As Ricky Slade crossed the goal line and made his way to the sideline, the glitz and glam that comes with scoring a touchdown was placed around his neck.
“I was jealous when I first seen it, when they first popped out with them,” said wide receiver KJ Hamler. “I’m not gonna jack their swag. I had the chain first. I had the 1K chain first.”
While Hamler is correct — his 1K chain dates back to last season, when he and former roommate Miles Sanders went with matching necklaces — there is also a shiny new chain in town. It belongs to the Penn State running backs, a group that goes by the nickname the “LawnBoyz” — “because we tear up the field,” as Journey Brown said earlier this season.
It’s a position group that’s quickly become one of the most intriguing storylines on this team, as no running back has taken hold of and maintained the No. 1 job. No back has looked like he shouldn’t get carries, either.
“There’s no egos or nothing,” said Brown, who started the past two games after Slade started the first two. Brown looks like he’s in line to make another start Saturday afternoon for No. 12 Penn State (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) against Purdue (1-3, 0-1 Big Ten). “We all love each other, we all have fun. (Last week) before pregame meal we were all joking and laughing and I caught a cramp because of how hard I was laughing.”
Redshirt sophomore Journey Brown (Matthew O’Haren / USA Today)
It’s a good problem to have, even if Penn State might be figuring out how this works on the fly and even if head coach James Franklin has grown tired of questions about the running backs. He insists they like all four players. Part of the intrigue is because it’s unfamiliar territory, especially after Penn State had two bell cows for the past three seasons in Saquon Barkley and Miles Sanders.
Getting this backfield going has been as much about getting them into the flow of the game as it’s been about having them watching film, dining and hanging out together. Sharing work in the backfield was always going to be part of the plan for this season, but few expected the backfield to be this wide-open after four games. The coaching staff’s line has remained the same: If someone grabs hold of the job, it will be theirs. If not, they’ll keep cycling through four backs and potentially ride the hot hand if one emerges during a game. Still, even the coaches couldn’t have predicted this.
“In a perfect world, I would’ve liked to have been able to play three and to hold a guy,” running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider said last week. “But Devyn (Ford) came right in here and picked everything up and became a guy from Day 1, not just us coaches saw it, but the players saw it. … That kind of threw a wrench in there.”
Penn State hasn’t shown a willingness to go to role-specific duties for any of the backs yet. The starter has gotten the first few series, then the backup gets a series or two and then they typically keep cycling through until they’re back to the top of the order. They’ve used Slade as a pass catcher — he has caught all six of his targets for 90 yards — and Brown is the leading rusher at 196 yards. Ford and fellow freshman Noah Cain have flashed, as well, with Seider telling them after the Pitt game he’s more confident than ever putting both of them on the field in key situations.
Penn State has gotten creative by using a two-back sets that looks like they are here to stay, which is one way to help Seider navigate the joy, pain and early-season sleepless nights that came from trying to maximize four players’ abilities. He’s had plenty of experience managing three backs during his time at West Virginia and Florida. But the Nittany Lions use 20 personnel (two backs, three receivers) less often than teams at his previous stops, Seider said.
True freshman Noah Cain (Matthew O’Haren / USA Today)
Even as he hit the recruiting trail last year aiming to sign two running backs, he couldn’t help but think about the possibilities.
“I was always curious how it was going to be with four,” Seider said. “You’re always worried about strong guys.”
Seider meant strong personalities rather than running styles. That’s what could have derailed a meeting room where it would be easy to envision tempers flaring with just one football to go around. How would Slade, the former five-star prospect, handle three other backs who wanted to cut into his carries? How would Ford, once the longtime and lone verbally committed back in the 2019 class, take to Cain having a change of heart at the last minute and signing with Penn State instead of Texas? Could Brown, once a high school track star, put that speed to use and become an all-around football player?
“From Day 1, we talked about being unselfish in a room that can easily be selfish, because there’s only one ball,” Seider said. “I can also tell them, ‘Look, you guys were watching a lot last year when Miles was in running the ball, you stood on the sideline. We gotta embrace our role.’ ”
It’s a delicate balance — or a constant juggling act — that Seider is working to navigate. There’s also the ongoing social dynamic that reminds Seider that most days coaching is more in line with parenting. He often spends as much time with these players as he does his own family. There will be days when the running backs agree with the pecking order and days they don’t. He’ll try to be as upfront and honest with them as possible and reminds them it’s their job to make his weekly four-deep on the depth chart as difficult as possible.
“Three is a lot easier, trust me,” Seider said.
Having that constant communication and having the players over to his house — which is where the matching LawnBoyz chains for the entire five-man position group came from in the first place — has helped the unit bond. It’s also helped Seider strengthen his own scouting report on his players.
“(Noah’s) all football, football, football,” Seider said. “The other two guys, they like to have fun a little bit more, Ricky and Journey. … So you know, you got the one guy who’s ultra-serious and the other guys who are a little bit more loosey-goosey. … And then you get Devyn who came in and just fit right in. You can pretty much say anything you want to him and he’ll just laugh at you because, you know, he’s got an easygoing personality in a good way, but he’s also ultra-competitive. You don’t do what he did in high school and not be good at what you’re doing.”
True freshman Devyn Ford (Matthew O’Haren / USA Today)
What these running backs did in high school — from Brown’s epic 722-yard game to Slade’s eight touchdown performance — is also something that gets thrown around in the meeting room from time to time. For as much as it’s a place to be serious, prepare and learn, they’re also 18- to 22-years-old, and they can help break up the monotony of a game week with their humor.
“The meeting room is like a party,” Brown said. “We have fun in there. We talk smack to each other, but like I said, at the end of the day we love each other and we always challenge each other and push each other to the limit.”
That dynamic is important, even if keeping four players happy won’t be easy and some say in the age of the NCAA transfer portal it may not even be sustainable. Ford and Cain were pitched as recruits on making this a Georgia-like backfield, one where more than one player could star, even if Penn State hadn’t been built that way in recent history. Cain and Ford hadn’t met in person until after they signed, with both players participating in the Under Armour All-America Game last January. There were Snapchats and texts exchanged between the classmates before then, and the underlying theme of those messages remains relevant this season.
“Just ball out and everything will work out for itself,” Cain recalled last winter.
If and when their name is called during the game, the running backs can expect to find a teammate waiting for them on the sideline eager for a touchdown so they can put the shiny LawnBoyz chain around their neck.
“We’re always with each other. We’re close,” Slade said. “We’re watching film together, always going out to eat together, doing things as a group. I think just doing all that, the bond has gotten stronger, which is really cool.”
(Top photo of Ricky Slade: Geoff Burke / USA Today)
“I was jealous when I first seen it, when they first popped out with them,” said wide receiver KJ Hamler. “I’m not gonna jack their swag. I had the chain first. I had the 1K chain first.”
While Hamler is correct — his 1K chain dates back to last season, when he and former roommate Miles Sanders went with matching necklaces — there is also a shiny new chain in town. It belongs to the Penn State running backs, a group that goes by the nickname the “LawnBoyz” — “because we tear up the field,” as Journey Brown said earlier this season.
It’s a position group that’s quickly become one of the most intriguing storylines on this team, as no running back has taken hold of and maintained the No. 1 job. No back has looked like he shouldn’t get carries, either.
“There’s no egos or nothing,” said Brown, who started the past two games after Slade started the first two. Brown looks like he’s in line to make another start Saturday afternoon for No. 12 Penn State (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) against Purdue (1-3, 0-1 Big Ten). “We all love each other, we all have fun. (Last week) before pregame meal we were all joking and laughing and I caught a cramp because of how hard I was laughing.”
Redshirt sophomore Journey Brown (Matthew O’Haren / USA Today)
It’s a good problem to have, even if Penn State might be figuring out how this works on the fly and even if head coach James Franklin has grown tired of questions about the running backs. He insists they like all four players. Part of the intrigue is because it’s unfamiliar territory, especially after Penn State had two bell cows for the past three seasons in Saquon Barkley and Miles Sanders.
Getting this backfield going has been as much about getting them into the flow of the game as it’s been about having them watching film, dining and hanging out together. Sharing work in the backfield was always going to be part of the plan for this season, but few expected the backfield to be this wide-open after four games. The coaching staff’s line has remained the same: If someone grabs hold of the job, it will be theirs. If not, they’ll keep cycling through four backs and potentially ride the hot hand if one emerges during a game. Still, even the coaches couldn’t have predicted this.
“In a perfect world, I would’ve liked to have been able to play three and to hold a guy,” running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider said last week. “But Devyn (Ford) came right in here and picked everything up and became a guy from Day 1, not just us coaches saw it, but the players saw it. … That kind of threw a wrench in there.”
Penn State hasn’t shown a willingness to go to role-specific duties for any of the backs yet. The starter has gotten the first few series, then the backup gets a series or two and then they typically keep cycling through until they’re back to the top of the order. They’ve used Slade as a pass catcher — he has caught all six of his targets for 90 yards — and Brown is the leading rusher at 196 yards. Ford and fellow freshman Noah Cain have flashed, as well, with Seider telling them after the Pitt game he’s more confident than ever putting both of them on the field in key situations.
Penn State has gotten creative by using a two-back sets that looks like they are here to stay, which is one way to help Seider navigate the joy, pain and early-season sleepless nights that came from trying to maximize four players’ abilities. He’s had plenty of experience managing three backs during his time at West Virginia and Florida. But the Nittany Lions use 20 personnel (two backs, three receivers) less often than teams at his previous stops, Seider said.
True freshman Noah Cain (Matthew O’Haren / USA Today)
Even as he hit the recruiting trail last year aiming to sign two running backs, he couldn’t help but think about the possibilities.
“I was always curious how it was going to be with four,” Seider said. “You’re always worried about strong guys.”
Seider meant strong personalities rather than running styles. That’s what could have derailed a meeting room where it would be easy to envision tempers flaring with just one football to go around. How would Slade, the former five-star prospect, handle three other backs who wanted to cut into his carries? How would Ford, once the longtime and lone verbally committed back in the 2019 class, take to Cain having a change of heart at the last minute and signing with Penn State instead of Texas? Could Brown, once a high school track star, put that speed to use and become an all-around football player?
“From Day 1, we talked about being unselfish in a room that can easily be selfish, because there’s only one ball,” Seider said. “I can also tell them, ‘Look, you guys were watching a lot last year when Miles was in running the ball, you stood on the sideline. We gotta embrace our role.’ ”
It’s a delicate balance — or a constant juggling act — that Seider is working to navigate. There’s also the ongoing social dynamic that reminds Seider that most days coaching is more in line with parenting. He often spends as much time with these players as he does his own family. There will be days when the running backs agree with the pecking order and days they don’t. He’ll try to be as upfront and honest with them as possible and reminds them it’s their job to make his weekly four-deep on the depth chart as difficult as possible.
“Three is a lot easier, trust me,” Seider said.
Having that constant communication and having the players over to his house — which is where the matching LawnBoyz chains for the entire five-man position group came from in the first place — has helped the unit bond. It’s also helped Seider strengthen his own scouting report on his players.
“(Noah’s) all football, football, football,” Seider said. “The other two guys, they like to have fun a little bit more, Ricky and Journey. … So you know, you got the one guy who’s ultra-serious and the other guys who are a little bit more loosey-goosey. … And then you get Devyn who came in and just fit right in. You can pretty much say anything you want to him and he’ll just laugh at you because, you know, he’s got an easygoing personality in a good way, but he’s also ultra-competitive. You don’t do what he did in high school and not be good at what you’re doing.”
True freshman Devyn Ford (Matthew O’Haren / USA Today)
What these running backs did in high school — from Brown’s epic 722-yard game to Slade’s eight touchdown performance — is also something that gets thrown around in the meeting room from time to time. For as much as it’s a place to be serious, prepare and learn, they’re also 18- to 22-years-old, and they can help break up the monotony of a game week with their humor.
“The meeting room is like a party,” Brown said. “We have fun in there. We talk smack to each other, but like I said, at the end of the day we love each other and we always challenge each other and push each other to the limit.”
That dynamic is important, even if keeping four players happy won’t be easy and some say in the age of the NCAA transfer portal it may not even be sustainable. Ford and Cain were pitched as recruits on making this a Georgia-like backfield, one where more than one player could star, even if Penn State hadn’t been built that way in recent history. Cain and Ford hadn’t met in person until after they signed, with both players participating in the Under Armour All-America Game last January. There were Snapchats and texts exchanged between the classmates before then, and the underlying theme of those messages remains relevant this season.
“Just ball out and everything will work out for itself,” Cain recalled last winter.
If and when their name is called during the game, the running backs can expect to find a teammate waiting for them on the sideline eager for a touchdown so they can put the shiny LawnBoyz chain around their neck.
“We’re always with each other. We’re close,” Slade said. “We’re watching film together, always going out to eat together, doing things as a group. I think just doing all that, the bond has gotten stronger, which is really cool.”
(Top photo of Ricky Slade: Geoff Burke / USA Today)
