James Franklin wants Penn State to run the football better in 2022. And that definitely includes his running backs.
Not necessarily more carries – OK, two or three more a game would be more to Franklin’s historical liking.
Prior to the 2020 season, Nittany Lion running backs averaged 25.2 carries per game during Franklin’s first six years at Penn State. Over the past two seasons, PSU running backs have averaged exactly 23 carries per game — 23.8 in 2020 and 22.2 in 2021.
But, what Franklin really wants is more about quality than quantity, when it comes to his running backs. Or, maybe, running back singular.
Penn State’s running game drought is not just about its offensive line. Penn State’s rushers were, after all, last in the nation in yards gained after contact.
On offense, the run game is Priority No. 1 for Penn State this spring.
“We have to get the run game going and that’s my job as the head coach, to make sure that we do the things necessary in the offseason and during spring ball so that it can be,” Franklin said last week, at the start of spring drills.
“I think if we can get the run game going, which we will, I think that’s going to make us much more explosive in our play-action pass and our RPO game.”
And, though he hasn’t specifically said so, what Franklin really wants – needs — is this:
Have one back who can carry the biggest load. How do we know that? Franklin’s history tells us so. Franklin has been a head coach for 11 seasons – three at Vanderbilt, eight at Penn State – and his best teams on offense, and his best teams overall, have functioned best when one running back gets the bulk of the carries. One.
Like Zac Stacy at Vanderbilt, and Saquon Barkley, Miles Sanders and Journey Brown at Penn State.
Keyvone Lee, the Nittany Lions’ leading rusher the past two seasons, averaged only 8.9 carries a game over 11 wins and 11 losses in 2020-21. In total, Lee had 197 carries for 968 yards.
By comparison, Stacy had 201 carries in 2011 and 207 carries in 2012 at Vandy. At Penn State, Barkley had 182 carries in 2015, 272 carries in 2016 and 217 carries in 2017. Sanders had 220 in 2018. After finally being anointed the Nittany Lions’ No. 1 nearly two-thirds into the 2019 season, Brown averaged 15.6 carries per game and had four 100-yard games. (Prorated, that would have been 203 carries by Brown for the season.)
In 2022, Franklin needs more cowbell — which the Urban Dictionary defines as 1.) something everybody needs more of; and 2.) a remedy. Christopher Walken and Will Ferrell famously describe “more cowbell” this way.
In other words, a feature back. A go-to guy. A signature back.
More single(ton) mindedness, as it were.
Penn State freshman running back Nick Singleton, the 2021 Gatorade Player of the Year who rushed for 6,326 yards and 116 touchdowns, knows what I mean. His running back coach, Ja’Juan Seider, told him so.
In an interview with Audrey Snyder of The Athletic last fall, Singleton said, “Seider’s been telling me that I’m the one who can really take it to the house like Journey, Saquon, Miles Sanders — those type of backs. They don’t have that explosive running back that can take it to the house. They have good running backs, but not the person that will like go for 60.”
Lee and Singleton are likely in a battle to get the Lions’ share of carries in 2022, ahead of junior Devyn Ford, redshirt sophomore Cazaih Holmes and freshman Kaytron Allen.
Franklin said they all will get a look during practice.
“We’ll rotate the running backs all spring,” he said. “Obviously, there’s guys that have been experienced here and played a lot of football. But we’ve got two running backs that we’re excited about, and winter workouts and testing have only built on that.”
Remember this: Franklin is, at heart, a One Back Man.
PLAYING THE PERCENTAGES
Here’s a breakdown of running back carries and which back carried the bulk of the load during Franklin’s time as a head coach. His teams win the most when they have a cowbell.
| Year | School | RB Carries Per Game | % of carries by RBs | Record |
| 2011 | Vanderbilt | 26 | Zac Stacy – 66% | 6-7 |
| 2012 | Vanderbilt | 33 | Zac Stacy – 52% | 9-4 |
| 2013 | Vanderbilt | 27 | Jerron Seymour – 48% | 9-4 |
| 2014 | Penn State | 27.5 | Akeel Lynch – 44% | 7-6 |
| 2015 | Penn State | 27 | Saquon Barkley – 54% | 7-6 |
| 2016 | Penn State | 26.6 | Saquon Barkley – 73% | 11-3 |
| 2017 | Penn State | 21.5 | Saquon Barkley – 76% | 11-2 |
| 2018 | Penn State | 24.4 | Miles Sanders – 70% | 9-4 |
| 2019 | Penn State | 24 | First 8 games: J. Brown – 27% Last 5 games: J. Brown – 65.5% | 11-2 |
| 2020 | Penn State | 23.8 | Keyvone Lee – 22% | 4-5 |
| 2021 | Penn State | 22.2 | Keyvone Lee – 25% | 7-6 |
Franklin’s one RB MO was derailed the past two years by a host of factors: the forced retirement of Brown, the opening-game injury to Noah Cain in 2020, the pandemic, two offensive coordinators, a propensity to (over-)run quarterbacks Will Levis and Sean Clifford, and lots of boasting about the Penn State running back room.
We’ll note here that Cain has since exited the PSU picture, having transferred to LSU before everyone had even finished their bloomin’ onion leftovers from the Outback Bowl.
Perhaps still hampered by the injury that cost Cain his 2020 season, he was clearly second fiddle to Lee, even though they had nearly an identical number of carries.
In 2021, Lee rushed 108 times for 530 yards, a 4.9-yard per carry average, for about 41 yards per game. Cain carried 106 times for 350 yards, a 3.3-yard per carry average, and just about 27 yards per game.
The low point of Penn State’s rushing game came in that Outback Bowl, when the running backs carried the ball just 10 times, to 12 for Clifford, who exited the game early. Poor Ford had only one carry. Lee had four carries and reeled off a 26-yard gain in the second quarter, and had just one carry after that. Cain had five carries, including a 16-yarder.
Just 12 days later, Cain was gone. Gave new meaning to the rushing game.
