The First Pig-idential Debate: Who's the Apex Pig in 2024?
Today, the VP interns engage in one of the most heated debates ever recorded: Oklahoma State's Ollie Gordon vs. Boise State runner Ashton Jeanty--who's most deserving of the 1.01 designation?
If our guys don't have conviction, it's because we're not being convincing. Simple as that.
- Eric, Industry (2020)
Pigs, welcome back to the farm. TGIF, am I right?
Last week, I sent around a company-wide internal email calling for two VP interns as volunteers to participate in today’s exercise. The goal: pick a side between Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty and Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon, and argue why that player is deserving of the coveted Apex Pig (1.01) designation, or at least, the RB1 designation.
Two brave souls answered the call to arms. A few break room meetings later and we had a sketch of how this article could look. In our meetings, I let them know—in no uncertain terms—that the prize for winning today’s debate would be a free Premium IHOP membership for the rest of 2024. Their eyes widened like I’ve never seen before “they’re never this excited when I ask them to edit my 4000 word ramblings” I thought to myself.
Half-offended, half-intrigued to see what kind of results would be yielded from this exercise, I assigned this task to be completed by the end of the week. The two opposing sides will henceforth be referred to as Intern #1 and #2 to preserve anonymity and ensure the arguments are judged solely on merit.
Note: there are two polls in this article, one before, and one after the arguments. Your feedback is instrumental in determining who will be taking home a free Premium IHOP membership, so we encourage your participation. Thank you in advance. 🐷
The Argument for Ashton Jeanty
(VP) Okay Intern #1, I’m sure we would all like to hear what there is to like about Jeanty, please proceed.
Thanks VP, well obviously, there’s a lot to like about Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty. You probably don’t need me to tell you that. We can start with his production profile from a year ago.
Massive 2023 season — Jeanty completely annihilated the MWC last year, even when George Holani came back from injury. On the year, he finished with 221 carries for 1351 yards and 14 TDs. He finished the year as the RB1 in CFF, with a ridiculous average of 28 PPG in 1PPR formats.
Uncanny receiving ability for a RB — The big thing with Jeanty’s profile was the receiving usage. He caught 43 passes for 569(!) yards and five TDs in his 12 games. That’s more than most WRs last year.
No competition for touches — Not only is RB2 George Holani moving on, but the lead receiver last year, Eric McAllister, transferred out late in 2023. The QB who began the year as the starter— Taylen Green, also transferred to Arkansas. So there’s a lot of turnover on offence, but the one constant here is Jeanty, and I think the staff will want to lean on his experience during the transition.
Some returning experience at OL — While the Broncos don’t return a huge amount of snaps at OL, they do return about half from 2023. That’s not a plus, nor a strike in my mind.
Plays in an advantageous conference — Jeanty’s ability is P4 level, as evidenced by the list of suitors he had within one week of entering the portal (UGA, Texas, Ohio State). The MWC is one of the better G5 conferences, sure, but I don’t see the defences being able to stop Jeanty (we can look to last year as an example for this).
(VP) Very nice. Impressive. Any concerns about the change in staff—notably, the OC?
Yea, of course whenever there’s staff turnover that’s not ideal, just due to the uncertainty. Here, I’d argue that since there’s continuity with the HC, and because Jeanty is such a superior talent to what usually comes through BSU, not to mention the fact that he’s probably on a hefty NIL deal after entering the portal, I’d say that I don’t have many concerns on Jeanty’s role within the offence.
Furthermore, the OC isn’t really that new. Dirk Koetter was the interim OC in the back half of the 2022 season, and we saw he was comfortable dishing out substantial volume to George Holani.
(VP) Very good. I would tend to agree except that I’m not as dismissive of the staff turnover as you are. In general the point is correct, but in this context — where we’re trying to determine who’s the 1.01 of CFF drafts — we’re splitting hairs, and any margin is substantial. There is an uncertainty here with BSU — however small — that Ollie Gordon and Oklahoma State do not have due to staff turnover.
I will also be looking to the returning OL snaps as a potential differentiator.
Thank you.
The Argument For Ollie Gordon
(VP) Alright, intern #2, the floor is yours my friend.
Just give me one second—was chatting about SOAPs with one of the guys on Slack.
(VP) This isn't a fucking social club.
OK, Ok. I’m ready. By the way, do we still have to call you Feyd Rautha or is it back to VP now that your excitement from Dune 2 has worn off?
(VP) Just VP is fine.
So, there’s a lot to like about Gordon, and honestly, when doing the research for this, I was left feeling like this was a slam dunk in his favour.
Massive 2023 season — Just like Jeanty, OGII had a monstrous season, only he did it in the P5 (now P4). In 14 games played, Gordon rushed 285 times for 1732 yards and 21 TDs (26.5 PPG).
OSU returns 100% of its OL — Saw you mentioned retuning OL snaps as a potential differentiator above. Well, it doesn’t get much better than what the Pokes have coming back in 2024. This offensive line road-graded the B12 last year and they were a big reason for OGII’s success. That ingredient of the recipe returns, and they’ll probably be even more effective with another year of experience and strength & conditioning.
System in place is elite — Another area where OGII shines above Jeanty is the continuity of the system. Not only is the staff in place the same from a year ago, they have one of the most notorious Known Degenerate Pig Farmers in the game right now in Mike Gundy. The OC from 2023 also returns.
Catches passes — While he might not be quite as prolific as a receiver as Jeanty, OGII is a way above average pass-catcher at RB. In 2023, he caught 39 of his 60 targets for 330 yards and a score. I think a lot of the difference here in production between the two is just the yards after the catch on these receptions. Jeanty wasn’t ‘Moss-ing’ people downfield as much as he was catching screens and breaking tackles. That’s obviously great, but discrepancy between the two’s pass catching abilities might be exaggerated by the numbers a bit.
Size and proven durability — VP, you always say that the alpha pig must look the part. Well, OGII is perfectly sized at 6’1, 211. He’s longer than Jeanty, who at 5’9, 210 is more stocky. He could do well to add a few more pounds, though. However, OGII proved last season that he could be relied on at a very high clip, and also demonstrated an ability to play through injuries and still be productive. What’s one of your favourite sayings VP?
(VP) The best ability is availability.
Well, OGII was the embodiment of that last year. He actually accounted for over 60% of the carries of OSU’s rushing attack, the highest concentration of rush volume of any FBS program in 2023—despite not starting the year as the bellcow and dealing with injury late in the year.
(VP) This is great, and I agree with most of the points presented. Let me throw something at you— maybe it seems a bit out of left field but bare with me. A few years ago there was a similar situation at OK State with a young man named Chuba Hubbard, who was coming off a 2000-yard season in 2019. His play was very inconsistent in 2020, and I fear that he might have checked out of the season ahead of time, with plans to enter the NFL Draft early.
Is there any concern on your end that if OSU’s season isn’t going well, that OGII could check out early, even opt out of the rest of the season? Perhaps even a Quinshon Judkins situation where now that he’s getting paid, he might not be the same caliber of player?
If that’s the length we want to go to conjure up a concern then we can probably do something similar for every player. At the end of the day, OGII’s profile checks all of the boxes you have up on our big board in the meeting room. There’s no ifs, ands, or buts with this one.
(VP) Fair points.
(VP) OK, #1, since #2 got a chance to reply to some of your points in his main argument, I’ll give you a chance to briefly rebuttal his points if you would like.
Thanks, yea, I don’t disagree with a lot of what was presented above. Like you said, VP, we’re splitting hairs here when it comes to selecting the Apex Pig. One thing I want to highlight for the audience is that Jeanty still averaged more PPG than Gordon did last year (~28 vs. ~26), and that was with Holani still in the picture.
In fact, Jeanty averaged over 30 PPG for a large portion of the season before Holani returned. Obviously, the ceiling is really high on both, but I think Jeanty’s proven YAC and YPC ability puts him over the edge.
He out-produced Gordon last year, and while yes—some of the variables there are being displaced, there are some positive developments as well (Holani’s departure, another year in the program for Jeanty etc.) that could cancel out those effects, and even provide a boost to his profile.
The last thing I’ll say is more sentimental and perhaps not really quantifiable, but Boise State feels more beholden to Jeanty than OK State is to Gordon. I just feel more confident that the staff are going to do whatever it takes to keep Jeanty happy, likely meaning he gets the touches he wants, compared to Gundy, who’s a bit of a wild card sometimes.
(VP) That seems reasonable to me. Thanks.
Closing
Well, there you have it. The first pig-idential debate of 2024 has now concluded. Thank you to the VP interns for participating in this special edition article.
Normally, as the readers know, I would provide some of my thoughts here, but I think both of the arguments presented above do a good job of covering the relevant details regarding Jeanty and Gordon. Now, I leave it to you:
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