Editor, GoDucks.com
One season after Marcus Mariota became the first Oregon football player to win the Maxwell Award as national player of the year, the Ducks have another preseason candidate.
Sophomore running back Royce Freeman is on the award’s preseason watch list for 2015, the Maxwell Football Club announced Tuesday. Also, senior defensive lineman DeForest Buckner made the watch list for the Bednarik Award as national defensive player of the year.
Freeman, a native of Imperial, Calif., led the Duck with 1,365 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns as a true freshman in the 2014 season.