Recapping Penn State running back Nick Singleton's recruitment

Penn State fans, the following story will appear in Blue White Illustrated’s upcoming Class of 2022 recruiting magazine. It mails Feb. 25 and features over 70 pages of analysis, bios and superlatives on the most recent class. To order, go to BlueWhiteOnline.com.

It takes a special kind of player to earn an offer from Penn State the first time he steps on campus as a freshman. Like all good coaching staffs, James Franklin and his assistants do their homework. Sure, they see players they love right from the start, but they usually take their time researching to make sure what their eyes are telling them checks out.

Being an in-state prospect, Penn State had a good feel for what running back Nick Singleton would ultimately become after his freshman season – he ran for 1,224 yards and 16 touchdowns at just 14 years old – but it was a strong performance at Penn State’s Whiteout Camp in June 2019 that allowed Franklin and his staff to be the first Football Bowl Subdivision program to offer. Looking back, that proved to be an excellent decision, as it gave the Nittany Lions a foot in the door before everyone else.

That’s especially important when you realize that Penn State had to fight off some top programs to land Singleton. By the time on-campus visits were allowed again last June, Singleton had already taken a ton of unofficial visits before the pandemic shut it all down. By our count, he visited 14 schools in 2019 and early 2020. Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio State, South Carolina and West Virginia were just a few of them. You won’t find many players in his class who were as active as Singleton when he was an underclassmen.

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But despite that, he still wanted to use his five official visits, which was smart. A lot had changed over those 16 months. Alabama, Texas A&M and Wisconsin all got him on campus, but it was a trip to Notre Dame, June 18-20, a week after his Penn State official, that gave him something to seriously consider.

In fact, in the days that followed, rumors started to swirl that he was close to committing to the Irish. It turned out that those rumors were true.

“Almost. When I was on the visit, they did something special and that did make me want to commit. It made me think, ‘wow, this is really where I want to be at,'” said Singleton, who added that it was a customized presentation just for him at Notre Dame Stadium that really wowed him.

“But basically, my parents told me to slow down and not commit right on the spot. Instead, go home, think about it more and then figure it out.”

Like all good recruiters, Franklin and his Penn State assistants weren’t going to let Singleton get away. After multiple talks over the span of a week or two, including an important Zoom call that helped sway him back towards the Nittany Lions, Singleton knew what he wanted to do by the end of June. He would go on to publicly announce his commitment to Penn State on July 6.

“It was stressful, I won’t lie,” Singleton said. “I enjoyed meeting the coaches and visiting all the schools, but it was a stressful process for me. I was happy to wrap it up.”

With recruiting behind him, Singleton went on to post some incredible stats for his senior season, rushing for 2,049 yards on just 165 carries. Yes, that’s an average of 12.4 yards per carry. He also scored an eye-catching 41 rushing touchdowns. 

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He also surpassed 100 touchdowns for his career, finishing with 115. That’s good for fifth all-time in Pennsylvania. Singleton also amassed more than 6,400 yards rushing, making him one of only 34 players in Pennsylvania history to surpass 6,000 yards on the ground. 

The only thing he didn’t accomplish before coming to Penn State was winning a state championship. Governor Mifflin was on the doorstep of doing so his junior season, but a late comeback by eventual state champion Pine-Richland in the semifinals kept Singleton from reaching that goal.

“It’s the only thing that I really feel like I missed out on,” he said. “I wanted that so bad for my school, my coaches, my teammates. We were so close my junior year, and really could’ve done it [my senior] year, too. I wish I could have that game back.”

Individually, Singleton took home just about every award you could think of. In addition to being named the national Offensive Player of the Year by both the All-American Bowl and the Maxwell Club, Singleton was named the Gatorade Player of the Year for the entire country. Previous winners include Peyton Manning, Emmitt Smith and Kyler Murray. Not a bad list to be a part of.

On top of that, former Penn State running back Saquon Barkley was the one who informed him of the news. 

“Man, I was speechless. I had no idea that was coming,” Singleton said. “I thought Saquon was just there to congratulate me for winning the Pennsylvania award. It was really cool having him tell me about that. It meant a lot.”

Now, Singleton hopes to outdo Barkely’s accomplishments at Penn State. That’s already started, as he enrolled at University Park just a few weeks ago.

“I’m definitely coming in to play early. I want to start right away.”