Penn State’s RB1 is really 2. Perhaps RB1A and RB1B would be more appropriate. You decide which is which.
Over the past three seasons, roommates Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen have accounted for nine out of every 10 carries by a PSU running back — 89.8%, to be exact. Here’s the individual Tale of the Tape:
ALLEN, from Norfolk, Va., has had more carries (46.3% to 43.5%). He’s led the team in rushing yardage the last two seasons: 902 yards in 2023 and 1,108 in 2024. And he’s more punishing between the tackles and at the goal line.
SINGLETON, from Shillington, Pa., averages more yards per carry (5.8 to 5.1), has scored more rushing touchdowns (32 to 24), catches more passes (78 to 52) is faster, taller (6-1 to 5-11) and heavier (224 to 217). Though the slimmed-down Allen’s nickname is still fat.
In three seasons at Penn State, Singleton has rushed for 2,912 yards on 499 carries. Allen has rushed for 2,827 yards on 559 carries. Together, that’s a combined 137 yards per game rushing over the 42 games of their Penn State careers.
Right now, they stand No. 10 and 11 on Penn State’s all-time career rushing chart. Both have the potential to finish their college careers as the No. 1 rusher in Nittany Lion history by surpassing Evan Royster’s 3,932 career rushing yards. No. 2 behind Royster is Saquon Barkley (3,843) and No. 3 is Curt Warner (3,398). This is how close the current duo is to being No. 1:
• Singleton needs 1,021 yards to break Royster’s record. He’s averaged 971 yards per season.
• Allen needs 1,056 yards to break Royster’s record. He’s averaged 942 yards per season.
In 2025, expect both Singleton and Allen to be even better. Why? Because the Nittany Lions’ new running backs coach, Stan Drayton, does.
In the offseason, Drayton was hired to replace longtime PSU RB coach Ja’Juan Seider, who departed to Notre Dame. Drayton knows a thing or two (national championships) about coaching running backs. He was the running backs coach at Florida in 2006, when it won a natty. And he coached the position in 2014 at Ohio State, when the Buckeyes were No. 1. Both times, Urban Meyer was the head coach.
Singleton and Allen “want to be elite,” Drayton said on Thursday. “And if you’re going to be elite, you’re never satisfied with what you’ve done in the past. You’re always trying to take the next step forward. It was just a matter of showing them the film and showing them the standard of how they’re going to be coached, and them receiving it the right way.
“The instincts are there, but not necessarily the understanding of what they’re doing. They were always reacting at a high level, at an elite level. Now it’s time to anticipate. In order to do that, you got to learn defense. You got to understand how your formation is going to set a defense, or how that defense is going to fit that formation. You got to understand linebacker flow. You got to understand indicators and pass protection. All that stuff was not developed, right? So they have a huge learning curve. As far as how that’s going, we’re trying to slow the game down. And to be quite honest with you, the game is just now starting to slow down for them on those things.”
By now, you’ve heard that Fat (Allen’s nickname) is no longer heavy. Though he’s still phat. And fast. Just ask linebacker Dom DeLuca — who has gone against Allen in practice the past three years.
“Now, that man worked on the speed,” DeLuca said on Thursday. “Fat took off in one of our practices in camp. I had to cover him and he hit the corner and he was gone. I mean, Fat’s been working on his speed.”
As for Singleton, head coach James Franklin has been saying that the single thing Singleton is doing better is this: Being better in the open field. And with Singleton’s speed — he tested at 4.35 in Penn State workouts — that happens a lot.
“With Nick, a lot of it is the open-field running,” Franklin said in the offseason. “A little more creativity in his game. He’s been a guy who is obviously extremely strong, extremely explosive, extremely fast. But we want him to work on those open-field runs so he can get more 80-yard, 90-yard runs — which we think he is capable of getting. It’s a lot of that stuff — open-field running, cutting back, hurdling, setting runs up, setting defenders up.”
That both Singleton and Allen eschewed the NFL Draft in the spring and returned for a final college season is a bit of a surprise. They both announced on the same day that they were returning to Penn State in 2025 to make a run — figuratively and literally — at a national title.
Both can be soft-spoken guys. And, as part of a large group of veterans, it isn’t that necessary for them to be boisterous. DeLuca, a two-time PSU captain, says Singleton and Allen have started to find their voice in the Nittany Lion locker room during fall camp.
“Just having both of them having their voice in the locker room, that’s huge for us,” DeLuca said. “I mean, yeah, they’re quiet. But when they speak, everyone listens, and that’s what you have to do. They have that voice, and they take control. They’ll bring people along with them when they need to.”
Meanwhile, the pair are not getting a lot of run in live drills in fall camp as Franklin and Drayton already know what they can do. As Franklin said on Thursday: “We got a pretty good idea of who Nick and Fat are.” Now more than ever.
