 605 pounds. Quite easily, Hilgart said.

For comparison, if a young college running back were able to squat 400 pounds, that would be an achievement. College linemen should be able to squat 450 to 500.

Philadelphia Eagles QB Jalen Hurts famously squatted 600 pounds in college, and no one has been able to stop talking about it since.

“Honestly, I told him to stop,” Hilgart said of Jeanty. “It moved so fast, it looked like a warm-up set for him.”

Jeanty thinks he could’ve gotten up to 700 pounds — but understood that might not be the best thing for his knees.

For Hilgart, though, it’s not just Jeanty’s physical attributes that set him apart as a football player. He talked about the junior’s leadership abilities, describing Jeanty as the “pied piper” of the running back room. After workouts, Jeanty will often keep working extra reps, and many of his teammates will join him.

“He’s always bringing other guys with him,” Hilgart said. “So I think because he has those mental characteristics of being competitive, being a good leader, being a hard worker, being humble, I think that helps his physical skill set. But when you put those two together, I think that’s what makes him so unique.”

Jeanty, who was named a team captain for the 2024 season, said he would often try to take charge of things when nobody else would when he was younger.

“I care about the team more than anything,” Jeanty said. “And that’s the most important piece of being a leader: putting yourself aside and putting the needs of the team above everything else. I’m just blessed to be one of the captains of the team, and I take it very seriously.”