Penn State running back Keyvone Lee leads again in winter workouts

Another winter Tuesday in Happy Valley marks another opportunity for Penn State football players to improve.

In what has become a yearly tradition of Penn State assistant coaches highlighting the top competitors at their positions following Tuesday and Thursday on-field workouts, the Nittany Lions are again acknowledging the best. Now on their third winter workout, completed Tuesday morning, one significant trend has emerged.

Once again, for the third time in three workouts, running back Keyvone Lee asserted himself at the top of the program’s ballcarriers.

Let’s look at the selections, and what’s notable about them, from Tuesday’s winter workout session.

Nittany Lions Feb. 15 winter workout standouts

Winter workout #3 #LawnBoyz winner of the day is @KeyvoneL !! Kid is competing his tail off right now, love your mindset big dawg!!! 💪🏽🦁 pic.twitter.com/RZJkvYZUHt

— JaJuan Seider (@coachseider) February 15, 2022

Reading too much into assistant coach tweets is probably a foolhardy endeavor.

But we’re going to do it here, anyway, at least to some small extent.

At a position that Penn State has been longing to see a standout, this winter, Lee has been that. In three winter workout sessions, last week and this, running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider has pointed to his junior running back as the top performer.

Put in context against the evaluation of head coach James Franklin last October as the Nittany Lions cycled through a rotation of Lee, Devyn Ford, John Lovett, and Noah Cain. And though Lee ultimately emerged as the top rusher, notching 530 yards on 108 carries with two touchdowns, he only finished two touches ahead of Cain, with 16 fewer reps.

“I think their rotation has probably played out the way I thought it would,” Franklin said Oct. 5 following a 5-0 start. “Obviously, you’d love for somebody to really jump out and say, ‘I’m going to get the majority of the reps and the other guys are going to rotate in.’ I wouldn’t say that that’s necessarily happened yet, and you could have both kind of ends of that right? You can have three guys that are playing at a really high level and you want to keep them all involved, or you want to have one guy that kind of takes control of the room and the other guys are complementary pieces. Both are fine.”

With Cain and Lovett both moving on, and two stud true freshmen already enrolled in Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, the question is what situation the Nittany Lions will have next season.

Three guys playing at a really high level, all staying involved? Or, one guy that takes control of the room, with complementary pieces?

For whatever it’s worth, at this earliest stage of winter workouts ahead of the start of spring practice on March 21, Lee has been the standout.

Other offensive standouts

Other position standouts from Tuesday included quarterback Sean Clifford, who earned his second nod of the month. On the offensive line, redshirt freshman Landon Tengwall was chosen by Phil Trautwein for the first time.

At receiver, Taylor Stubblefield picked rising junior KeAndre Lambert-Smith. And at tight end, Ty Howle selected Theo Johnson for the second time in a back-to-back.

Penn State will again work out Thursday.

Defensive standout performers

Of 30 total winter workout top performer picks by Penn State’s assistant coaches, 10 per workout, with three workouts completed, one was particularly notable Tuesday.

For the first time out of those 30 picks, one was a true freshman.

Class of 2022 early enrollee Zane Durant earned the pick of defensive line coach John Scott Jr. for his Tuesday workout performance. An On3 Consensus four-star prospect, Durant was expected to come in and compete immediately, according to defensive recruiting coordinator Terry Smith.

Just over a month into the start of his career at Penn State, he’s doing so.

“He’s explosive, athletic, has a tremendous skill set, plays with great effort, plays with great toughness, and has a great personality. He’s fun to be around,” Smith said in December ahead of Durant’s enrollment. “We know this guy’s going to come in and work and play hard and buy in right away. We’re just anxious to get him here and to mold his body shape, get him a little bit bigger. (We want to) get him a little bit stronger, a little bit faster and quicker and twitchier and those things. But we’re anxious to get him here.”

Other top performers on the defensive side were safety Ji’Ayir Brown for a second time and linebacker Curtis Jacobs. Corners coach Terry Smith hasn’t yet made a pick for his position.

Special teams coordinator Stacy Collins, meanwhile, went with long snapper Chris Stoll as his standout performer.

Penn State winter workout standout selections

Quarterback: Sean Clifford (2/8), Christian Veilleux (2/10), Sean Clifford (2/15)

Running back: Keyvone Lee (2/8) (2/10) (2/15)

Receiver: Jaden Dottin (2/8), Harrison Wallace (2/10), KeAndre Lambert-Smith (2/15)

Tight end: Tyler Warren (2/8), Theo Johnson (2/10), Theo Johnson (2/15)

Offensive line: Juice Scruggs (2/8), Caedan Wallace (2/10), Landon Tengwall (2/15)

Defensive line: Nick Tarburton (2/8), Zuriah Fisher (2/10), Zane Durant (2/15)

Linebacker: Jonathan Sutherland (2/8), Tyler Elsdon (2/10), Curtis Jacobs (2/15)

Corner: Kalen King (2/8), Johnny Dixon (2/10)

Safety: Ji’Ayir Brown (2/8), Jaylen Reed (2/10), Ji’Ayir Brown (2/15)

Special teams: Punter Barney Amor (2/8), Kicker Jake Pinegar (2/10), Snapper Chris Stoll (2/15)