Royce Freeman

Royce Freeman
refer to caption
Freeman during the 2014 season
No. 28 – Denver Broncos
Position: Running back
Personal information
Born: (1996-02-24) February 24, 1996
Imperial, California
Height: 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight: 229 lb (104 kg)
Career information
High school: Imperial (Imperial, California)
College: Oregon
NFL Draft: 2018 / Round: 3 / Pick: 71
Career history
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of Week 5, 2018
Rushing attempts: 49
Rushing yards: 250
Rushing touchdowns: 3
Receptions: 4
Receiving yards: 21
Receiving touchdowns: 0
Player stats at NFL.com

Royce D. Freeman (born February 24, 1996) is an American football running back for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Oregon.

High school career

Freeman attended Imperial High School in Imperial, California, where he played running back for the Tigers high school football team.[1] Freeman made his varsity debut as a freshman against Southwest High School (El Centro, CA.) His second career carry was a 63-yard touchdown run. He finished his freshman year with 225 yards on 26 carries and 1 rushing touchdown. Freeman's sophomore year he ran for 2,075 yards on 162 carries and ran for 35 touchdowns. He also caught 14 passes for 153 yards and added 2 receiving touchdowns and returned 2 interceptions for touchdowns. Freeman's junior year he ran for 2,482 yards on 201 carries and ran for 34 touchdowns. He caught 10 passes for 137 yards and had 2 touchdown receptions. Freeman's senior season he ran for 2,824 yards on 256 carries and ran for 41 touchdowns. He also caught 8 passes for 116 yards and added 2 receiving touchdowns. He finished his high school playing career with 7,606 rushing yards on 645 carries (11.8 yards per carry) and ran for 111 touchdowns. Freeman also recorded 6 receiving touchdowns and 2 interceptions returned for touchdown (119 total touchdowns).[2]

During his senior season Freeman set 3 San Diego section career records. Against Calexico High School Freeman broke the career rushing record of 6,694 yards which was set by Ricky Seale of Escondido High School.[3] The following week against Central High School Freeman broke the career-rushing touchdown record of 105 set by Rashaan Salaam of La Jolla Country Day High School.[4] In the final week of the regular season Freeman would break the career-points-scored record of 697 points set by Dillon Baxter of Mission Bay High School.

Freeman is the San Diego Section record-holder for career rushing yards (7,606), career rushing touchdowns (111), and career points scored (724)

Considered a five-star recruit by Scout.com, Freeman was listed as the No. 8 running back in the nation in 2014.[5]

College career

2014 season

Freeman came to Oregon as the highest rated recruit of the 2014 class. He immediately impressed coaches in practice and camp, and competed for the starting role with Byron Marshall and Thomas Tyner. All three men were listed as co-starters at the running back position to start the 2014 season. Freeman, the heaviest of the three, established himself as a "power back," an element missing in the Oregon offense since the 2008 season. He finished the season with 252 carries for 1365 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns, while having 16 receptions for 158 yards and 1 touchdown receiving. He even had a 26-yard passing touchdown to quarterback Marcus Mariota in a 31-24 loss to the Arizona Wildcats. At the end of the season, he was awarded Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year.[6]

Statistics

Year Team Games Rushing Receiving
AttYardsAvgLongTDRecYardsAvgLongTD
2014Oregon 152521,3655.438T18161589.9301
2015Oregon 132831,8366.564T171821612.0332
2016Oregon 111689455.685T9231446.3241
2017Oregon 122441,4756.059161416411.7500
Career519475,6215.985T607981410.3504

Awards & honors

2014

  • Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year (Pac-12 Coaches)[7]
  • Pac-12 All-Conference 2nd Team (Pac-12 Coaches)

Records

Oregon

  • Freshman Rushing Yards, 1,353
  • Freshman Rushing Touchdowns, 19
  • Career Rushing Yards, 5,621
  • Career Rushing Touchdowns, 60

High School

  • San Diego Section Career Rushing Yards, 7,606
  • San Diego Section Career Rushing Touchdowns, 111
  • San Diego Section Career Points Scored, 724

Professional career

On November 20, 2017, Freeman officially accepted his invitation to play in the 2018 Senior Bowl.[8] Freeman sustained an injury and did not play in the 2018 Reese's Senior Bowl.[9] Freeman attended the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis and performed all of the combine and positional drills. He finished ninth among all running backs in the 40-yard dash, tied for 12th in the bench press, and also finished third among his position group in the three-cone drill and short shuttle. Freeman displayed quickness and agility especially for a running back of his size and was able to impress scouts with his overall performance.[10] On March 15, 2018, Freeman participated at Oregon's pro day, but opted to stand on his combine numbers and only performed positional drills. At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Freeman was projected to be a third round pick by NFL draft experts and scouts. He was ranked the eighth best running back in the draft by Scouts Inc. and was ranked the ninth best running back by DraftScout.com.[11][12]

External video
Royce Freeman's NFL Combine Workout
Royce Freeman runs the 40-yard dash
Pre-draft measurables
Ht Wt Arm length Hand size 40-yard dash 10-yd split 20-yd split 20-ss 3-cone Vert jump Broad BP
5 ft 11 1⁄2 in
(1.82 m)		 229 lb
(104 kg)		 32 in
(0.81 m)		 9 1⁄2 in
(0.24 m)		 4.54 s 1.60 s 2.66 s 4.16 s 6.90 s 34 in
(0.86 m)		 9 ft 10 in
(3.00 m)		 17 reps
All values from NFL Draft[13][14]

The Denver Broncos selected Freeman in the third round (71st overall) of the 2018 NFL Draft. Freeman was the eighth running back drafted in 2018.[15]

External video
Broncos draft Royce Freeman 71st overall
Royce Freeman's College Highlights

On July 5, 2018, the Denver Broncos signed Freeman to a four-year, $3.94 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $997,020.[16] He made his NFL debut in the Broncos' 27–24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks in the season opener. He had 15 carries for 71 rushing yards in the win.[17] In the following game, Freeman scored his first professional rushing touchdown in the 20–19 victory over the Oakland Raiders.[18] In Week 4, on Monday Night Football against the Kansas City Chiefs, Freeman had 67 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown.[19]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Maffei, John. "Royce Freeman finishes career with bang". sandiegouniontribune.com. Retrieved 2018-10-02.
  2. ↑ "Royce Freeman's High School Football Stats". MaxPreps.com. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  3. ↑ Dale, Jonathan. "Imperial's Royce Freeman becomes king of San Diego Section rushing in Tiger win". Imperial Valley Press Online. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  4. ↑ Dale, Jonathan. "Freeman sets touchdown record in 45-28 win over Spartans". Imperial Valley Press Online. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  5. ↑ Royce Freeman Recruiting Profile
  6. ↑ "Pac-12 football player and coach of the year awards". Pac-12 Conference. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  7. ↑ "Pac-12 awards: Rich Rodriguez named Coach of the Year". CBSSports.com. December 2, 2014. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  8. ↑ "3 Oregon Ducks accept invites to play in 2018 Senior Bowl". oregonlive.com. November 20, 2017. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Mo Hurst suffers injury and can't play in the Senior Bowl". diehardsport.com. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  10. ↑ Fentress, Aaron (March 3, 2018). "Royce Freeman performed well at the NFL Combine". NBCSports. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Royce Freeman, DS #9 RB, Oregon". DraftScout.com. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  12. ↑ "NFL Royce Freeman -ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  13. ↑ "NFL Draft Prospect Profile - Royce Freeman". nfl.com. March 1, 2018. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  14. ↑ "Oregon RB Royce Freeman : 2018 NFL Draft Scout Player Profile". NFLDraftScout.com. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  15. ↑ Teope, Herbie (April 27, 2018). "Broncos address RB position, draft Royce Freeman". NFL.com. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
  16. ↑ "Spotrac.com: Royce Freeman contract". Spotrac.com. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  17. ↑ "Rookie running backs help power Broncos over Seahawks". Denver Broncos. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
  18. ↑ "Broncos' late field goal stuns Raiders 20-19". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 2018-09-16. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  19. ↑ "Rookie RBs Freeman, Lindsay pay dividends for Broncos". UPI. Retrieved 2018-10-10.
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