Penn State Football: Devyn Ford Finding Role, and Happiness in the Process

There are trees, slowly changing into autumn colors in the background of Penn State running back Devyn Ford’s video call. They aren’t real of course, at least they aren’t actually behind Ford, but they cast a friendly peaceful scene behind a million dollar smile that Ford brings all on his own. In many ways they mirror much about Ford himself, they are older, wiser, changing ever so slowly and at peace.

Now a junior at Penn State, Ford is an interesting case study in waiting your turn. In a running back room that has never been short on depth over the course of his career Ford is just one of many in a long line waiting to get a fair shake on the field. But then there was Noah Cain, and Journey Brown and Keyvone Lee. Now there is Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen. There’s always someone.

Ford is surprisingly at peace with all of this, his role now on special teams, third downs and the occasion reception in the passing game. In a world full of transfers and players looking for greener pastures Ford is happy where he is, and there’s something to be said for that.

“It’s a great place to be here,” Ford said on Wednesday. “You can’t get anywhere better than this family and atmosphere. You go in the building every single day and you can treat every single man in there like he’s your father or friend, and that’s what you’d like to have. So I guess that’s one thing that’s really kept him here, especially because of the mindset my grandma instilled in me – you finish something that you start. I gotta make sure I do everything I can to get the best out of the school and for the school to get the best out of me.”

Of course Ford would like to play more – who wouldn’t – the junior back has seven carries through three game, a mark that’s halfway to his 2021 total already but far less the 119 he had combined over the 2019 and 2020 seasons. In turn there is always a little bit of wondering “what if?” Take for example his once counterpart Noah Cain who is finding his place as one of LSU’s primary backs. That could have been Ford, no longer waiting his turn but instead calling a different program home.

And yet here he is, finding his place the old fashion way. Will it come at the expense of playing more? Maybe, but time will tell.

“Devyn Ford is one of my one of my favorites. I shouldn’t have favorites but the way he’s handled his entire Penn State career, he’s one of our MVPs,” Penn State coach James Franklin said after the Nittany Lions’ win over Auburn. “He’s doing it on special teams right now and has got a nice role on offense. I’m really proud of him.”

Ford misses Cain, the two still chat from time to time after coming to Penn State in the same recruiting class. Once the heralded duo that Singleton and Allen are hoping to be, Ford is learning from his talented counterparts as much as he’s teaching them. And yes he realizes that the better they get the harder it will be for him to find the field, but that’s okay and thinking about what could have been – that Ford could follow in the footsteps of Cain – isn’t how Ford wants to approach things. It’s not how he wants to live.

“One thing that I heard was comparison is a thief of joy,” Ford said. “And I don’t look at it that way. He has his own rules and its own path of life and I support him and respect him for everything that he’s done […] every day you just got to wake up with a positive attitude because you know it may not go your way or it may – but no matter what, as long as you a positive attitude and you keep looking at the other side of things no matter what position you’re in, it’s gonna be good.”