Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1400830
6 0 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 1 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M With the verbal commitments of Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen in June, Penn State welcomed a pair of four-star running backs to its Class of 2022. Singleton is Rivals.com's No. 124 overall prospect and the eighth-best running back in the nation, while Allen is 118th overall and sixth among running backs. The decision to bring in at least two running backs in one class is not completely new to the Penn State football program. In 1991, Joe Paterno famously signed five prep All-Americans in one year: Ki-Jana Carter, Ste- phen Pitts, Mike Archie, Brian King and J.T. Morris. And in the decades since, two-back classes have become something of the norm, particularly under James Franklin. As the Lions' coach explained last December, those are the kind of running backs who "embrace competition. They're not going somewhere looking for an easy path. They want to come in and compete." Franklin added that he expects Penn State's success at recruiting running backs to continue in the years ahead. "I think we're building a reputation. If we keep going in this trajectory, there could be people in a couple of years talking about us as RBU," he said. "I love it. I love when guys never ask you about the depth chart dur- ing the recruiting process. "Guys understand, if you want to compete at the highest level for confer- ence championships, for national championships, and all those types of things, you're going to have to compete wherever you go. The top pro- grams are recruiting the best players in the country year after year after year, and if you expect to compete in the NFL, then you had better learn to compete on a college campus. I love that guys are embracing that and not fearing that." Here's a look back at Penn State's other multiple-RB classes under Franklin: 2 0 1 4 : N I C K S C O T T , M A R K A L L E N , J O H N A T H A N T H O M A S Franklin inherited much of this class when he took over the program in January 2014. The RB trio did not include a future team leader in rushing, but it did include a future captain in Scott. As a freshman, Scott rushed for 133 yards and a touchdown and added four receptions for 43 yards and two completed passes, including one for a touchdown. They would be the last offensive stats of his Penn State career, as he switched to safety ahead of the 2016 season. Allen, a four-year contributor, enjoyed the best afternoon of his colle- giate career when he rushed for 62 yards against Kent State in 2018. In 30 games at PSU, he finished with 89 carries for 350 yards and four scores. Thomas appeared sparingly in four seasons. 2 0 1 6 : S A Q U O N B A R K L E Y , A N D R E R O B I N S O N The No. 117 overall player in the Class of 2015 according to Rivals, Bark- ley staked his claim as the team's best running back in preseason camp of his true freshman year. He never looked back, setting a freshman record with 1,076 rushing yards and ultimately finishing second in school history in career rushing yards with 3,843 on 671 carries. Barkley rushed for 1,496 yards as a sophomore, a total that ranks fifth all-time at Penn State, and he gained 1,271 yards in his third and final season. Drafted second overall by the New York Giants in April 2018, he is preparing for his fourth season in the NFL after suffering an ACL injury early last year. The second back in the class, three-star Harrisburg prospect Andre Rob- inson, saw action as a redshirt freshman and sophomore in 2016 and '17 before transferring to Delaware. 2 0 1 9 : D E V Y N F O R D , N O A H C A I N Ford was the No. 1-rated all-purpose back in the Class of 2019, while Cain was the nation's No. 3-rated RB and a four-star prospect himself. Heading into the 2021 season, they're vying for the top spot in Penn State's crowded running backs room. Ford has 119 carries for 568 yards and six scores over 18 games in his two seasons. Absent for three games last year, he finished third on the team in rushing behind Keyvone Lee and quarterback Sean Clifford. Cain, who missed all but a handful of plays last year due to an injury, has so far accumulated 456 rushing yards and eight scores on 87 career carries. 2 0 2 0 : K E Y V O N E L E E , C A Z I A H H O L M E S Cain and Ford's competition for the top job this season will primarily come from Lee and Holmes, both of whom arrived at Penn State last year after earning four-star ratings as Florida prep stars. Lee made a splash with 89 carries for 438 yards and four touchdowns, climbing to the top of the depth chart late in the year following a wave of attrition. His breakout came at Michigan where he rushed for 134 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries in Penn State's first win of the season. He earned double-digit carries in each of Penn State's final four games. Holmes, too, was catapulted into action by Penn State's adversity at the position. He had 12 carries for a season-high 77 yards and two scores in the Lions' finale against Illinois. Keyvone Lee, who came in with fellow Floridian Caziah Holmes, led the Nittany Lions in rushing as a true freshman last season with 89 carries for 438 yards and four touchdowns. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL Nittany Lions Find Success By Recruiting Multiple Running Backs B Y N AT E B A U E R | N B AU E R @ B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M