Duck Power: Royce Freeman

For the Oregon Ducks the last few years have been the best in school history. They have battled for the National Championship twice, gone to Rose Bowls, had a Heisman winner last year, and have had their "brand" explode across college football. One of the constants in this success has been a tremendous running attack. The Ducks run the ball all over the field and have had phenomenal talent in the backfield and this upcoming year will be no different. Royce Freeman is another in a long line great Duck running backs and he looks to improve on his freshman year.


Freeman ran for 1,365 yards last season and had 19 touchdowns to go with all those yards. People have to remember that Royce is only going to be a true sophomore. With a break out year like he had, there is talk of how Freeman can get into the Heisman race for 2015. Can he get in the race? Sure he can, but would voters go for a player from the same university as the year before? Probably not, but that has happened before. It has happened four times, with the last school winning back to back Heisman Trophy awards being another Pac-12 team in USC. Matt Leinart winning in 2003, Reggie Bush in 2004.


What will he have to do to get into the race? Obviously he is going to have to have a similar year if not better than 2014. The Ducks are going to have to win and win like they have in the past 5-7 years. He's going to have to have Heisman "moments", which means big, long runs as he is breaking tackles. Highlight type of runs, which means Sportscenter highlights in the Top 10 on a lot of Saturday nights. He has to become the star of the offense like Mariota was the last couple of years for the Ducks. The way running backs are chosen for this award, Freeman is going to have to have a season for the ages. He's going to have stand out like crazy especially playing on the West Coast where most writers on the East Coast have already turned off their t.v's and have gone to bed and won't see his accomplishments in real time and in context with the entire game.


It's been six years since a running back has won the award. Mark Ingram, from Alabama, was on the best team and was truly the best player on that team. Here's one more thing that Ingram had in common with the other Heisman running backs... He had over 2,000 yards on the ground. Like I stated earlier, he needs a "season for the ages".  Now, having a huge season doesn't guarantee the Heisman because there have been plenty of running backs who have had around 2,000 yards and came up short in the Heisman voting. Melvin Gordon comes to mind, but he was competing against Mariota.


In the end, Royce Freeman is a guy that every defensive coordinator takes seriously and if he is successful in 2015, the Ducks will be successful. If you asked him what he thinks about winning the Heisman, he would probably say he doesn't think about that stuff and that getting another shot at the National Championship is what he is all about. It'll be interesting to watch the Ducks this year and how they make Royce Freeman the centerpiece of their offense. Go Ducks!
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