In the aftermath of Florida State's ACC championship game win over Georgia Tech, coach Jimbo Fisher sat at a podium flanked by the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback who helped him win the national championship a year ago and the freshman tailback who might be the key to a second straight title, and a reporter posed a curious question.
Dalvin Cook had just run 31 times -- a high for any FSU running back under Fisher -- for 177 yards, a workhorse performance that helped Florida State eke out a two-point win and secure a place in the first College Football Playoff, and the reporter wanted to know when Fisher had last seen a freshman look so impressive.
Fisher turned toward Jameis Winston, who'd rewritten the school's record book as a freshman just a year earlier, and grinned.
"Last year," Fisher beamed.
A day earlier, Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota had put the finishing touches on his own Heisman campaign by dismantling Arizona to win the Pac-12 while another freshman tailback handled much of the dirty work. Royce Freeman ran 21 times for 114 yards in that game, the eighth straight contest in which he topped 100 yards of total offense. The media there started looking for apt comparisons for Oregon's fab freshman, too.
"There's not anybody I've ever been around," Oregon coach Mark Helfrich said of comparisons for Freeman.
The Rose Bowl Game Presented By Northwestern Mutual offers perhaps the most intriguing undercard of the bowl season: a matchup of elite freshmen tailbacks toiling in the shadows of Heisman-winning QBs. At Florida State, Cook rescued the season while Winston battled turnovers and turmoil. At Oregon, Freeman shattered the image of the up-tempo tailback and set a Ducks record for freshman runners in the process.
They're bruisers with speed, workhorses with finesse, freshmen with smarts -- two of the most intriguing runners in the nation going head-to-head with a berth in the championship game on the line. And while the spotlight shines on their quarterbacks, the key to the Rose Bowl may be the performances of the two freshmen carrying the rock.
Cook had his share of hype upon arrival, and teammates gasped when the chiseled 200-pounder broke off one long run after another in offseason drills. During sprints, Cook was clocked at speeds approaching 23 miles per hour, setting the team's unofficial record in the process. He'd lower his shoulders at the goal line and deliver punishing blows to linebackers without flinching.
The only problem was that Cook didn't have a job.
When the season began, Karlos Williams, the onetime five-star recruit who'd excelled in backup duty a year ago, was atop the depth chart, and Mario Pender, the third-year player with lightning-quick moves, was behind Williams. Cook was the kid still learning pass protection and stumbling through a complex playbook. In Florida State's first four games against FBS opponents, Cook carried just 11 times.
"The older guys helped me out, told me to stay humble, that my time would come," Cook said. "I just learned by waiting."
Cook got his first extended look against Syracuse, carrying 23 times for 122 yards and a touchdown. In a come-from-behind win over Louisville three weeks later, he ran for 110 yards on just nine carries, including a 38-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter that gave FSU the lead. When Williams went down with a concussion, Cook stepped into the spotlight for good and the Seminoles' offense galvanized around him. He ran for 144 yards against Florida while Winston coughed up four picks; then Cook drained the life out of the clock in the second half against Georgia Tech, winning ACC championship game MVP in the process.
Last season, Winston's dominance carried Florida State, but again and again this season Cook's heroics kept the Seminoles' title hopes alive. On the season, Cook averaged 9.6 yards per carry when FSU was trailing. No running back in the nation was better.
"I think it was just my time," Cook said. "I couldn't relax. I just had to put my foot on the gas and just keep going, and I had to learn the offense more quickly and learn how to pass block more, and I had to make Coach Fisher trust me. It was gaining his trust. That was it."
Freeman has a way of earning trust without saying a word. It's a funny thing that on a team with a superstar known for his humble approach, it's Freeman, not Mariota, who's been pegged as the quiet one.
"Royce has been a guy; he's humble, he speaks softly and he carries a big stick," Helfrich said.
Freeman lets his work on the field do the talking.
He's 6-foot-1 and 230 pounds and he hardly looks like a teenager -- or an Oregon running back, for that matter.
It's a common theme, Oregon running backs coach Gary Campbell said. High school coaches will call and say they have the perfect player for the Ducks' offense, and invariably it's a quick little scatback with nifty moves but little in the way of brute force. That's the myth about the Ducks' offense, Campbell said. He loves a power guy, a runner who doesn't mind mixing things up between the tackles.
The beauty of Freeman, though, is that he's hard to put into a box. He'd drawn comparisons to Jonathan Stewart and LeGarrette Blount, but also to LaMichael James and Kenjon Barner. Freeman is the only Pac-12 player to rush for at least 500 yards inside and outside the tackles.
"Royce is the kind of guy that has power; he's got great instincts running and he's got good speed," Campbell said. "So he has a combination of all the things I'd like to see."
In just his second career game, Freeman had 111 yards and two touchdowns against Michigan State's stout defense, but it wasn't until Oregon suffered its lone loss of the season on Oct. 2 that the freshman really stepped up.
In the eight games following that defeat, Freeman ran for 953 yards and 11 touchdowns, and the Ducks topped 40 points in each contest.
It was still Mariota's team, but Freeman offered another dimension. He's big and tough and fast and, most importantly, he was ready for the moment.
"He's just such a grown-up," Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost said. "You talk to him, and it's like talking to a 25-year-old. He's built like that, he looks like that, and carries himself like that. That's the biggest factor to me. It isn't his talent. It's his maturity level. Doesn't say hardly anything. What he says matters. He's forceful with his words and he's forceful with his play."
Florida State's defense has struggled at times this season, and its linebacking corps will certainly be tested against Freeman and Oregon's explosive offense. Oregon's D allowed 5 yards per carry this year, not including sacks, which ranked 74th nationally. That's music to Cook's ears.
Since Week 7, when both Cook and Freeman began seeing consistent work, their numbers stack up similarly. Freeman has more touchdowns (11) and more yards (953). Cook has averaged more yards per carry (5.9) and has more runs of at least 10 yards (27).
But it's about more than numbers, and in games with as much on the line as this one, all those stats don't mean much. It's about being ready when the spotlight is the brightest.
Winston and Mariota won Heisman trophies by doing just that, and they'll be at center stage again in the Rose Bowl. But behind them will be two freshmen who've shown they won't wither under pressure, either.
Winston has called Cook "a showtime player," and that's been an apt moniker this season.
Campbell sees Freeman less as a star than a blue-collar beast, but the results are the same.
"He doesn't get riled," Campbell said. "He's just a calm kid who does whatever you ask him to do."
On Thursday, Cook and Freeman will be asked to step onto the biggest stage of their careers, and while the two Heisman winners battle it out, the two freshmen will be providing crucial support.
There are plenty of freshmen who have the physical skills to make an impact from the outset, Fisher said, but it takes a special player to be ready mentally. That's what has set Cook and Freeman apart. This game isn't new.
"Everybody talks about the physical capacity, but what makes guys special is their mental capacity," Fisher said, "to learn, process information and then compete at the highest level."
