No NFL running back since 2020 has come close to carrying the ball as often as Ashton Jeanty did at Boise State in 2024. The junior had the ball in his hands 397 times with 374 rushing attempts for 2,601 yards and 23 receptions for 138. Jeanty accounted for 41 percent of the Broncos’ 970 plays.

No college back has been asked to do so much since Derrick carried the ball 395 times for 2,219 yards in 2015 as the Heisman Trophy winner for Alabama. His number has been called nearly as often in the NFL. Henry is the only player with four seasons of at least 300 carries in the past 10 years.

Henry’s career-high 378 carries for 2,027 yards in 2020 came at a painful price, however. Henry broke a bone in his right foot in 2021 and missed nine games. He had 219 carries in the first eight games and was on pace for 462 in the NFL’s first 17-game season when he was placed on injured reserve.

That would have shattered Larry Johnson’s NFL record of 416 carries in 2006. It bears nothing that Johnson was never the same after that. A foot injury forced him to miss eight games in 2007 and he never again had 200 carries in a season, calling it a career in 2011 after one carry in one game.

The only other college back to carry the ball 300 times in 2024 was Army’s Bryson Daily with 310. There have been three seasons in the past 10 when five players reached 300 and one when four did so. Of those 19 players, San Diego State’s Donnel Pumphrey was the only one to do it twice (2015-16).

Pumphrey gained 6,405 yards in four seasons for the Aztecs and holds the FBS record for career rushing yards. Carrying the ball 658 times in his final two seasons was costly, however. Pumphrey ran into injuries after being a fourth-round pick in the 2017 draft and never played in an NFL game.

Coaching became his calling. Pumphrey returned to San Diego State as an assistant in 2022 and coached running backs at Sacramento State the past two seasons. He was let go along with most of the other assistants when the Hornets hired Brennan Marion as their head coach in December.

Fourth-round draft picks are not guaranteed roster spots as Jeanty will be with the Raiders after being the sixth pick in the NFL Draft. The Raiders will ask much of the 5-foot-9, 215-pound rookie in trying to avoid their seventh losing season in 10 years. There could be 300 carries for Jeanty in 2025.

Nineteen rookies have had 300 more carries. The list reads like a Who’s Who of running backs with a top five of Eric Dickerson (390), George Rogers (378), Edgerrin James (369), Curtis Martin (368) and LaDainian Tomlinson (339). Dickerson holds the rookie rushing record with 1,808 yards in 1983.

Eddie George (335) ranks seventh in the group and that makes sense because he had 300 carries in each of his first seven seasons. Najee Harris (307) is the only active player on the list, but he has not had 300 in three seasons since doing it as a rookie. At least he is not alone with that distinction.

Alfred Morris (335), Doug Martin (319) and Matt Forte (316) were one and done after reaching 300 as rookies. Jeanty vaulted to 300 this past season after having 220 for 1,398 yards in 2023. George Holland added 134 for 781. Quarterback Maddux Madsen was second to Jeanty in 2024 with 57.

New Raiders quarterback Geno Smith had four fewer carries than Madsen with the Seahawks last season, so Jeanty should have a shot at 300 in his first season. Whether that will bode for a long and productive career remains to be determined.