Penn State's Kaytron Allen Continues Kicking Down Doors

The Nittany Lions running back celebrates touchdowns with a move that's part catharsis and part reminder.

Penn State running back Kaytron Allen scores a touchdown during the fourth quarter against the Illinois Fighting Illini at Beaver Stadium. / Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

After his first rushing touchdown of the season, Penn State running back Kaytron Allen kicked down another door. His teammates kicked with him. It was part celebration, part catharsis and part reminder.

"I haven't been in the end zone for so long, so I had to do it again," Allen said after Penn State's 21-7 win over Illinois last Saturday. "It's just kicking down the door to let you know I'm here."

Allen is half of Penn State's three-year, two-back strategy that has become one of the Big Ten's toughest puzzles to solve this season. Allen and Nicholas Singleton each has 53 carries in four games, part of Penn State's designed approach to share workload, prevent injury and preserve their backs' legs. That approach served the Nittany Lions last Saturday against Illinois, when Allen took over a key fourth-quarter offensive series.

Allen carried on the drive's last four plays, punctuating it with a 5-yard touchdown run that gave Penn State a two-possession lead. By that point, the Allen-Singleton combination had worn on Illinois, which couldn't keep Allen from the end zone. And then he kicked down the door.

"I thought that was very telling of how connected our offense is."

James Franklin enjoyed seeing Kaytron Allen's teammates join in on the RB's TD celly 🙌#B1GFootball x @PennStateFball pic.twitter.com/VeHk3c8lCs

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 1, 2024

"I thought that play that Kaytron scored on, and he does the whole deal where he's kicking down the door and the whole offense did that with him, I thought that was very telling of how connected our offense is and how connected our team is," Franklin said.

It also told a story about Allen. The running back from Norfolk, Virginia, by way of Florida's IMG Academy, occasionally has run in Singleton's shadow. Certainly not in the program, which has named the two as co-starters for three years and has blended their workload nearly down to the carry. Allen has 2,058 career rushing yards on 392 attempts; Singleton has 2,221 career yards on 380 carries. "I don't know if there's a better combination of running backs in the country," Franklin said after the Illinois game, in which both scored rushing touchdowns.

But there is a touchdown disparity. Singleton has scored 29 career touchdowns, 23 rushing. Allen has 20 career touchdowns, 17 rushing. And Allen values touchdowns. The rushing touchdown against Illinois was his first this season (he caught a touchdown pass from quarterback Drew Allar at West Virginia). After the game, Allen sounded as though he hadn't been to the end zone in years.

"When I got in the end zone, I damn near wanted to cry, I’m not going to lie to you," he said. "... I hadn't been there for so long."

Allen and Singleton are such uniquely complimentary players at their position. Singleton this season has recaptured his explosive-play magic, recording three carries of 40+ yards through four games. He had none last year. But even with Singleton averaging 102 yards per game, and ranking sixth nationally with 7.7 yards per carry, Penn State continues its disciplinary rotation of the backs.

Allen isn't the big-play threat but rarely loses yardage on carries. He's averaging 5.5 yards per carry this season despite a long run of 26 yards. Allen has lost just 3 yards on 53 carries (and Singleton just 2), making them a difficult combination to tackle. Still, Singleton has seen some subtle differences in Allen this year.

"You can tell he's a lot faster," Singleton said. "He worked on his speed through the whole offseason. He’s still got that truck animation; he can go through anybody. He’s more of a complete back this year, too."

And, as Franklin noted, Allen has continued improving despite an offseason injury that limited his training. In fact, that has been a theme Allen has worked through during his career at Penn State.

"To be honest with you, Kaytron has always [had], really just kind of maybe some bad luck, but historically with his time here he's always had some lingering injury in the offseason that I think has hurt some of his development," Franklin said. "He's one of the more natural football players that we've got. It was really that way when he showed up on campus. Don't get me wrong, he has worked very hard at his development. Just missed a lot of time in the offseason. So to see him playing the way he's playing right now is awesome."

That Allen and Singleton have accepted, even thrived, in their two-back system is unique, as Penn State running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider said over the summer. Neither Allen nor Singleton has totaled more than 175 carries in a season. They're comfortable with that. "We feed off each other," Singleton said. "That's the type of players we are."

During Penn State's September bye week, Franklin visited IMG Academy, where Allen played for three seasons. "I was back there at IMG telling everybody on this campus how proud they should be of him as well," Franklin said.

On the field, Allen sets out to make one person proud. Allen has spoken for several years about the sacrifices his mother, Latarsha Allen, has made so he can play football. After scoring the touchdown against Illinois, Allen mentioned his mother again.

"She's been here all my life, from Little League when she used to run with me to the [end zone]," Allen said. "When I score, I always think about my mom."

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Penn State on SI is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on X (or Twitter) @MarkWogenrich.