The guy who led the Big 12 in rushing yards during conference play this season was just an unknown scout teamer one year ago. For his precipitous rise as Iowa State’s prolific redshirt freshman back, Mike Warren is ESPN.com’s Big 12 Rookie of the Year.
Why he won: There wasn’t a more productive freshman running back in all of college football. Warren led all FBS rookies with 1,339 rushing yards on the year, the fifth-best rushing performance in Iowa State history and third-best by any freshman in Big 12 history. And he wasn’t even a starter until the Cyclones’ third game of the season.