CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Robert Frost wrote those words in 1922.
Ninety-six years later, Miles Sanders is living them.
The junior Penn State running back was sitting on a ledge off the 20-yard line late Friday night/early Saturday morning, ringed by a small group of reporters. It was a few minutes past midnight. But the Memorial Stadium scoreboard still read Penn State 63, Illinois 24.
For Sanders, it was a night he had been waiting on for a long time. Almost too long. Two hundred yards rushing. Three touchdowns. Two years.
“It took patience,” he says. “I went from being a top recruit to sitting behind another great back. But I came here for a reason. They recruited me for a reason. And I feel like I’m doing whatever I have to do to help my team win.’
A ONE-TIME NO. 1
Sanders entered Penn State as the nation’s No. 1 high school running back prospect of 2015, when he capped off a stellar career at Woodland Hills High School during which he carried the ball 508 times for 4,573 yards and 59 touchdowns.
But, with Saquon Barkley ahead of him, in the 2016 and ’17 seasons, Sanders essentially rode the pines of the Nittany Lion bench. It was a deep forest indeed. After returning 33 kickoffs as a freshman, Sanders handled just five in 2017. In fact, last year he had just 52 touches. During a 48-day stretch, he carried the ball just six times — all against Michigan. And he didn’t even see the field against Ohio State.
It hasn’t been easy.
“I’ve been waiting for this for two years,” he shares. “It’s not easy sitting and going through what I went through, coming from where I came from in high school,” as the nation’s top prep back.
After the game, he shared an emotional moment with his mother, Marlene.
“She told me that this was the moment I had been waiting for, and just take advantage of it,” Sanders says. “She was proud to see me on the field and just be happy. Moms stay positive. She kept me going, praying for me, telling me that everything happens for a reason, that it all was going to come.”
Sanders knows adversity. He has the names of three friends — all deceased — taped on his arms as reminders of life’s struggles and his own roots.
So, in the grand scheme of things, waiting behind Barkley was doable. However: That Barkley was just three months older than him, yet thousands of rushing yards past him, had to wear on Sanders. The wait has also taught Sanders humility and gratitude. “After every drive, I go up to the O-line and tell them how much I appreciate them,” he says.
PITT THE START OF IT
His burden was eased a bit two weeks ago in Pittsburgh, when he ran for 118 yards in the first 100-yard rushing game of his college career — now in Year 3 — in his hometown, against Pitt.
But Sanders wasn’t really free of Saquon’s ghost until his night here was over and he had amassed an even 200 yards rushing, with touchdown runs of 14, 2 and 48 yards in a stadium that was home to the Galloping Ghost himself, Red Grange.
For Sanders, it was a night to remember. And savor.
On the field, No. 24 carried the ball 22 times and not a single carry was for a loss. His first TD gave Penn State a 7-0 lead and his third gave PSU a 28-24 lead that it never relinquished.
Off the field, Sanders finally became The Man as well. “I’m getting better,” he says, “at being vocal.”
At halftime, with the Nittany Lions ahead just 21-17 after handing Illinois all of its points due to Penn State miscues and mistakes, Sanders spoke. Which he never does. Until now.
“I’m getting more comfortable with it all,” he admits. “Just seeing how Saquon handled it last year. I try to be that leader and lead by example. I try to get everyone on the same page, keep ’em going, keep ’em motivated.”
So, Sa-Sa is gone. And Boobie is now the boss.
Through the first four games of the 2017 season, Barkley had 518 yards on 66 carries, with four rushing TDs — and that included 172 yards against Akron and his epic 211 rushing yards and 358 all-purpose yards at Iowa.
Through the first four games of the 2018 season Sanders is right there with him. Sanders has run for 495 yards on 71 carries. He ran for 91 yards against App State, with 62 coming in the final quarter and overtime, including the go-head score in OT; for the 118 in driving rain against Pitt; and a perfunctory 86 yards on only 14 carries last week vs. Kent State.
DREAMS
Several Penn State players sat along that ledge, giving interviews.
Sanders was the second-last to leave the field. It took him a long time to get those 200 yards — his career-high in school had been 166 — and he wasn’t going to go quickly into the night.
He and his teammates faced a flight home before their long day and large win were over. For Sanders, Friday night was both the end and the beginning.
The end of his wait. The beginning of the in-conference Big Ten schedule. And the beginning — finally — of the college career that had he dreamed about.
But those dreams could wait.
After this night, for this season, and for a football life that has bloomed again after two years of hibernation, Miles Sanders knows he has miles to go before he sleeps.
