Through his first season at Penn State, running back Nick Singleton was known for his speed.
That speed served him well, making him one of college football’s better backs as a true freshman (1,061 yards, 12 TD, 7.7 YPC).
His 87-yard TD run in the Rose Bowl put a cap on what was one of the best freshman seasons in Penn State history.
The next season, it was apparent to those watching that Singleton was working on developing his skills as a power back. Whether that change of style hurt Singleton or not is unconfirmed but his stats did suffer. Playing in the same amount of games, his yards fell from over 1,000 to 752, his yards per carry from 6.8 to 4.4 and his touchdowns from 12 to 8.
This season, Singleton is on pace to have the year of his life.
Through four games, he’s rushed for 408 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 7.2 yards per carry, and running isn’t all that he’s doing.
He’s still showing plenty of speed.
NICK THE QUICK! ⚡️@NickSingletonn was College Football's fastest player in Week 01, clocking in at 21.8 MPH on his TD run 💨👀 pic.twitter.com/rnbedSCiYs
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) September 5, 2024
He’s been an effective in the passing game, catching six balls for 82 yards and two scores, and is also doing things that don’t appear on the box score.
Full Beast Mode 😤 @NickSingletonn pic.twitter.com/AXrJb2jbM8
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) October 1, 2024
Singleton prides himself on the work he’s put in toward doing everything well.
“I’m trying to be a complete back,” he told reporters via Zoom Wednesday. “Blocking, I want to do that, too, work on that. My speed, I worked on that the whole offseason. And catching the ball out of the backfield. Being a complete back. That was really my goal throughout the offseason, just working on stuff like that. I feel like you can see it during the games, but obviously still stuff I need to improve on. So I just have to keep working on it.”
As for the physicality displayed against Illinois, a lot of that is mental.
“(RB) Coach (Ja’Juan) Seider always says to play running back, you have to have that little edge to yourself. Have a different mentality. Willing to get the extra yard if nothing’s there, trying to run someone over. Just building that mentality and that playmaker ability, man.”
Singleton enjoys putting fear into opponents.
“That just shows how defenders get scared of you, how easily they can change their defenses when they’re trying to defend you,” he said. “So, just being that type of back, everybody’s scared of that, so just have to keep doing that.”
