Running back sorting itself out this spring

Penn State head coach James Franklin’s assessment at running back was an assertive one Wednesday evening.

His Nittany Lions, now through their 10th spring practice of 15 leading into the Blue-White Game next Saturday, have two backs that have separated themselves. Ricky Slade, a rising sophomore with 45 carries for 257 yards and six touchdowns in his debut, and Journey Brown, a redshirt sophomore with eight touches for 44 yards and a score last season, currently are ahead of the pack, said Franklin.

“I think both Ricky and Journey have kind of taken a step and separated themselves, as they should,” he said. “Ricky is pretty confident right now. That game experience I think was really helpful for him. Journey obviously didn't get as much game experience, but still got some, and we've seen some really good things.”

The result for Penn State in the season ahead could be a truly multi-pronged attack at the running back position for the first time in recent memory.

Since Saquon Barkley’s true freshman season, the Nittany Lions have not had a second running back exceed 30 percent of the carries as the primary ballcarrier, Akeel Lynch’s 55 closest behind Barkley’s 182 carries for 1,076 yards in 2015. Since then, Barkley had a 272 to 29 apiece advantage over Andre Robinson and Mark Allen, in 2016, a 217 to 31 attempt lead over Sanders in 2017, and Sanders himself carried the ball 220 times to Slade’s 45 last season.

Now, running backs assistant coach Ja’Juan Seider is counting on the advantages of Penn State’s depth at the position coming to fruition this season.

“I think it's something about getting those guys in there and keeping them fresh because I think a fresher back in the fourth quarter is better than a back that's tired in the fourth quarter,” Seider told reporters. “I think the season is so long. That's a lot of wear and tear on a guy. Those guys get pounded so much, it's blocking, helping the O-linemen with chip blocks, running the routes, running the ball.

“So keeping those guys fresh, I'm a big believer in that and I think we need to evolve more to that. We haven't done that enough, I don't think. Even with Saquon and Miles and even last year, we tried to get into that and we had a couple of nicks here and it got away from us a little bit.”

If this spring’s trends stand for the Nittany Lions, that will mean plenty of carries for Slade, Brown, and early enrollee Noah Cain, who Seider identified as on track to play during the 2019 season.

Having signed his letter of intent in December, and since arriving to campus in January, Cain has started to find his niche. Reading between the lines of comments from both Franklin and Seider, the IMG Academy product has managed to recalibrate his expectations and is now getting the hang of the college football experience.

“I think like all those kids that's highly recruited, a lot of them come in with expectations they're going to start right away. And I think it kind of hit him in the face,” said Seider. “Like, this is Penn State. It's going to be hard to come in and play right away with our history at running back. And now he's starting to fit in.

“The biggest thing for those guys is to just enjoy the process. Sometimes we put so much pressure on ourselves because we think NFL right away. Let's be honest. That's what these kids live in today. I gotta be an NFL three-and-out. So now he can take a deep breath and relax and learn from the older guys and enjoy the brotherhood. And now that he's doing that, he's starting to play better. The pressure is off of him. It's okay to make a mistake. Come back the next play and play the next play. It's like baby steps with him. You got the training wheels on and eventually, we're going to take them off of him.”

And when they come off, Seider continued, Cain will be in a position to help contribute to Penn State’s efforts offensively in the season ahead.

“The best thing about it is there’s no pressure on him. He's got two guys in front of him that can play, and we're going to bring him along,” said Seider. “He's going to play this year. He knows that. The guys in the room know it. So you'll see multiple guys play this year. I feel strongly about that already.”

How that distribution of carries ultimately works itself out remains to be seen, but both Seider and Franklin expressed confidence that the experience of Slade and the game maturation of Brown will pay dividends for the Nittany Lions' offense.

"I think we're at a point where we have some guys that are in the program that can play. We were a little depth deprived a little bit last year. Even last year, you didn't know what Miles was going to do until Miles took over," said Seider. "We got two guys that we feel really good about. We got a young guy starting to grow up, that's why getting him early is going to help. He's starting to get comfortable, things are starting to slow down to him, and we're throwing a lot at him. We're throwing a lot at him, so when the summer gets here, it'll really slow down and then he got the fall to build upon."