Before every football game, Oregon Ducks quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. tells running back Royce Freeman he’s the best running back in the country.
The country, apparently, disagrees.
Alabama running back Derrick Henry was awarded the Heisman Trophy on Saturday and Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey finished second in the voting.
Following a Heisman-caliber season, the only thing more insulting than being snubbed from the Heisman ceremony in New York is being snubbed from Heisman-snub lists, which is exactly what happened to Freeman.
Few running backs in college football history have been as efficient toting the rock as Freeman has been in his sophomore year. In the past 20 years, running backs have cracked the top three in Heisman voting a total of 16 times. Of those 16, only Reggie Bush in 2005 (8.7 ypc), Larry Johnson in 2002 (7.7 npc) and Melvin Gordon in 2014 (7.5 ypc) gained more yards per carry than Freeman (6.6 ypc) in 2015.
“He’s probably the most underrated back in the nation,” Adams said.
With the Alamo Bowl still to play, Freeman leads the Pac-12 with 142.2 rushing yards per game and 6.6 yards per carry (min. 100 attempts). His 1,706 rushing yards rank fourth nationally and are 99 yards shy of breaking LaMike James’s Oregon single-season rushing record.
Freeman has shown his reliability through the air as well as on the ground. His 169.3 all-purpose yards per game rank sixth nationally and fourth among players who haven’t returned a kick.
But you’re telling me he doesn’t belong in the Heisman conversation?
Unfortunately, even though the Heisman is supposed to be awarded to the “most outstanding player in college football,” wins and losses matter far more than individual feats. Over the past 20 years, the Heisman Trophy winner’s average team record is better than 11-1 when the votes are cast. The Ducks, however, are 9-3, and only three players have won the Heisman with three losses under their belts during that span.
“I don’t think Royce has got as much attention as he deserves because of our early season stumbles, but we can count on him for 100 yards,” former Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost said. “Really everything else that’s working in the offense, including Vernon passing, gets started when we’re able to run the ball.”
After a 3-3 start, the nation wrote off Oregon as a legitimate team, and thus Freeman as a worthy Heisman candidate. But if not for Freeman, Oregon could have done a lot worse than 3-3 with Adams sidelined with a broken finger. In those six games, Oregon ran the the ball 78 percent more often than it passed, and Freeman accumulated 859 yards and nine touchdowns on 123 carries — that’s 20.5 carries, 143.2 yards and 1.5 touchdowns per game.
And he hasn’t slowed down since. Freeman is currently riding on eight straight games with more than 100 yards on the ground, including a season-high 246 against Washington State.
Henry and McCaffrey are deserving Heisman candidates, as are running backs Dalvin Cook of Florida State, Leonard Fournette of LSU and Ezekiel Elliot of Ohio State. But moreso than any of his counterparts, Freeman’s monster year was truly lost in the whirlwind that was Oregon’s season.
Freeman has repeatedly said individual accolades don’t matter to him, but I have to believe this royal snubbing will leave a chip on his shoulder come next season.
Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @KennyJacoby