James Franklin addresses status of Nick Singleton, Kaytron Allen
If there is a position of strength for the Penn State Nittany Lions, it’s running back. Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen are talented and experienced. However, head coach James Franklin decided to hold them both out of the spring game.
After the game, Franklin explained what went into that decision to hold them out and broke down the status of Singleton and Allen.
“One of those guys, like a number of guys on our roster, we make decisions no different than we did with Olu Fashanu last year,” James Franklin said. “So, Nick, that was that decision. And then with Kaytron, Kaytron had some bumps and bruises that didn’t really allow him.”
Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen are both going into their junior season at Penn State, having split carries in 26 games over the last two seasons. During that stretch, Singleton has 1,813 rushing yards and 20 rushing touchdowns. He also has 393 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns. For Allen’s part, he has 1,769 rushing yards and 16 rushing touchdowns to go with 269 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns.
It’s an excellent two-headed threat that James Franklin wants to make sure is healthy going into the Summer and the season.
“I think if you had came to spring practice, I’m not sure if you’ve been at the weekly press conferences and out at practice, but Kaytron didn’t go this spring. Nothing that is going to be a problem this Summer for summer training. Nothing that’s going to be a problem for next year. I don’t think it’s probably a surprise to really anybody in here because I don’t think you guys saw him at any of the practices you came to either. Nick, we made modifications. He got a little banged up this week in practice, but we were going to modify him.”
Given guys being banged up, James Franklin was able to focus on the running backs who have more to prove than Singleton and Allen in the Spring game.
“Spring ball for a lot of guys is an opportunity to move up and be evaluated but also guys that we feel like have established themselves, especially when we got to figure out who the third back is going to be for next year. That was really kind of the main focus. So, we’re strategic about that every single year where guys are at in the program and how established they are and even when they take reps we modify some of those guys reps to get the other guys,” Franklin said.
“To be honest with you, you guys know Drew Shelton didn’t go this spring. Well, that was like really valuable for [Nolan] Rucci and J’ven [Williams]. They got 1000 reps this spring, which was great. So, some of it is strategic and some of it’s just how things played out.”