Penn State has two elite running backs in Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen who have split the workload in the backfield since their freshman seasons in 2022 — something of a rarity in today’s college football landscape, where either one could’ve transferred and been a lead back somewhere else.
However, many fans and experts believe Allen may be deserving of more touches after his strong start to the season, and the stats certainly back up that argument.
Against UCLA, Singleton played 37 snaps compared to Allen’s 22. Singleton averaged 3.5 yards on 11 carries against the Bruins, whereas Allen averaged 6.3 yards and scored two touchdowns on eight carries. That’s been the trend all season — Singleton is averaging 3.8 yards, and Allen has 7.0 yards per carry on nine fewer attempts.
It’s also worth noting that Singleton’s longest run this season is 16 yards, but Allen has runs of 16, 18, 19, 20 and 67 yards.
To Singleton’s credit, he has been the more productive receiver and has played on more passing downs, which may attribute to his higher snap count. But Allen has been the more productive and explosive rusher through five games. James Franklin said Monday that the coaching staff has had discussions about getting Allen more touches.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that Kaytron’s having a good year and has been very productive, and that’s kind of what we look at each week, is how are we getting him touches?” Franklin said. “It’s not necessarily play count, but it’s also opportunities that he’s getting to touch the ball, so that’s something we discuss as an offensive staff each week. He’s obviously been very productive. Obviously, when things don’t go well, then that’s one of the first things you look at. You say he needs more touches and should have had more touches in that game. We had a similar discussion ourself as a staff.”
Franklin said the running backs are “rotating essentially by series,” and the coaches are tracking their touches more than their snap counts when discussing the rotation. Despite Allen’s productivity, there hasn’t been an obvious adjustment from the coaching staff, and it remains to be seen if there will be a shift in touches this weekend against Northwestern.
