ALTOONA, Pa. -- Penn State has a great situation at running back for the next couple of years with the two-headed monster of Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen.
The two combined for 1,928 yards rushing and 22 TDs this past season, becoming the first Big Ten freshman duo to top 800 yards apiece in the same season.
There's no reason to suggest that the Nittany Lions should do anything differently with Singleton and Allen going forward. As long as both are producing, splitting carries between them can produce a whole lot of positive results.
There is, however, another aspect we can throw out for the sake of discussion, one more individually oriented than team oriented.
Can Singleton reach his full potential and become a college superstar if he's having to split carries pretty evenly and not getting a lot of touches himself?
In other words, can the former national high school player of the year become an All-American or perhaps even Heisman Trophy candidate if he's only getting 12 carries per game?
That's exactly how many carries he averaged this past season -- 12.
Singleton finished 75th in the country in total carries with 156, but finished 33rd in the nation in rushing yards (1,061) and 28th in rushing touchdowns (28). He was 12th in yards per carry (6.8).
What if Singleton got 20 carries or more per game? In theory, his numbers would explode, putting him in the 1,700-yard range with 20 TDs. Those kinds of numbers would put him in the Heisman discussion.
However ...
There's also the chance that carrying the ball that much would make him less effective overall. Because a case can be made that being able to split carries with Allen keeps Singleton fresher and, therefore, makes him more dangerous when he does get the ball.
I chatted with Singleton for roughly 10 minutes at the Rose Bowl about splitting carries, his relationship with Allen and what he learned during his terrific freshman season.
"We don't mind who started and stuff," Singleton said of sharing starting duties. "At the end of the day, we get in the game, we all share carries and stuff, we feed off each other."
OK, so splitting carries did work in year one. Can that continue for the next couple of years, and will it be enough to keep both players happy?
"Oh yeah, for sure," Singleton said. "We feel like we'll do good next year. ... Me and Kaytron, our relationship is really tight."
Singleton then was asked if he and Allen needed to be convinced that having a share role and splitting carries would be the best situation.
"No, not really," he said. "We feed off each other, it's complementary football. He's a great player. I really look up to him, how he plays and stuff."
Singleton didn't want to discuss the future all that much in Pasadena because he was focused on the Rose Bowl. But he did give some good insight into what he learned throughout his freshman season.
Here's what he said about his biggest area of improvement:
"Really my vision, my patience. I could tell the first couple of games of the season, you would just see me running outside and stuff. And then Central Michigan, obviously, I couldn't do all that stuff. So I've been just working on my vision, my patience out of the backfield, setting up blocks and stuff."
Singleton was like a lot of great high school running backs in that he was just naturally better than everyone else. When they get to college, running backs have to show the kind of work ethic and understanding that, hey, now everybody else is really good, so you have to work much harder than in high school.
"High school, it was obviously easier because you're just way faster than everybody," he said. "So when you come to this level, everybody's fast as you or faster.
"I picked it up during spring ball, like everybody was so fast. So I kind of knew, like, can't beat everybody to the corner like I used to. So, I had to set up blocks, my patience and my vision, how to work on that stuff."
