Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1486024
2 0 D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 2 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Kaytron Allen has emerged as a 'co-starter' alongside freshman classmate Nicholas Singleton, giving Penn State a formidable backfield combination S ome football nicknames are timeless. Think of the Gal- loping Ghost … the Four Horsemen … the Bus … the Refrigerator … the Minister of Defense … Sweetness. Other football nicknames are time sensitive. Think of … Fatman. Yes, Fatman. That's how Kaytron Allen was known at IMG Academy in Florida, where he rushed for just over 3,000 yards in three seasons and earned a four-star rating in the On3 Consensus. He stood 5-foot-11, 225 pounds at the time, so he wasn't exactly evoking comparisons to famously chunky running backs like Craig "Ironhead" Heyward or Je- rome "The Bus" Bettis. And yet, the nickname followed him to Penn State, where he arrived this past January as an early enrollee in the Nittany Lions' 2022 recruiting class. During the months leading up to Penn State's opener, Al- len was often pegged as the power runner in the Lions' class, a between-the-tackles sledgehammer to complement the five-star speedster Nicholas Singleton. But with his first collegiate regular season now in the books, that assessment has turned out to be only partly ac- curate. The inaccurate part has to do with his weight. Since arriv- ing at Penn State, Allen has shed about 25 pounds. If anyone was tempted to regard him as just another heavy-duty power runner, they aren't anymore. "He's less and less of his nickname," head coach James Franklin said. M AT T H E R B | M AT T. H E R B @ O N 3 . C O M Allen took over the starting running back position at midseason, earning the first-team nod against Ohio State and Indiana. He didn't start in Week 11 versus Rutgers but still led the Nittany Lions with 117 yards rushing. PHOTO BY DANIEL ALTHOUSE SPLIT DECISION