I’ve noticed that I’m very prone to being swayed by headlines.
As soon as I read stupid ass Dov Kleiman’s tweet, I thought to myself.
And he can dunk?!
What CAN’T Ashton Jeanty do?!"
I mean, in a vacuum, a 5-foot-8, 211-pound man dunking is a phenomenal feat.
You know who else is 5-foot-8, and roughly 211-pounds?
Noted celebrity assholeJames Corden after Ozempic.
For one, I think there’s a reason Ashton threw the ball up like that.
It wasn’t to make the dunk harder.
It appears he has to meet at the ball at the hoop to get it over the rim.
It’s a clean dunk.
But can he take off with ball in hand and dunk a basketball off two feet?
Or even one foot?
I’m not so sure.
Dick Vitale was there broadcasting.
It was a whole to-do.
The fullFoot Locker Slam Festcontest is on YouTube.
That wasn’t the only year either.
They did it from 1988-1996.
In the last year, Roy Jones Jr. was one of the dunkers.
He missed all of his attempts.
I’d rather watch something like this than the Mac McClung charity dunking invitational every year.
But even comparing those guys to Ashton Jeanty is unfair.
The shortest person in that contest was Tim Brown, who’s a six-foot wide receiver.
Wide receivers are supposed to be able to jump like that.
Even Johnny Football can throw it down consistently.
But still… they’re all a bit taller than Ashton Jeanty.
Even Johnny Manziel says he’s six feet tall.
Dunking is a lot like sex.
A couple inches can be the difference between throwing down a hammer, andbarelygetting the ball in the hoop.
Yeah you technically “dunked”.
People will be nice about it and tell you it was great.
Except you’re the only who’s satisfied with it.
But with some work on your timing, angles, stamina, launch point, etc.
you’re able to maximize the tools God gave you and become a surprisingly serviceable dunker.
Sometimes it’s the little guys who really knock your socks off.
That one’s free Nicky Smokes.
Anyways… 5-foot-8 NFL players who can dunk…
Unfortunately for Ashton Jeanty, I found exactly that.
I’m afraid Ashton doesn’t hold a candle to Cole.
But again, Cole Beasley is a wide receiver.
Of course a receiver as short as Cole Beasley is able to get up.
How else could he have made it to the NFL?
He’s also a good 30 pounds lighter than Jeanty.
He doesn’t have nearly as much weight to jump with.
I need someone more directly proportional to Ashton Jeanty to fully understand how impressive his dunk was.
Somebody who is Ashton Jeanty’s exact height.
Someone who is, say, within 10 pounds of him.
Someone who Ashton Jeanty has been compared to incessantly since Week 2 of the 2024 season
Aw damn.
Bested by Barry Sanders once again.
That’s a two-foot, 180-reverse double clutch slam dunk from college football’s all-time single season rushing leader.
In classic Barry Sanders fashion, it looks like he’s barely even trying.
I feel bad picking apart Ashton Jeanty’s accomplishment like this.
I don’t mean to imply that his dunk wasn’t impressive.
There aren’t many running backs his size with dunking tape out there.
So I think I answered my question.
Technically speaking, I suppose it qualifies as insane “insane”.
Ashton Jeanty is an insane physical specimen.
But lots of football players can dunk.
When you’re one of the greatest athletes in the world, dunking kinda comes with the territory.
Ashton Jeanty didn’t necessarily bring the house down, but there’s no shame in that.
Some girls don’t like big dunks anyways.
