Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1545675
4 2 A U G U S T 2 0 2 6 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M / / / / / / / 2 0 2 6 F O O T B A L L P R E V I E W / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / PRESEASON ANALYSIS ★★★★★ National Title; ★★★★ Top 10; ★★★ Top 25; ★★ Too Unproven; ★ Major Concern STARTER ★★★ For four years, Penn State essentially had co-starters at the running back position. Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton fin- ished their careers with 769 and 622 carries, respectively. While Allen was clearly the more effective player in 2025, Singleton was the first of the two to be drafted, going in the fifth round to Tennessee, while Allen had to wait until the sixth round, when he was chosen by Washington. Penn State isn't likely to replicate that formula this fall, but it will be interesting to see how the workload is partitioned. Senior Carson Hansen tops the depth chart after starting nine games and totaling 950 yards at Iowa State last season. At 6-foot-2, 216 pounds, he's a sturdy, Big Ten-ready ball carrier, but he's got two other runners nip- ping at his heels in junior Ohio State transfer James Peoples and redshirt sophomore Quinton Martin Jr. EXPERIENCE ★★★ Hansen has 360 career carries for 1,769 yards, all at Iowa State, while Peoples rushed for 541 yards on 110 carries in two seasons with the Buckeyes. The Lions' two homegrown running backs — Martin and redshirt junior Cam Wallace — are much less experienced, having combined to carry 57 times for 221 yards. Nearly half that yardage was by Martin in a single game, PSU's 22-10 win over Clemson in the Pin- stripe Bowl last December, a contest in which he rushed for 103 yards while filling in for Allen and Singleton. DEPTH ★★★ In Hansen and Peoples, the Nittany Lions have two running backs who have proven they can handle starter-level reps in a Power Four backfield. That's a pretty good place to start. The wild card is Martin. Was his perfor- mance against Clemson indicative of his true college potential? Because if it is, he's going to warrant plenty of carries this fall, giving Penn State more of a backfield-by- committee character. Martin may still have some work ahead of him in the weight room. He said early in the offseason that the coaching staff was hoping to see him pack more muscle onto his 6-1 frame in the hope that he would weigh about 220 pounds by the start of the season. As of late June, he was listed at 212 pounds. That's a significant improve- ment over his listed weight of 204 pounds during spring practice, but it remains to be seen whether he'll be able to get to his goal weight by September. OVERALL GRADE ★★★ There are some big shoes to fill at this position group. Allen left Penn State as the program's all-time leading rusher with 4,180 yards, while Singleton ranks fourth after totaling 3,461 yards. Even with both play- ers opting out of the Pinstripe Bowl, Allen and Singleton monopolized the position last season, combining for 333 of the 376 carries that Penn State's running backs totaled in 13 games. The bowl game may have offered a sneak preview of the new-look backfield, with Martin showing he could be a contender for a major role. At the very least, it likely was a factor in his choice to stick around while three of his fellow scholarship running backs — Corey Smith, Tikey Hayes and Jabree Coleman — hit the transfer portal. Wallace has also flashed in limited duty and could have a bigger role next fall, and three-star State College Area prospect D'Antae Sheffey was a nice pickup in the final month of the 2026 recruiting cycle. At 5-11, 201 pounds, Sheffey already looks to have a Big Ten-ready physique, adding to the Lions' depth. For now, Hansen and Peoples figure to be the Lions' top two ball carriers. The former has already proven to this coaching staff that he can be counted on to deliver tough yards, and the latter surely didn't leave Ohio State just to be a lightly used role player at another Big Ten program. Coming off a season in which it ranked fifth in the Big Ten with an average of 174.4 rushing yards per game, Penn State may have lost some of the explosiveness that Singleton was capable of delivering at his best, but it looks to have everything else it needs to be successful. BY THE NUMBERS 5 Consecutive 100-yard games by Carson Han- sen to conclude Iowa State's 2025 season. That was the most by a Cyclones player since Breece Hall topped 100 yards in eight straight games in 2020. 7th James Peoples' place on Rivals' list of the top running backs in the 2024 re- cruiting class. A standout at Veterans Memorial High in San Antonio, Peoples was rated as the nation's No. 124 overall player and No. 21 prospect in Texas. 1,725 Rushing yards by D'Antae Shef- fey during a breakout fresh- man season at State College Area High in 2022. Redshirt sophomore Quinton Martin Jr. has been working throughout the offseason to add weight. He was listed at 212 pounds on the roster that Penn State released in late June. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS