ALTOONA, Pa. -- It's hard to put your finger on exactly what has happened to Nicholas Singleton this year.
But it's easy to state the obvious: He has regressed, and it should be crystal clear to everyone by now that Singleton is not Penn State's best running back.
That would be Kaytron Allen.
Both statistically and using the eye test, Allen is the more complete tailback and gives the Nittany Lions more production. He runs harder, is tougher to tackle, fights forward better and is just more trustworthy as a runner.
Here's a look at their stats:
• Singleton: 145 carries, 584 yards, 4.0 ypc, 7 TDs
• Allen: 147 carries, 714 yards, 4.9 ypc, 6 TDs
Forget about the comparison to Allen, though. The real comparison here needs to be the 2022 version of Singleton vs. the 2023 version.
Singleton had this amazing 87-tard touchdown run in last year's Rose Bowl.
Singleton also had TD runs of 70 and 44 yards last year against Ohio. And a 54-yard TD at Auburn, plus another 53-yard run in that same game. There also was a 30-yard TD against Minnesota. Plus TD runs of 45 and 27 yards against Maryland.
Goodness. Just those eight long runs accounted for 410 of his 1,061 yards last season.
But during this season, which has to be incredibly disappointing to the young man, he has carried the ball 145 times and yet has not had a single run of longer than 20 yards.
It's like we're not even watching the same player, in all honesty. This version of Singleton looks slower, less explosive, less decisive and, quite frankly, well, he just looks like a very average running back.
"It's been a big challenge," Singleton, talking after the loss to Michigan, said of his season. "I feel like it's been good still, just a learning process to how people defend me and Kaytron."
He mentioned a couple of times how running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider has reminded him to just keep grinding away.
"Me and Coach Seider have been talking about just staying the course, getting dirty runs, 4 or 5 yards, don't forget about that," Singleton said.
James Franklin was asked Monday about Singleton's dropoff this season, and the coach tried to pull the wool over everyone's eyes a bit with some fancy coach speak. This was to be expected, mind you, because Franklin and most coaches aren't keen on criticizing their own players.
"I guess what I would say is, to me, there is a lot more to playing well than just the runs and just the stats," Franklin said. "So, for example, I think when we go back and grade Nick's tape this year and compare it to last year, I think he's going to grade out as well if not better in being a well-rounded football player
"What I mean by that is, if you look at him blocking for Kaytron Allen on the goal-line touchdown the other day, he blocked his guy 5 yards into the end zone. I think that's a distinct improvement from where he was last year.
"If you look at his ability to catch the ball, run routes and be a legitimate factor in the passing game, I think he's dramatically improved in that area of his game.
"Again, if you just take the stats, yeah, I get it. But when you study the game ... I think he's improved as a football player."
OK, fine. Even if all of that from Franklin really is true, it doesn't change one simple fact: Penn State needs Nicholas Singleton to be a more productive running back.
That means stats.
Because stats win games. Long touchdown runs win games. Fighting for extra yardage wins games.
Singleton hasn't topped 80 yards rushing in a game this season. Put another way, he had one 87-yard run in the Rose Bowl, and hasn't reached that total for any full game this season.
He's averaging only 53 yards rushing per game. In six of the 11 games, he hasn't reached 50 yards.
He got off to a solid start at Ohio State, with a couple of nice runs early, and finished with 48 yards on nine carries (5.3 ypc). But against Michigan he had just 43 yards on 13 carries (3.3 ypc).
He's failed to reach 3.5 yards per carry in three of his past four games, and failed to reach that number in five games overall.
Penn State's offense has struggled this season, obviously, which led to offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich getting fired last week. As we've pointed out repeatedly, the wide receiver situation is so bad that defenses don't respect those guys, so they load up the box to focus more on stuffing the run.
Still, Allen has been able to run for 4.9 yards per carry this season, nearly a full yard more than Singleton. And again, just watching the two, Allen clearly looks like the tailback more suited for the Big Ten style, which was even the case last year, although Singleton got all the headlines with his long highlight-reel runs.
It's going to be very interesting to see what happens with Singleton this offseason.
He was the Gatorade national high school player of the year and a 5-star recruit who was offered a scholarship by pretty much all major programs. The Reading native chose to stay in state by becoming a Lion, and he surely thought superstardom was within his reach after last season.
He has said all along that splitting carries with Allen is not a problem. But you have to believe that Singleton envisioned more for himself than averaging 13 carries and 53 yards per game.
Now, the one good thing about him splitting carries is that he's saving his body from a lot of wear and tear. That can help him for any potential NFL future.
Franklin also thinks the progress he's made in other parts of his game will help his future.
"I think down the road when these things are evaluated by the people that evaluate players nationally, I think this year is really setting him up for a ton of success in his future, not only at Penn State, but afterwards," the coach said.
Perhaps that will be the case.
But a running back averaging 53 yards per game and only 4 yards per carry in college isn't likely to light up the eyes of NFL scouts. And those scouts are seeing the same thing that everyone else is seeing -- that Allen is the team's better tailback.
So, what will Singleton do?
Will he stay at Penn State another year and continue to split carries with Allen? There will be a new offensive coordinator, and maybe that guy will come up with schemes better suited to get the ball in Singleton's hands to do a lot of damage.
Then again, Penn State is losing three starters on the offensive line, and there's a chance the passing game may not improve much next year unless the wide receiver situation is completely overhauled. So, the risk for Singleton is that next season could produce more of the same level of mediocrity as this year.
Might that lead him to look into the transfer portal? While we cannot know that one way or the other, the speculation is at least plausible given how heavily recruited he was out of high school and the possibility that some school might come along and offer him a chance to be THE guy and/or give him a lot of NIL money.
At this point, add Singleton's future to the growing list of major questions that Penn State will be forced to confront this offseason.
