FAU Football: 5-step roadmap for how Devin Singletary wins the 2018 Heisman Trophy
By Zach Bigalke
It will always be tough for a Group of Five player to factor into the Heisman race. Here’s what it would take for Devin Singletary to win the award in 2018.
It was a weird year for running backs in 2017. Saquon Barkley was a known quantity entering the season, but he made his mark last season as an all-purpose threat more than as a pure runner. Bryce Love and Rashaad Penny stepped in for a couple of legends at their schools and put up even more mindblowing numbers. Revelations like Jonathan Taylor emerged.
But the most electric of the bunch in terms of raw scoring ability wasn’t found in Happy Valley or California or Camp Randall. No, that privilege belonged to a sophomore in south Florida. Devin Singletary led the country in rushing touchdowns by a wide margin. With 32 rushing touchdowns, Singletary finished with a total 39 percent higher than runner-up Penny’s 23 running scores.
In the process, Florida Atlantic won 10 straight games to end the season. That included a C-USA championship game win over Louisiana Tech and the Boca Raton Bowl victory over Akron. After an inexplicable loss to Buffalo put the Owls at 1-3, Lane Kiffin opened things up and gave Singletary more touches. FAU wouldn’t lose another game in 2017.
Yet in terms of the 2017 Heisman voting, Singletary was nowhere in the mix. Despite finishing with more touchdowns than any other player in the country, the Owls star couldn’t get a single look from Heisman voters. What would it take to push the FAU rusher over the top into the stratosphere of contenders? What would it take for him to join Ty Detmer among small-conference winners of the Heisman Trophy?
Just as there are with any Group of Five candidate for a Heisman bid, there are plenty of obstacles standing in Singletary’s way of the Heisman. Here’s what it would take to get the FAU star to the top of the ballots in 2018.