A look at the Penn State football running backs with spring practice halfway over
Few topics in the Penn State football world have generated more conversation than the running backs and ground game in general.
The Nittany Lions did not perform as expected in that regard in 2021. Penn State was 13 of 14 Big Ten schools with just 107.8 yards per game and failed to produce one game with at least one rusher who broke the 100 yard mark.
Spring practice is the first opportunity head coach James Franklin has to get things going. With eight sets of drills in the books, we’re taking a look at how each position group is doing at the midway point. Today, the running backs are in focus.
Who’s in the mix?
Penn State started practice back on March 23 with six running backs on its roster.
Keyvone Lee is the returning starter for position coach Ja’Juan Seider. He rushed for a team-high 108 times for a program-leading 530 yards. Devyn Ford and Caziah Holmes are also back, as is Tank Smith. Then, the Lions welcomed two freshmen into the fold in January with Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen.
Penn State running backs progress report at the midpoint of spring
So far, all of the talk coming out Seider’s room has focused on the youngest players in it.
Singleton, a five-star and the Gatorade national high school football player of the year as a senior, and Kaytron Allen, a four-star from Florida, both enrolled in January. They crushed winter workouts for the first time and have quickly turned heads on the Penn State practice field, as well.
“Nick and Kaytron, how they came in, for freshmen, they’re not like normal true freshmen,” center Juice Scruggs said. “When they put the pads on, they show it. They run behind their pads.
“That’s something we need. As an O-line and as a running back unit, we gotta be together. I feel like last year, we weren’t together as much. But this year, we gotta just stick together and just do better.”
It’s something that must be a priority for head coach James Franklin, Yurcich, the rest of the staff on offense, and their players moving forward. No one is suggesting (yet) that one of the newcomers will overtake Lee for the job by the time Sept. 1 and the Penn State opener at Purdue rolls around. However, everyone must be on board with making that move if it’s the obvious one throughout the spring and summer.
At this point, it’s clear that the first-year backs will make a push to do that, at the very least.
As for Ford and Holmes, the former has been in the program for quite some time now but has yet to solidify a role for an entire season. He’ll hope to change that starting now. Holmes, then, redshirted last year. This is a huge spring for him in terms of carving out a chance for carries, as well.
What do we still want to see?
Spring practice is heavy on fundamentals and the Blue-White game offers a limited opportunity for anyone to truly showcase that they’ve taken ahold of a job.
That said, we just want to see this group flying around both during practice and at the scrimmage. That will be a strong first step as the position group looks to work in tandem with teammates to make a step in the right direction before the summer.
