Explosive and intelligent, Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen offer good first impressions at Penn State
When third-year Penn State running back Keyvone Lee reviews the offense with the Nittany Lions’ two freshman RBs, he finds himself learning things, too.
Such is the level of preparedness present in Nick Singelton and Kaytron Allen.
“I’m like learning myself from teaching them,” Lee said on Tuesday afternoon. “I can’t wait to see what they do in the fall. We gon’ be good. Coach [Ja’Juan] Seider put us together good.”
Allen, in particular, has quickly developed a reputation as a player who thinks the game well. Penn State head coach James Franklin posited that Allen’s time at IMG Academy in Florida exposed him to the mental requirements of high-level football sooner than most college freshmen.
“Kaytron is very football smart,” Franklin said on March 30. “I think his experience at IMG has put him ahead in terms of college-level learning, experience and understanding defenses and protections and things like that.”
Allen arrived as the No. 137 overall prospect in the Class of 2022 according to the On3 Consensus. The eighth-ranked running back in the cycle has displayed that detailed knowledge of the game during his conversations with Lee, too.
“It took him like that fast to learn the offense, to learn the schemes,” Lee said, snapping his fingers. “He’s still learning, obviously. But he’s catching on very fast. He can learn the game and process it very easily.”
More on Penn State’s tandem of freshman running backs
As the higher-rated back, Singleton’s arrival generated the most excitement within the Penn State fanbase.
The Gatorade High School National Player of the Year, Singleton was a five-star recruit and the top running back in the 2022 class.
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He profiles as a player who can inject some explosiveness into a Penn State running game that lacked that aspect last season.
Already, he’s making those types of plays in practice, according to veteran defensive end Nick Tarburton.
“There was one play by Nick Singleton that was pretty impressive,” Tarburton recalled. “I think it was like a simple inside zone, outside zone. He pressed the line hard, saw a hole, saw something and cut it back for an 80-yard touchdown. I mean, got up to full speed. I mean, it was impressive.”
Though fourth-year back Devyn Ford has been around the longest, Lee is the most experienced Penn State running back by snap counts following the offseason departure of Noah Cain, who left for LSU.
Expressing plenty of optimism about the state of the running game throughout a 20-minute conversation with reporters Tuesday, Lee indicated that Allen and Singleton have provided an extra layer of competition within the group.
“I mean, they add a lot of competition,” Lee said. “They cane in hungry, ready to work. They’ve been betting me, they’ve been bettering Devyn and [Caziah Holmes.]”
