Nick Singleton injury update: Will the star Penn State running back be ready for USC?
No. 4 Penn State did not have star junior running back Nicholas Singleton available for its 27-11 win over UCLA last weekend. After the game, Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin said that he thought the Pa., native would be able to play until he was informed after pregame warmups that the former All-Big Ten pick would not be able to go. Will he be back for this weekend’s trip to USC? It sounds very likely.
“Again, I thought he was going last Saturday,” Franklin said on Monday. “Didn’t practice Tuesday, then didn’t practice Wednesday when [the media was] out there, and then was able to go limited on Thursday, and was able to go limited on Friday. Which, as you guys know, is not a whole lot, but the trainers take those guys and work them out on their own, so that’s part of the evaluation. And then Saturday, I wouldn’t say he wasn’t 100 percent, but again, we thought he was going to go.
“So, I guess my point is, he was very close to going last week. So, as long as we don’t have any setbacks this week, I would anticipate him going. And, I also would anticipate him practicing Tuesday and Wednesday. But, we’ll see how this whole thing plays out. But, yeah, we’re very confident. And I think Nick’s very confident, talking to him on Sunday, that he’ll be ready to go.”
With Singleton sidelined, co-starting running back and junior Kaytron Allen carried 21 times for 78 yards and a touchdown. Penn State also used freshman Quinton Martin Jr., for the second time this season. The program hopes to redshirt him by playing him in a maximum of two more regular season games this year. But, time will tell if it can do so.
Penn State will leave for USC on Thursday
Singleton is expected to be on the travel roster for the Lions’ trip to USC. The team is leaving Thursday out of Harrisburg International Airport instead of State College. There are a variety of reasons for that.
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“We cannot fly [a big enough plane] out of State College,” Franklin said. “So that was a big part of our discussions with the Big Ten when all this got started. Not only are we one of the most northeast schools, but based on runway length, size of plane, weight of plane, fuel on plane, we can’t get out of here unless we would stop for fuel.
“So with that, we got to fly out of Harrisburg. To me, that’s one of the things I think we have to discuss, is increasing the size of the runway here and the size of the airport for a lot of reasons. For the university, for the community, for businesses, for the athletic department, and for us, now that we’ve decided to make this move as the Big Ten, to me, that’s something that we need to do for a lot of different reasons. But that that’s a big part of it.
“You’re talking about adding another two hours to your trip on top of the flight. And I think the flight’s already five and a half hours, or whatever it may be. That’s pretty much a full day. So that’s one of the big reasons for leaving Thursday. So feel good about our plan. But that’s a big reason why. And, that’s something that I think we’re going to need to look at addressing moving forward. Because, it does change things for us compared to a lot of other teams in our conference that either, even if they are northeast, they have an international airport and things like that within a short distance from campus. So kind of got the double whammy. It’s the distance as well as the airport.”
