FAU Football: 5-step roadmap for how Devin Singletary wins the 2018 Heisman Trophy

4. Singletary will need to get back to fielding kickoffs in 2018

Two years ago as a freshman, Devin Singletary moonlighted as a kick returner for Florida Atlantic. On 13 returns, Singletary racked up 284 yards on 21.8 yards per return. As he took on a bigger role in the offense as a sophomore, the FAU star was scaled out of the special teams plans. In taking on a bigger leadership role as an upperclassman, the opportunity is there to jump back in.

If Kiffin wants to maximize Singletary’s chances of reaching Manhattan and the Downtown Athletic Club, he will put his star back on special teams. While he is unlikely to take snaps on punt returns, given his inexperience with the role, his prior record as a kick returner provides an opening for his return to that unit.

Last year, Barkley finished fourth in the Heisman voting in large part because he was able to bolster a lackluster rushing season with big numbers on kick returns. Barkley put up more than 400 return yards on 15 kicks, racking up two long touchdowns in the process.

If he can pull off those sorts of numbers, and add them to better rushing production, Singletary would have an even better case to make to the Heisman voters than Barkley presented last year. It would be especially impressive if he could pull off a touchdown in the opener against Oklahoma to put a scare into the Sooners.