Penn State has been known for churning out a plethora of great running backs under head coach James Franklin.
It should come as no surprise then that sophomore running back Nick Singleton is being mentioned with those great running backs after an impressive freshman campaign.
Singleton rushed for 1,061 yards and 12 touchdowns in his first year with the Nittany Lions all while splitting reps at first with the now-departed Keyvone Lee and then fellow freshman Kaytron Allen.
His performance, coupled with Allen’s, showed the future is bright for Penn State’s running back room and that its picking up where guys like Saquon Barkley and Miles Sanders left off.
Heading into his sophomore campaign, Singleton is taking his athleticism into the weight room where he’s adding to a 6-foot, 219-pound frame.
“You talk about a freaks list, if I had a candidate, that’d be the guy right there,” Assistant AD for Performance Enhancement Chuck Losey said Thursday.
The reason Losey described Singleton as a “freak” isn’t because of his ability on the field.
It’s his approach.
“He approaches training the exact same way Saquon [Barkley] approached training, the same way Miles [Sanders] approached training, as the same dude every day,” Losey said.
That consistent approach is what separates guys like Singleton from the rest of the pack throughout the country.
“Regardless of what’s going on outside of the Lasch Football Building or outside of the practice fields, I know exactly what I’m going to get from Nick when he comes in the weight room,” Losey said. “I know exactly what his approach is going to be to that training session and I can’t state that enough, it’s a huge success for these guys.”
The improvements will be seen on the field, but for now, it’s a targeted approach to getting the best and maximizing the potential of Singleton by Losey and the performance staff.
“We’re doing some things right now from a body awareness standpoint,” Losey said. “Stability, proprioception work, single limb movements and change movements I think he can improve on.”
Singleton has a great foundation to build on both on the field and off, and with a season of Big Ten play under his belt, his ceiling is only continuing to rise.
“He’s obviously got the top-end speed. He’s obviously powerful,” Losey said. “I don’t think we can ever get to the point with any of our guys where we’re efficient enough, so body composition is always going to be a thing with everyone of our guys.”
The results and efforts to improve will be on display in full force when Penn State hits the field Sept. 2Â to take on West Virginia.
