Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1464375
3 4 M A Y 2 0 2 2 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 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 no- tice was because of what wasn't hap- pening 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 out- door 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 de- meanor was simply a reflection of his dedication and motivation. "I think that I have a little bit of a bi- ased view because I'm around athletes like that all the time when I'm training," Mat- tis said. "But I think someone like that, who was gifted from such a young age and never really put on the brakes and kept im- proving, 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, Sin- gleton 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 Singleton wasn't even a teenager when he began working out at Garage Strength. By the time he finished high school, he was posting a 355-pound clean and 500-pound squat, among other impressive testing numbers. PHOTO COURTESY DANE MILLER