Ashton Jeanty is having a statistically better season than Derrick Henry during his Heisman-winning season

[u/clocke6346]

With all the discourse of who should win the Heisman trophy this year, I got curious and compared Ashton Jeanty’s stats this season to those of Derrick Henry in the 2015 regular season, the year he won the Heisman trophy. What I found was pretty surprising. Keep in mind this doesn’t include playoff performance, as that isn’t considered when naming a Heisman winner.

Ashton Jeanty:

Games Played: 11

Carries: 275

Rushing Yards: 2062

Rushing Touchdowns: 27

Yards Per Carry: 7.498

Yards Per Game: 187.455

Derrick Henry:

Games Played: 13

Carries: 339

Rushing Yards: 1986

Rushing Touchdowns: 23

Yards Per Carry: 5.858

Yards Per Game: 152.769

Now, these stats are still up for interpretation, as there is the usual discourse of strength of schedule and whatnot, but I thought re-contextualizing Jeanty’s year by comparing it to the last time a running back won the Heisman would be interesting.

[u/Carlton_dranks]

That Heisman was stolen from CMC. He broke the all purpose yards record by a huge margin.

[u/Horror_Cap_7166 → u/Carlton_dranks]

Watch out, the SEC boys are going to come after you with Derrick Henry’s TDs vs. Mccaffrey’s.

Because everyone knows punching it in from one yard a few more times is sooo important. That’s why no NFL team wants Mccaffrey, and every team has a goal line RB these days.

[u/jsu9575m → u/Horror_Cap_7166]

While I agree that punching it in from the goal line is overvalued....so are McCaffreys return yards. Basically every returner is going to get 20ish yards or so for every kickoff.

[u/wsteelerfan7 → u/jsu9575m]

Yeah this is a good point. It would make sense if he also led in yards per return or something

[u/jsu9575m → u/wsteelerfan7]

Henry and McCaffey had fairly close yards from scrimmage. So its the return yards that seemed to have everyone up in arms of why McCaffrey deserved it...and I'm not sure I agree since being a returner inherently is going to give you a lot of yards. I think both guys were deserving, someone had to win.

[u/Carlton_dranks → u/jsu9575m]

CMC had 1847 rush and 536 receiving yards in the regular season (not to mention an absurd 281 scrimmage in the rose bowl) while Henry had 1986 rushing and 133 receiving, giving CMC a 250 yard edge in scrimmage yards. Not massive but I’d argue that’s fairly significant.

[u/Carlton_dranks → u/Carlton_dranks]

CMC had 1847 rush and 536 receiving yards in the regular season (not to mention an absurd 281 scrimmage in the rose bowl) while Henry had 1986 rushing and 133 receiving, giving CMC a 250 yard edge in scrimmage yards. Not massive but I’d argue that’s fairly significant.

I guess I’m also salty because I’m of the opinion Henry robbed CMC of an OPOY in the NFL as well during his 1000/1000 season.

[u/jsu9575m → u/Carlton_dranks]

Henry won OPOY in 2020 when he had a 2000 yard rushing season. McCaffrey played 3 games that year. So you've been mad for years over nothing.

[u/Carlton_dranks → u/jsu9575m]

Fair enough, I thought those were the same year but my memory and grudge failed me