Pro Football Focus had a strong comparison for former Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty. His gameplay reminded them of Alvin Kamara, the former Pro Bowl RB in New Orleans. On the other hand, Ryan Roberts said, “Jeanty is such a difficult player to find a comparison for, considering he just doesn’t have a ton of weaknesses.” So, he has indeed been a flex for Spencer Danielson’s squad. 

However, the Broncos had to accept their bittersweet fate. Jeanty’s heart too went weak when the Las Vegas Raiders drafted him as the sixth overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. The former Broncos’ star’s farewell note read, “It’s been real Boise💙 #deuceout✌🏾 #bronco4life.” This would have made Danielson go to any lengths to keep Jeanty locked in. Unfortunately, that was not an option. Now that the former running back’s name came up, Danielson could not stop himself from making a cheeky plea. 

On July 18, the Boise State head coach sat for an interview with Vegas Sports Today. Danielson faced the question, “Can you just kind of touch on Ashton being drafted here in Las Vegas and playing under Chip Kelly and Pete Carroll?” He answered, “Yeah, I’ve been trying to get him to come back to the Broncos and play for us again next year, but he’s really happy where he’s at right now. And I get it, though. Ashton Jeanty, man, I was blessed to be able to be a part of his draft party out at Green Bay and be a part of that moment. He deserves every bit of it. A young man, when he was 17 years old, came to Boise State, had success, everybody thought he should leave, and he stayed.” 

During the 2024 season, Danielson’s running back has been quite a name. His feat against Hawaii was electric as he carried the pigskin 31 times for 217 yards. Jeanty came off as the absolute threat for UNLV as well. So much so that Barry Odom had to rely on an unethical strategy to stop Danielson’s running back. With 6 minutes and 5 seconds left for quarter 2 to get over, Jeanty was running full force, tightly holding onto the pigskin. That’s when an UNLV player took a dive at Jeanty’s legs to stop him. And it was indeed heartbreaking for Danielson and the Broncos to lose his balance and land awkwardly, injuring his left elbow. Moving into the 2025 season, Boise State has lost its weapon, who otherwise had created an environment of threat. 

While Danielson can’t bring him back, he is busy reliving the old days. “He put his head down and said, ‘I can have everything I want from this game and to be developed to be the best version myself right here at Boise State.’ And then seen him get the sixth overall pick, money, and all this. He’s earned it. Everybody wants those things, but not a lot of people want to do what it takes to get those. Ashton does,” Jeanty said. While he could not lift the Heisman, he has drawn comparisons to the past three running back Heisman winners, including Reggie Bush, Derrick Henry, and Mark Ingram.

Even though Jeanty will no longer play for him, the head coach is happy with the fact that Carroll’s program is the best fit for Jeanty. “And I think he’s going to be not only one of the best football players in the NFL. I believe he’s going to be the offensive rookie of the year, but I also believe he’s going to have a huge push for that culture that coach Caroll’s developing,” he said. While Danielson is still not over Jeanty, his players can’t get over him as the head coach. 

Spencer Danielson got the whole team rooting behind him

Danielson became the 12th head coach in Boise State football. Before that, he worked as an interim head coach for three weeks. While he was working as a fill-in head coach, Danielson led Boise State to three straight wins and a Mountain West championship. And Danielson made history as he became the first interim FBS head coach to win a conference title game. While players under him like Jeanty reached heights, baffling the Maxwell Award and Doak Walker Award, Danielson, too, racked up a few honors.

They named him Mountain West Coach of the Year in 2024. More success came as he became a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year, Paul “Bear” Bryant National College Football Coach of the Year, George Munger Coach of the  Year, and AFCA National Coach of the Year. These nominations came after Danielson proved himself enough, holding a winning percentage of 83.3 percent, which is second only to Chris Petersen’s 88.5 percent (92-12 overall record) in program history. However, Danielson could not have achieved this success without the support his players gave him.

During MWC football media days, offensive tackle Kage Casey and edge rusher Jayden Virgin-Morgan spoke glowingly of their head coach. Casey’s statement shows the amount of trust the players have in Spencer Danielson. “When you think about a guy who can get people to follow him … like I’d jump off a cliff with him if he asked. I’d do it without question,” Casey said. “He’s the type of person you just want to surround yourself (with). Constantly learn from, constantly be around, and just grow as a human being from him. … I think he’s somebody that anyone would want to play for. And if you had the opportunity to ever meet him, you would just say he’s the best human being alive.”

Virgin-Morgan, who arrived at Boise State in 2022, finds it amazing that Spencer Danielson has remained the same person throughout. “It’s amazing to see that he hasn’t changed. Coming from interim head coach, to the season before until now and all of the hype around Boise State and the stress that I’m sure he’s getting, he hasn’t changed at all.” Now, without his top weapon, Ashton Jeanty, can Danielson still serve up a winning recipe in 2025?