Penn State running back Keyvone Lee could be back in the mix this weekend as the Nittany Lions travel to face Indiana according to head coach James Franklin.
“Keyvone has been hurt. You guys know I don’t get into injuries [but] Keyvone has been out or limited for five weeks,” Franklin said on Tuesday. Lee had not registered a carry and had been in street clothes since Penn State’s loss to Michigan in mid October. “We are hopeful to have him back. When we have him back we feel like we got three really good backs that now at this point of the season are experienced and can make plays in the pass and run game.”
Lee had generally found himself the odd man out of Penn State’s running back rotation, which had featured the freshman tandem of Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton. Lee has logged more than five carries in just two games this season: Penn State’s opener against Purdue and then a 10-carry effort against Northwestern during Penn State’s fumble-heavy victory in the rain.
In Lee’s absence, Penn State has still managed to thrive on the ground more than in years past between Singleton’s speed and Allen’s increasingly impressive combination of vision and power.
“Those two young kinds have really complemented each other really. Kaytron has the ability to set up blocks. He has tremendous vision. Like the run we saw on Saturday, he has the ability to finish runs with power,” Franklin said of a run Allen had over an Ohio State defender.
So far this season Allen has run for 472 yards on 90 carries and five touchdowns while Singleton has posted 606 yards on 96 carries and seven touchdowns of his own. Their 12 combined touchdowns are already more than Penn State has a team in all of 2021.
“You know, [Allen is] just a very well-rounded running back. Got a very high football IQ,” Franklin said. “I think really him and Nick are really good complementary pieces much as with have seen around college football and what’s happened with Keyvone, you want to rotate those guys as much as you can to keep them healthy. We have been fortunate this year to pretty much every week have at least two backs that we feel really good about. So it’ll be nice hopefully if we’re in a situation, hopefully have Keyvone back this week. Just met with him yesterday. Had a really good meeting with him yesterday.”
