James Franklin shares feelings on young Penn State running backs

While Penn State has the luxury of a pair of established sophomore backs, head coach James Franklin is pleased with the youth at the position. He discussed the progress of a pair of freshman running backs — Cam Wallace and London Montgomery — as Penn State is halfway through the year.

And given current redshirt rules — where a player can appear in four games in a season without burning a year of eligibility — Franklin is hopeful to feature the duo late in the season. When or how, exactly, remains to be seen.

“And I think there’s some excitement about those two guys. A lot of these guys, hopefully, you’ll have the opportunity to see late in the year. Because a lot these guys, we’re saving at least two, if not more games for, at the end of the season so we can basically play them whenever’s needed. That could be on special teams or offense,” Franklin said.

Franklin shared the biggest challenge for both of the running backs to seeing playing time was transforming their bodies. Unsurprisingly, Wallace and Montgomery showed up to campus weighing around 170-175 pounds fresh out of high school.

Wallace has had some more success than Montgomery in packing on an addition 20-30 pounds, but Franklin has seen both dive in to getting bigger and stronger.

“I think they both came in 170, 175, somewhere around there. Cam’s up to I think around 192 right now, he’s done really well. London has struggled to put some weight on. But in terms of football IQ, in terms of kind of their instincts and vision, they’ve shown that. Their ability to pass pro, they’ve shown they’ll be tough and stick their faces in there. The Sunday night scrimmages have been really good. So I think both of those guys, if they’re willing to do the things off the field, specifically in the weight room and nutrition and things like that, then I think they both have a chance to have bright futures,” Franklin said.

And in the meantime, Penn State has leaned on Minnesota graduate transfer Trey Potts as a No. 3 running back behind Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen.

“We’ve been pleased with both of them, we really have. Both mentally and physically. They both came in a little bit undersized, so being able to get Trey in here has been really valuable because you weren’t dependent on an undersized true freshman back to be your third back,” Franklin said.