5 reasons Royce Freeman can win the 2016 Heisman Trophy

Here are five reasons why Oregon Ducks junior running back Royce Freeman can win the 2016 Heisman Trophy.

College football just cannot start soon enough. Right now, the only news surrounding the sport happens to be recruiting related or position battles, but in a few months, it will be about national title contenders and Heisman favorites.

Each year, the Oregon Ducks seem to be in the conversation for national title contender and they usually also have a Heisman candidate as well. In fact, just two years ago, the Ducks made the College Football Playoff, losing in the title game to Ohio State, and junior quarterback Marcus Mariota won the Heisman.

The 2015 season was a forgettable one for the Ducks as an early-season loss to Michigan State in East Lansing and then a blowout defeat at home to Utah knocked them out of the title race. It was rare to see Mark Helfrich’s squad out of contention early on, but that’s what the Ducks were facing as the quarterback controversy was brewing as well.

Jeff Lockie had to take over for an injured Vernon Adams Jr. and didn’t fare as well as Helfrich would have hoped. The team really took a step back toward relevance near the end of the season when Adams was back to full health.

Now that the future can be focused on, Helfrich has yet another serious Heisman contender under his nose in junior running back Royce Freeman. He really broke out as a freshman and improved every statistical category during his sophomore year, but now it’s time to take home some hardware.

Let’s take a look at five reasons why Freeman will become the second Oregon Heisman winner in three years and the second straight running back to win the award.

Next: 5. Experience