Photo by: Eric Evans/GoDucks.com
Freeman Among Semifinalists For Doak Walker Award
11/17/17 | Football, @GoDucksMoseley
Oregon senior Royce Freeman is among the candidates for the award honoring college football's best running back.
EUGENE, Ore. — Senior running back Royce Freeman was named a semifinalist Friday for the Doak Walker Award, given annually to college football's best running back.
Freeman, a senior from Imperial, Calif., has run for 1,218 yards and 10 touchdowns entering Oregon's home game against Arizona on Saturday (4:15 p.m. PT, Pac-12 Network). He was previously named a semifinalist for the Maxwell Award as college football's top player regardless of position.
The Doak Walker Award is presented by the PwC SMU Athletic Forum and is named for the 1948 Heisman Trophy Winner. LaMichael James, whose UO career rushing record was broken by Freeman earlier this season, won the trophy in 2010.
Freeman is one of 11 semifinalists named Friday, along with fellow Pac-12 running backs Bryce Love of Stanford, Ronald Jones II of USC and Phillip Lindsay of Colorado. Three finalists will be named Tuesday, and the winner will be announced Dec. 7 on ESPN from the Home Depot College Football Awards show.
Freeman this fall became just the second back in UO history to surpass 1,000 yards in three different seasons, joining James. He has run for more than 120 yards seven times this season, including each of the Ducks' last four games.
Freeman scored 10 touchdowns through Oregon's first four games, and has continued to excel even with opposing defenses loading up to stop him since an injury to quarterback Justin Herbert. He ran for 144 yards at Stanford, 160 at UCLA, 139 in a win over Utah and 122 at Washington, all games in which the Ducks passed for less than 100 yards.
Freeman's career total of 29 games with at least 100 rushing yards is first in UO history, as are his career rushing yards (5,364), career all-purpose yardage (6,158) and career touchdowns (58).
Freeman, a senior from Imperial, Calif., has run for 1,218 yards and 10 touchdowns entering Oregon's home game against Arizona on Saturday (4:15 p.m. PT, Pac-12 Network). He was previously named a semifinalist for the Maxwell Award as college football's top player regardless of position.
The Doak Walker Award is presented by the PwC SMU Athletic Forum and is named for the 1948 Heisman Trophy Winner. LaMichael James, whose UO career rushing record was broken by Freeman earlier this season, won the trophy in 2010.
Freeman is one of 11 semifinalists named Friday, along with fellow Pac-12 running backs Bryce Love of Stanford, Ronald Jones II of USC and Phillip Lindsay of Colorado. Three finalists will be named Tuesday, and the winner will be announced Dec. 7 on ESPN from the Home Depot College Football Awards show.
Freeman this fall became just the second back in UO history to surpass 1,000 yards in three different seasons, joining James. He has run for more than 120 yards seven times this season, including each of the Ducks' last four games.
Freeman scored 10 touchdowns through Oregon's first four games, and has continued to excel even with opposing defenses loading up to stop him since an injury to quarterback Justin Herbert. He ran for 144 yards at Stanford, 160 at UCLA, 139 in a win over Utah and 122 at Washington, all games in which the Ducks passed for less than 100 yards.
Freeman's career total of 29 games with at least 100 rushing yards is first in UO history, as are his career rushing yards (5,364), career all-purpose yardage (6,158) and career touchdowns (58).
