Nick Singleton shows off unteachable talent, work ethic in Penn State spring debut

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A fierce commitment to strength training has helped put freshman running back Nick Singleton on the fast track at Penn State

Nick Singleton was 11 years old the first time he made the half-hour drive to Garage Strength with his dad, Timmy. 

Getting there meant passing up gyms that were closer to the family’s home in Shillington, Pa. Full Throttle Fitness Factory, Breakdown Athletics, Planet Fitness and Retro Fitness all could have sufficed, none more than a mile from home. But Garage Strength and its owner, Dane Miller, had come highly recommended.

Seeking out an unconventional trainer, with an unconventional clientele and an unconventional locale, the Singletons rode Reading’s West Shore Bypass, hopped onto Route 61 north and turned at the light by the furniture store onto a country road. A distinct smell emanated from the cinderblock mushroom farms not far away when father and son pulled up at their destination: a red barn on a river rock foundation with dusty floorboards, weight racks, ropes, and endless possibility.

“It kind of reminded me of ‘Rocky IV’ — training in Russia,” Timmy Singleton said. “It was cold in the winter and hot in the summer.”

The better part of a decade has passed since the Singletons first set foot in Garage Strength. Nick just turned 18 in January and is three months into his first semester at Penn State. He is coming off a senior season at Governor Mifflin High in which he won Gatorade National Player of the Year honors and was the No. 1 running back in the class of 2022 according to the On3 Consensus, as well as the No. 16 overall prospect. 

Nothing about his approach to training has changed as Singleton has worked his way through winter workouts and spring practice with the Nittany Lions. Displaying a rare combination of physical prowess and mental fortitude, the 6-foot, 219-pound freshman has shown that he will put in whatever work is necessary to become the best. In that sense, his first semester at Penn State is merely a continuation of the effort he invested in that barn.

“The best ever, for him, is a motivation. He wants to be the best Nick Singleton that could exist,” Miller said. “That’s why he’s so good. So many athletes struggle with performance anxiety because they feel pressured, whereas Nick is looking at it through the positive lens of believing he can be the best.

“He puts in the work. I think that his approach is really what makes him. That’s what makes him tick. He goes out onto a field and it’s just his time to show the work that he’s done.”

Dedicated To Improvement

For four seasons at Governor Mifflin, Singleton made a habit of it. He finished with 2,049 rushing yards on 165 carries as a senior with the Mustangs, scoring 41 touchdowns on the ground. For his career, he had 116 touchdowns and 6,326 rushing yards, both records in Berks County and among the top performances in PIAA history. 

His success was rooted in a belief that it was possible in the first place, and that belief stemmed in part from his time with Miller at Garage Strength.

Singleton had found out about Miller from Neil George, father of current Pitt starting linebacker Brandon George. Once he entered into that environment, Singleton was exposed to a proven training methodology. 

Sam Mattis, a three-time NCAA All-America discus thrower at Penn and a 2020 Olympian, trained at the gym. So did Alex Rose, a discus thrower representing Samoa in the past two Olympics. 

Miller and his team also have helped develop a number of notable football players. One of Singleton’s high school teammates, Cam’Ron Stewart, who is now a redshirt freshman at Rutgers, trained at Garage Strength, as did former Nittany Lion starting linebacker Jan Johnson, and brothers Isaac Lutz (Penn State) and Cooper Lutz (Syracuse). In addition, offensive lineman Jven Williams, an On3 five-star prospect in Penn State’s 2023 recruiting class, has been working out for the past two years at Garage Strength, which now operates out of a repurposed Caterpillar Construction Equipment space a few miles from its previous location.

Working out three or four times a week at the gym, Singleton found himself developing rapidly. He had started out with an 85-pound clean and could do a few reps on the bench press at 100 pounds. By the time he finished high school, Singleton was posting a 355-pound clean, 500-pound squat, a three-rep, 400-pound single-leg squat, 400 pounds on the bench, and a 230-pound snatch.

Understanding that Singleton had the potential to be fast because of his long legs, Miller said he saw a gifted athlete with an opportunity to fill out. He also saw an intense level of commitment. Intimately aware of the traits that bring kids back to the gym — and just as often send them packing — he knew how important that commitment would be. 

“The freak part is always the mental side of it,” Miller said. “That they’ll come back, that they’ll keep doing the work and showing up.”

A Special Athlete

For Singleton, one of the advantages of working out at Garage Strength was the opportunity to train alongside some of the best athletes in the world. 

“In the gym, you have all these people training and you know who they are,” Miller said. “You know that they’re world-class athletes, so you know that they’ve been through things as well. And they’re cheering him on. That’s a big deal. If I train with five world-class athletes, then I’m going to be as good as a world-class athlete.”

Mattis and the others took notice for a few reasons. The first was happenstance but impossible to ignore. Singleton was working out with a partner for the first time in a planned training session that went an hour over. While Singleton was focused and unrelenting, Mattis remembered, the partner threw up and never returned to the gym. 

Soon after, Singleton showed he was able to squat “way more” than he should have been able for his age, Mattis said. The same was true of Singleton’s speed and physicality. By that point, he was already ahead of his peers. 

“I just knew he was going to be special,” Mattis said. “I just hoped that he would find a good coach and a good system that would let him use his athletic potential and reach it. Clearly, he has.”

The other reason Mattis took notice was because of what wasn’t happening during Singleton’s trips to the gym: He wasn’t showing off a lighter side. The throwers were notorious for joking around and enjoying themselves between weightlifting sets or outdoor training, and they initially asked Miller why Singleton appeared to be so “grumpy” all the time. 

It wasn’t a pose, as Mattis would soon come to understand. Singleton’s demeanor was simply a reflection of his dedication and motivation.

“I think that I have a little bit of a biased view because I’m around athletes like that all the time when I’m training,” Mattis said. “But I think someone like that, who was gifted from such a young age and never really put on the brakes and kept improving, is super rare. If he keeps working, the sky’s the limit for him because he’s got the natural gifts, and then he’s got what you can’t teach, which is the work ethic of constantly just grinding. That’s what he does. I think that’s the combination that you don’t find too often.”

In Mattis and his fellow athletes, Singleton saw examples worth emulating. Mattis focused on his goals and exceeded them. He took coaching from Miller and his staff, and he prioritized his training regimen.

Singleton did the same.

“Nick saw that stuff. It’s not that he just happened to be there around them,” Miller said. “They pushed him to be a world-class athlete when he was 14.”

Looking back, Singleton gives the credit for his growth to Miller, and to the others around him. Among those who pushed him to constantly improve were Johnson, a former Nittany Lion who was fresh off a brief stint in the NFL, and George, who is now in his senior season at Pitt.

“I always had that drive to work hard, to keep working,” Singleton said. “I’m always getting better because there can always be improvement. But they always helped me get better and pushed me every single day.”

‘He’s Going To Do Phenomenal Stuff’

Singleton will get his first opportunity to show the fruits of that labor in front of Penn State fans at the Blue-White Game on April 23. He’s already been at it in full, eliciting the praise of head coach James Franklin, offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich, strength coach Chuck Losey, and many of his teammates throughout his first few months in the program.

But he’ll need to wait a little longer to do it in front of a national audience, with the Nittany Lions set to begin the 2022 season on Sept. 1 at Purdue. 

In the meantime, Singleton will continue to work. 

For all the superhero training numbers and eye-popping on-field performances that marked his rise, his greatest assets are the internal, intangible qualities that put him in position to succeed. That’s what Miller believes, having watched Singleton’s ascent. Miller sees athletic development as a two-way process, one that, for Singleton, is likely to pay even bigger dividends in the years to come. 

“I put a lot of time and effort into it personally. It’s people that give me that time and effort back that I value so much, and I think that’s Nick to a tee. He sees that time and value,” Miller said. “Everybody brings up this big picture … and he’s going to do phenomenal stuff. All these crazy things can happen. 

“Everybody means a lot to me, but the people who give me back what I’m giving them — they’re the ones that mean the most. That’s been Nick since Day 1. Sixth-grade Nick knew how to give me what I was asking of him. That’s what’s so special.”

More on Nick Singleton:

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Young backs, Nick Singleton, Kaytron Allen, make strong impression

Penn State football: Nick Singleton among top competitors for final winter workout session