Penn State running back Nick Singleton grinding to reach goals

Nick Singleton’s phone wallpaper reads like a calendar. Monday through Sunday, all planned out.

The catch? It’s the same activity every day: grind.

He keeps the word plastered in front of him as a reminder of what it takes to reach his goals in 2025 and beyond. Those include earning the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s top running back, being an All-American, becoming Penn State’s second Heisman Trophy winner and — most importantly — winning a national championship.

Things have worked out quite well for Singleton and his grinding mindset. The senior running back has started since his freshman year, earned All-Big Ten honors in each of his three campaigns and now sits in 10th place in Penn State history with 2,912 rushing yards, well within reach of Evan Royster’s 3,932 at the top of the list.

And still, he sees plenty of work ahead.

“I feel like I can get better with everything,” Singleton told PennLive. “Running, obviously. Making that one man miss: the safety. Blocking, too. Catching out of the backfield. Being that whole complete back that I want to be.”

Those goals are all in view for Singleton as he turns toward his fourth and final season in a blue-and-white uniform, but it wasn’t always a guarantee he would be here. The NFL was a real possibility for the Shillington, Pa., native after an emotional Orange Bowl loss to Notre Dame.

Singleton likely would have profiled as an upper-middle-round pick in a deep 2025 draft class.

“It took me a minute. I’d say after the game, I took a week off, talking to my family, seeing what’s the best decision for me and, obviously, talking to other teammates, talking to Fatman (Kaytron Allen),” Singleton said.

But then the floodgates opened.

Drew Allar already had hinted at coming back for 2025. Zakee Wheatley announced he would be back. Zane Durant did the same. Then Dani Dennis-Sutton, Singleton and Allen headlined a Jan. 13 bombardment of return announcements.

Each of them had NFL futures but felt a sour taste in their mouth from falling one game short of the national championship.

“It was kind of a really hard decision. But at the same time, I kind of knew everybody was coming back,” Singleton said. “Their mindset was winning a national championship. And even in high school my senior year, I always wanted to win a national championship before going to the draft. That’s kind of what made my decision to want to come back.”

Singleton lives with Allen. The two are close friends, and they’re now iconic pieces of a long line of running back success at Penn State. Allen is similarly just over 1,000 yards away from Royster’s all-time rushing record, and the current “LawnBoyz” stars root for each other’s success as much as their own.

They’re the key pieces of a 2022 recruiting class, alongside the likes of Allar, Durant and Dennis-Sutton, who were deemed the saviors for the next era of Penn State football.

At long last, their senior year is here. And expectations — internally and externally — haven’t changed for what the core could deliver in Happy Valley.

“It feels real. But at the same time, it went by so fast. I remember coming here my first year, just in the dorms, fixing my room and getting ready for practice the next day,” Singleton said. “But now it’s senior year. Everybody’s here. All the vets are back. But at the same time, we’re just here to have fun, get better and compete for a national championship.”