3x Super Bowl champ labels Ashton Jeanty as "generational talent" ahead of NFL draft day

Former offensive lineman and three-time Super Bowl champion Mark Schlereth heaped praise on Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, calling him a "generational talent" just days before the 2025 NFL Draft.

During his appearance on the Breakfast Ball show on Tuesday, Schlereth shared his unfiltered thoughts on the running back.

"I think Jeanty is just, he's a generational type talent at the running back position, five, eight to 15," Schlereth said. "Great vision, contact, balance, everything you want to talk about when it comes to the running back position.

"But the thing is, the understanding of the game, to me, pops off tape and where he needs to go ... He is a bowling ball of butcher knives. He runs through people, he runs over people, and he's got the speed to break it away. Love Jeanty on tape. The kid is phenomenal."

According to CBS Sports, FanDuel Sportsbook lists the Las Vegas Raiders, Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears as the favorites to select Jeanty.

What makes Ashton Jeanty special?

NCAA Football: Fiesta Bowl-Penn State at Boise State - Source: Imagn

Over three seasons at Boise State, Ashton Jeanty rushed for 4,769 yards and 50 touchdowns, averaging 6.4 yards per rush. His last season was especially impressive, as he rushed for 2,601 yards and 29 touchdowns, just short of Barry Sanders' single-season rushing record.

Before emerging as a standout at Frisco Lone Star High School in Texas, he played football on Italian military bases when his father was overseas serving. Despite registering spectacular statistics in high school (1,843 rush yards and 31 touchdowns in his senior year), Jeanty was pretty much ignored by Power Five schools.

His high school coach, Jeff Rayburn, attributes Jeanty's late entry into the Texas football landscape as a factor in his under-recruitment.

"If we had started him at running back his junior year, he'd have been at Texas or Alabama or Oklahoma, or somewhere like that," Rayburn told CBS Sports.

Instead, Jeanty chose Boise State and remained loyal to the program even when he could have transferred to a bigger school after his breakout sophomore season.

That loyalty paid off, as Jeanty earned All-America honors and Mountain West Conference Player of the Year in 2023 before his record-breaking 2024 campaign. In an interview with Athlon Sports, Ashton Jeanty reflected on his journey.

"Growing up as an athlete, you think that you have to go to these bigger programs to become a highly touted draft pick and go in the first round," the running back said. "But my path is different, going to a Group of 5 school. It just gave me that motivation to work harder and to really earn — nothing's been given to me through this path."

With the NFL Draft just a day away, Ashton Jeanty is positioned to become the first running back selected in the first round since 2023.