THE SKINNY
Height/Weight: 6-foot-0, 210 pounds
Hometown/High School: Reading, PA (Governor Mifflin)
Ranking: ★★★★ (0.9578 247Sports Composite — No. 98 Overall)
Notable Offers: Alabama, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, and Wisconsin
HIGHLIGHTS
THE TALE
For those that follow recruiting closely, Singleton is a prospect who feels like he’s been around forever. He earned his Penn State offer way back in July 2019 before his sophomore season, and despite the pandemic-filled 2020, continued to be a major priority for the Nittany Lions. While Singleton was never looked at as a lock to Penn State, the Nittany Lions weathered the storm — most notably, Notre Dame and Alabama official visits — to secure Singleton’s commitment.
OUTLOOK
Penn State is after some really good running backs this cycle: from Omarion Hampton to George Pettaway to Ramon Brown to Kaytron Allen — JaJuan Seider had a great crop of guys to go after. But with everything considered, I think it’s safe to say Nicholas Singleton was the big fish.
First and foremost, let’s state the obvious: he’s a Pennsylvania kid. That shouldn’t be the end all be all when it comes to why one prospect is more important than another, but Penn State has struggled keeping the uber-elite kids in state the last two classes. Nolan Rucci, Derrick Davis, and Julian Fleming were brutal misses. Those that follow Penn State can say all they want about the “Dominate The State” mantra or how the DMV and New Jersey are more important states/areas than PA, but the bottom line is this: Penn State can not reach its potential as a program until it keeps the elite PA prospects in state. What that “potential” is can be up for debate, but there’s no path to it if Penn State can’t lockdown the PA prospects it wants.
Beyond the PA aspect, Singleton probably offers the highest upside of any of the running backs. He has a rare combination of size (6-foot-0, 210 pounds), speed (10.89 100M), and power (505-pound squat) that makes him a future member of Bruce Feldman’s annual “freak” list. He’ll face a steep jump in the competition he’s facing when he gets to Penn State, but Singleton has the talent and potential to continue the strong play of PA running backs at Penn State during the James Franklin era.