Why those who know Devyn Ford best say he’s cut out to be Penn State’s No. 1 option at RB
Joe Mangano won’t soon forget the first time he saw Devyn Ford play football.
Mangano — the head coach at North Stafford High School in Stafford, Virginia, at the time — stood on his school’s practice field and looked to his side. Between coaching his team, he would catch glimpses of the annual middle school game that took place in North Stafford’s varsity stadium. That’s when he saw a boy bolting down the field toward the end zone with no defenders around him.
“I looked over, and I just saw him streaking down the field like 75 yards,” Mangano recalled. “And I’m like, ‘Oh, that must be Ford right there.’”
Mangano had heard of the eighth-grader named Devyn Ford who was set to attend North Stafford the following year, but he had no idea who Ford was — until then.
“He just looked like he was running at a different speed,” added Chase McGowan, Ford’s middle and high school teammate and friend, about Ford’s early playing days.
There’s been something different about the Penn State sophomore running back since he was a child. He was always a little bit faster, a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger than the other kids his age on the football field.
Ford has been thrust into being the Nittany Lions’ feature back this season earlier than expected. After star redshirt junior running back Journey Brown was forced to medically retire because of a heart condition and standout sophomore running back Noah Cain went down with a season-ending foot injury in Penn State’s season-opener against Indiana, head coach James Franklin said Ford would be “the guy” at running back.
It might be a lot to ask of a player who carried the ball just 52 times in all of 2019 to step up in such a big way with everything seemingly falling apart around him on an 0-4 team. But those who know Ford best are confident he’ll make the most of this unexpected opportunity.
“He adapts to every situation well,” said McGowan, now a sophomore defensive end at the University of Delaware. “I feel like he’s always looking to get better, always grinding. It’s really helped him mature, being able to take the No. 1 spot this season. And I feel like he’s gonna get better each time he goes out there.”
When Cain was ruled out for the season, Ford was in shock. Not only was he upset that a second key player in his position group wouldn’t be able to play this season, but he naturally worried about how he’d adjust to a much larger role.
“It definitely took a second to realize what was going on,” Ford said. “I was taking everything in. Definitely, it was a shock at first.”
Ford was fourth on the team in rushing yards with 294 last season, behind Brown, Cain and redshirt junior quarterback Sean Clifford. He’s had to change his preparation this year — everything from spending more time in the film room, changing the way he takes care of his body and switching up his eating habits.
But after his 69-rushing yard performance against the Hoosiers in Week 1, Ford totaled just 72 yards on 17 rushes in Penn State’s next two games against Ohio State and Maryland combined. The Nittany Lions lost by at least two scores in both contests.
McGowan said that Ford has remained optimistic, though, about his own season and the team’s performance. The two talk via FaceTime video calls two or three times per week.
“I feel like every time I talk to him after the game, he’s like, ‘Just gotta come out next week and try to get the W,’” McGowan said. “And that’s really it.”
That mindset has paid off for Ford.
Even in a loss against Nebraska last Saturday, he ran for 66 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. Mangano said he thought it was Ford’s best game of the season. Penn State’s two freshmen running backs — Caziah Holmes and Keyvone Lee — followed Ford’s lead, too. Holmes added 50 yards on the ground, while Lee pitched in 49 yards and a touchdown of his own.
“I see Devyn growing,” Franklin said. “I thought we ran the ball last week as good as we’ve run it this year.”
Mangano isn’t surprised that Ford is coming along. He and McGowan still remember Ford’s 237-yard performance in his very first game as a freshman on North Stafford’s varsity team. It’s just another example of why they both believe Ford is ready to breakout as a reliable No. 1 option in the Nittany Lions’ backfield.
Ford’s current teammates have noticed the strides he’s made, too, both in his play on the field and his preparation off of it.
Redshirt junior linebacker Ellis Brooks has been impressed with Ford’s focus on detail, even before the absence of Brown and Cain.
“He’s a very coachable player and just wants to get better,” Brooks said. “And I feel like that’s the most important thing, when somebody’s stepping into a large role and they just know that they don’t know everything. And every single day, they’re just trying to get one percent better. And I feel like that’s what he’s trying to do right now.”
Through Penn State’s four games so far, Ford has 207 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 53 carries.
Now, he’ll look to build off that start and lead the way on the ground for the Nittany Lions the rest of the season. And in the process, Mangano expects to see flashes of the same kid he first saw six years ago as an eighth-grader.
“I think he’s gonna do whatever it takes to help them win,” Mangano said, “in whatever capacity that is.”
This story was originally published November 19, 2020 at 6:18 PM.
