Comparing size, speed, cutting ability, vision, strength. I racked my brain and did come up with one name and looked back over some old videos. He and Lydell Mitchell have many similarities.
Does Singleton remind you of any other PSU RBs?
- Thread starter Delco Lion
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Probably Mitchell or Warner but he could grow into a Larry Johnson type IMO. He's already almost 220--he'll likely add another 10 pounds.
Regardless--he's special and he's going to help us be special for 3 years.
Reminds me a little of LJ, speed + power. A little smaller, though he may put on some more muscle with a couple years in the weight room.
It's honestly that extra gear that he has once he gets to the second level that jumps out to me as "LJ-esque". He sets up the defenders perfectly and once he gets to the edge he's gone.
No. They are all unique just like Nick is. I will just watch him develope and enjoy it.
I'd say Larry Johnson or Journey Brown given his pure speed - once he's in the open field, he's just off to the races.
I did notice a short side toss, Warner- esk. Long time no see.
KA had two beautiful cut back runs showing patience and good decision making, letting his line seal some lanes .
Nick reminds me of a Carter- Barkley combo. Carter's explosiveness with Saquon's strength. Nick and Katron have the potential to see something we haven't seen since Mitch & Franco.
KA had two beautiful cut back runs showing patience and good decision making, letting his line seal some lanes .
Nick reminds me of a Carter- Barkley combo. Carter's explosiveness with Saquon's strength. Nick and Katron have the potential to see something we haven't seen since Mitch & Franco.
Ki-Jana Carter.
This is my thought too. He reminds me of Kijana how if you get him a crease, he is gone.
Curt Warner was only 205 when he graduated. Singleton is going to end up at 230 or more.
He looks most like LJ, IMO. He attacks the line with speed on every play, like LJ did, while most all other backs took the handoff at half speed and looked for the hole. Almost plays like an angry man on the attack.....which is what LJ was.
But the line played well and gave him some space to get started. Then he made the most of it.
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I agree with this--the OP talked about a size comparison as well which is I why I started with the smaller guys but LJ is the guy I see as well--especially by his junior year.
Very similar to LJ and Journey Brown with his flat-out speed. You give him a hole where he gets into open field he is going to break a lot of runs as his speed puts extreme pressure on the safeties and corners' open-field tackling ability as he is gone if you make even the slightest misjudgment on your angle... as the Auburn d-back found out.
I think he has more pure speed than Kijana - has pure sprinters speed like LJ and Brown.
I think LJ. He’s a one cut, downhill guy who can get up to top speed in a hurry.
Warner wasn't very big, especially early in his PSU career. 170 as a freshman? 50 lbs lighter than Singleton. I believe Singleton is already much bigger than what Warner was as a Senior. And for all the quickness and cutting ability that Warner had he didn't seem to have Singleton's speed and ability to take it the distance. I wonder if Warner had the number of 40+ yard runs that Singleton has already has after 3 games, as I don't remember many from Warner.
LJ was taller and physical from the word go, and fast but not as fast as Singleton. PSU's OL was better in LJ's day and once LJ broke through the line he had plays where no defenders were near him.
I haven't seen Singleton break a lot of tackles so far. Pretty much just ran away from defenders and hit holes quickly. Franklin's comments on him from practice were that he hit defenders like a truck so I'm expecting him to punish some defenders and run over a few which should lead to some more chunk plays.
I've been watching PSU football since the 1960's when my older brother enrolled and I see Barkley and Sanders as the most realistic comparisons. As fast or faster than anyone on the field and the ability to make quick cuts. Unfortunately the read option and OL hindered Barkley's stats for 40+ yard runs, but when he did go the distance it was a highlight.
If/when Singleton starts running over and through defenders, and he displays the power that Franklin has mentioned from practice, he probably will look more like Carter.....
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Kijana Carter was blazing fast…faster than LJJr.
For me, it's Carter. When it looks like the defender has an angle on him he just speeds up and he's gone. Carter always amazed me with his extra gears. Singleton looks similar.
Agree with the comparison but disagree about the speed thing. Carter , Johnson, and Barkley were probably as straight line fast as each other.
Barkley could stop, cut, and go like Barry Sanders at 30,40 lbs heavier. Carter would just dip or lean to get someone to commit and be gone . Johnson was fast and could Jim Brown you.
Singleton is probably most like Carter. Just a little lean to fool you and blast off in the other way workout slowing down.
Semi-related, but is anyone else bothered by how Miles Sanders is ignored when talking about recent PSU RBs? The announcers kept saying how PSU hasn't had a top quality RB since Saquon and I kept on yelling at the TV being like "Sanders played after Barkley!" I mean, Sanders is a starting RB in the NFL, he's no slouch.
I get not "counting" someone like Journey Brown but ignoring Sanders is insulting.
I agree, but the context is that PSU is becoming "Running Back U". That isn't anything but good, especially because we haven't been able to run our way out of a wet paper bag since Journey retired.
The bad part is the last two years were bad. The good part is we've had great backs since Barkley overall so those two years look more like a blip than a trend.
Agreed. Was it the OL or the RBs? I don't know. We didn't run very well against Purdue, but did in the last two games. I respect Auburn's D so that is a big plus. One thing I am seeing is Singleton and Allen are very creative in finding a hole. Singleton has bounced inside runs outside on several occasions and Allen scored a key TD on his own by finding a crease where is wasn't supposed to be against Auburn. Both, also, have an acceleration that I have seen since Journey. On Singleton's long runs, defenders often take bad routes, apparently underestimating his speed. Then in a straight line, he runs as fast as the DBs who are in pursuit. It appears Allen is even faster but hasn't had the ops.
I suspect that the OL has improved but we are considerably better at RB. I note that the two of them have 53 attempts of the team's total of 105. Ford and Lee have 21 total.
Interestingly, the QBs have 25 total. I am sure more than half of those are when flushed from the pocket.
It's way too early to say. He looks to have Carter's speed. Not as strong as Mitchell and not as shifty as Warner or Thomas. Of course he's very young and just getting started.
The young RBs seem to see the opening and hit it quickly. I'm not sure how you coach that.
It’s also the scheme. These big runs are on called run plays, not options. That means the o line can be very aggressive in their blocking. More importantly, they can go downfield to block middle linebackers and even DBs coming up in run support. This is what allows the big runs to happen. In the RPO they couldn’t cross the line of scrimmage.
The other thing are the backs are starting six or seven yards deep to give them time to read the defense and the blocking. They also get the ball at speed so they can hit a hole quicker. Lastly, in the RPO the backs have little option where to go when they finally get the ball and have to stay on that side of the center. This allowed the d to flow quickly to the mesh point. With this scheme they can cut right or left of center if needed, forcing the d to defend the entire field.
Good point. Clifford has had a total of 18 attempts. I'll bet there aren't any real running attempts in there other then kneel downs, QB sneaks (he's scored 3 TDs) and being flushed from the pocket. Have we abandoned the QB run option in the RPO?
Good instincts. Allen’s vision is fantastic. We have two very good young backs that will hopefully feed off each other the next two years. Both look like 3 and done kind of guys.
It always gets back to guys with NFL ability. I really think that Allen and Singleton have NFL traits at this point. Allen set up some blocks on Saturday that a lesser back would have run right up the OL's back.
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