On Wednesday, Penn State running back Nick Singleton was named the Thompson-Randle El Freshman of the Year, which goes to the top performing freshman in the Big Ten.
This should come as no surprise as Singleton won the Big Freshman of the week on three occasions during the regular season. In week two against Ohio he rushed for 179 yards on 10 carries including touchdown runs of 70 and 44 yards respectively in a 46-10 Penn State win.
Singleton followed that performance up the next week with a 124-yard effort and two touchdowns at Auburn, including a 54-yard touchdown run in Penn State’s’ 41-12 win at Auburn.
Then against Maryland on Nov. 12, he converted two fourth-and-one attempts into touchdown runs of 45 and 27 yards. He rushed for 112 yards on 11 carries for the game and won his third Big Ten Freshman of the Week award in the Nittany Lions’ 30-0 win.
Singleton, a 6-foot-0, 218-pound athlete out of Shillington, Pennsylvania, finished with 941 rushing yards and ten touchdowns while averaging 6.3 yards per carry, and he also ran back a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown in a game at Rutgers on Nov. 19.
One could argue that his partner in crime in the backfield, fellow freshman Kaytron Allen also had a strong case for the award with him winning the Freshman of the Week award on two occasions. Another Penn State player that had a case was linebacker Abdul Carter, who recorded 35 tackles, 6.5 sacks and forced two fumbles this season.
Singleton became the first Penn State player to win the award since quarterback Christian Hackenberg won the award in 2013.
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