Nick Singleton partners with Gatorade to host youth football camp at high school alma mater

Nick Singleton just wants to give back.

He grew up in Reading, roughly 150 miles away from Penn State, and his time at Governor Mifflin High School helped prepare him to become the Big Ten Freshman of the Year last season.

So when he got the opportunity — with the help of Gatorade — to run a camp at his alma mater through an NIL partnership, he saw it as an opportunity to help grow the next generation of football players. After all, those young players walk in the same hallways he once did.

“It feels good to give back to them, especially my community at my high school,” Singleton told On3 via Zoom. “I’ve been in the same position as those kids. I did the same stuff they did today. Just giving back to them meant a lot to me.”

As part of the event, Singleton and Gatorade gave a $12,500 donation to the Olivet Boys & Girls Club and the Mifflin Jr. Broncos youth football program. He was hands-on with the attendees, too, throwing passes and running drills with them.

Most importantly, he said everyone enjoyed the camp.

“Everybody had a good time,” Singleton said. “The kids had a great time, I had a good time giving back to everybody. It was just an overall great day.”

Singleton and Gatorade partnered for another camp last year, as well. But things are a little different this time around. When that camp took place, Singleton was gearing up for his freshman year at Penn State as a highly touted 2022 recruit. He was a five-star prospect and the No. 27-ranked player in the nation, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

This time, Singleton said it seemed like more of the kids knew who he was. They watched him become a star for Penn State last season. He finished fifth in the Big Ten with 1,061 rushing yards to go with 12 touchdowns, which set a new program record for a freshman.

Of course, as a sophomore coming off a huge year, Singleton is stepping into more of a leadership role for Penn State. Quarterback Sean Clifford is off to the NFL, meaning the Nittany Lions lost one of their biggest voices on offense. So far, Singleton said he’s leading by example.

But by working at the camp with the youth football players, he can draw from that experience to lead in other ways.

“It helps me a lot, especially being more vocal, talking more,” Singleton said. “Something I’m trying to work on still. Being hands-on with the kids. Really, just teaching them stuff like that. So it’s just been helping me a lot, being more of a leader, to be more talkative.”

Additionally, Singleton has the highest On3 NIL Valuation on the Penn State roster at $877K. The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets the standard market NIL value for high school and college athletes. The On3 NIL Valuation calculates the optimized NIL opportunity for athletes relative to the overall NIL market and projects out to as long as 12 months into the future.

His success — both on and off the field — has also translated to a bigger turnout at the camp this year.

“I felt like it was more kids from last year,” Singleton said. “Last year, we had some good kids, but it wasn’t as much as this year like today. Everybody knew what I did last year. They were just very shocked to see me, some of them were screaming and stuff.

“It was great. It was a good time.”