Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/155994
READY FOR ANYTHING Belton finished third on the team in rushing last season but is looking to play a more substantial role this fall. Tim Owen big offensive stars, guys like Allen Robinson, Kyle Carter and Zach Zwinak. Belton seemed due for a breakout season in 2012 after he moved from wideout to tailback following Bill O'Brien's arrival at Penn State, and he received a swift promotion to the starting lineup when Silas Redd transferred to Southern Cal. He had turned heads late in his freshman season by running plays out of the wildcat formation, and so his ascent seemed only natural. But when the season began, things quickly went awry. He fumbled deep in Ohio territory on Penn State's opening possession, thwarting a potential scoring drive. It turned out to be a costly turnover, and it wasn't even the worst part of his debut as the Nittany Lions' starting tailback. The worst part came later when he suffered an ankle sprain. Belton went on to miss the team's next three games, and when he returned to action, Zwinak was ascendant. By November, the two had essentially switched roles: Zwinak was the starter and Belton was the pacechanger who saw action when the Lions wanted to give the opposing defense a different look. During the last four games of the season, Belton carried only one time for no yards. A victim not just of bad luck but bad timing, he finished the season ranked third on the team with 263 yards, 103 of which came in one game – a 38-14 drubbing of Iowa in October. "The injury definitely did slow him down," running backs coach Charles London said. "A high ankle sprain is an injury that's hard to come back from. It takes some time, and by the time he got back into his groove, Zach had gotten into his groove. It was hard to take a productive player off the field at that point." Looking back, Belton regards his sophomore year as a "lesson learned." "Things happen for a reason," he said. "I wouldn't say it was a disappointment because it helped me come along as a player and as a person. I had to ready myself. I had to do more to get myself prepared – learn how to