‘He’s explosive’: Penn State running back Nick Singleton impresses in Beaver Stadium debut
Not only did Penn State freshman running back Nick Singleton make things look easy on the field, he made the job for his teammates even easier on Saturday.
Penn State defeated Ohio 46-10, much due to Singleton’s effort on the ground. The freshman had 10 carries for 179 yards, averaging 17.9 yards per attempt, and had two touchdowns. Not only did Singleton dazzle on the field and make new fans, his teammates sang his praises.
“I love that kid,” Penn State offensive lineman Bryce Effner said. “He’s going to be a great running back for us and I’m very grateful he’s with us and behind our (offensive) line.”
Singleton’s first touchdown was a 70-yard sprint past the defensive backs for a score with 2:28 left in the first quarter to give Penn State a 14-0 lead. He later rushed 44 yards into the end zone for his second touchdown at the 4:33 mark in the third quarter.
Tight ends usually see multiple vantage points when blocking for a running back. Sometimes, they’re used as an H-Back behind the line of scrimmage. Other times, they’re inline with the offensive lineman or split out wide with the receivers. Tyler Warren blocked multiple times for Singleton and was impressed with how he was able to follow the lead.
“They do a good job of making us right,” Warren said. “It’s so much attacking. When they’re going to do it, they’re going to go the opposite way of where I put the guy. That definitely makes you feel good as a blocker because it makes your block and makes them correct. So they make us correct.”
The performance didn’t come as a surprise to sophomore wideout Parker Washington. He watched Singleton dice up Ohio’s defense with precision. It’s something that he’s watched during practice regularly.
“Nobody’s really surprised with that,” Washington said. “He’s an amazing athlete, a tough guy and what he just pulled out — that was amazing.”
Redshirt senior quarterback Sean Clifford understands what the running back is capable of — including, but not limited to, bursting past defenders, stiff arming them into the ground and juking them with consistency. He’s seen it every day in practices, offensive meetings and now in two games.
“He’s explosive, he’s fast, he sees it well,” Clifford said. “He just adds that dynamic of being able to get on the perimeter and then finish plays in the end zone. I think that it was just a matter of time, and I’m excited for him. I think that he’s going to have a great career here and this is probably just the beginning for him.”
Despite Singleton’s performance, head coach James Franklin would not name a definitive starting running back. Fellow freshman Kaytron Allen had six carries for 23 yards and senior Devyn Ford had two catches for 13 yards. Sophomore Keyvone Lee also saw time during the game. According to Franklin, Penn State will ride the hot hand of each of their running backs.
It just so happened to be Singleton on Saturday.
“There were some big runs that I felt like we had a chance of last week, but again, I have a ton of confidence in all four of those guys,” Franklin said. “Devyn has been phenomenal in the things that we’ve asked him to do as well. But Nick was breaking off those big runs. It was needed. There’s no doubt about it. We’ll watch the film and see what makes sense for us moving forward, but today our rotation was similar to how we said it was going to be.”
