Penn State’s Nick Singleton: ‘Anything’s possible if you just put your mind to it’

Nick Singleton remembers going to football camps when he was a kid.

At the time he never dreamed he’d someday set records in the Rose Bowl; his goals were more modest He just wanted to be a Mustang. He looked up to future teammate Cam’Ron Stewart and the older players in the program. They were his role models.

“I was one of them,” the Penn State tailback said Sunday, nodding toward the 100 or so kids scrambling around Mifflin Stadium at the Nick Singleton Football Clinic, an event sponsored by one of his NIL partners, Gatorade.

The kids, age 5 up through junior high, came from the Mifflin Broncos youth program and from the Olivet Boys and Girls Club.

Singleton and many of his former coaches at Mifflin put the kids through drills, teaching them the proper way to carry a football, how to take a handoff, how to throw and catch a football.

It’s the same stuff Singleton once learned on the same field, only he didn’t have a national college star out there leading the drills.

That’s what Nick Singleton is now: A national star. He put together a sensational season that saw him rush for over 1,000 yards and set Penn State freshman rushing records. He capped it off with an 87-yard touchdown run against Utah as the Nittany Lions captured the Rose Bowl trophy.

“He’s going to be one of the faces of college football this season,” said his agent, Austin Lyman of Athletes First.

The kids running up to him at the end of the camp, handing him their sneakers and caps and gloves to sign didn’t know all about his emerging NIL portfolio or the fact he’s landing on a bunch of preseason All-American lists.

They just know that the guy who wears No. 10 for Penn State and who grew up in their community was there throwing passes to them, and they loved it.

“When Nick comes in (to one of the drills), you can see they all perked up,” said Jeff Lang, the Mifflin coach when Singleton smashed the Berks County record book by rushing for over 6,000 yards and scoring 116 touchdowns.

“They’re all trying extra hard, trying to impress him,” said Lang.

“He’s throwing the ball to them. Instead of throwing it back they’re running it back and handing it to him. You can tell there’s a lot of respect for him.”

“It was pretty fun to come out here and play football,” said Greg Day Jr., a rising freshman at Exeter.

His dad, Greg, a former Mifflin wide receiver, was just as thrilled to see Singleton out there with the kids.

“To see him with all this success, it’s pretty cool,” he said.

It was hard to tell who enjoyed the day more, the budding young players or Singleton himself.

He was at home, back on familiar turf, with his family and former coaches around him. He was relaxed and smiling and more self-assured after establishing himself as one of the top players in the Big Ten.

“Just doing this camp, giving back to the kids, it means a lot to me,” Singleton said. “Getting out here, doing all this, feels great.”

And there was plenty of giving back. Gatorade presented both the Broncos organization and the Olivet Boys and Girls Club checks for $12,500.

“The important thing to the Singleton family is that this (event) had a community piece,” Lyman said, “so that Nick can give back and pass on to the next generation.”

Singleton did a few one-on-one interviews at the end of the event, but he’s not a big media guy. Talking about himself is not one of his favorite activities.

He gets recognized all time talking on campus. Other students see him and give him a shout-out, tell him ‘Great game!’ and all of that stuff.

He’d sooner just pull his hoodie over his head and walk to class unrecognized. That’s who Nick Singleton is: All business. He wants to get in the weight room, throw some weights around, then run people over on the football field. All the other stuff is just so much window dressing.

“I’m a chill guy, I don’t like all that attention,” he said, “so I stay out of their way.”

That wasn’t the case Sunday. He was loving playing with and talking to the kids. He remembers it wasn’t so long ago he was out there, an unknown face in the football world, but with dreams.

“He’s cool with this,” Lang said, watching Singleton sign for the kids. “He doesn’t like to stand up in front of people and talk, this is what he likes: Talking to the kids one-on-one, doing the autograph thing. Walking around, in and out of the drills.”

Singleton didn’t give any speeches Sunday – just his time.                                                            

His message to the kids who dream of following in his footsteps is a simple one: If you want to be good at something – football, art, school work, whatever – work at it.

“They can do anything (they want),” Singleton said. “Just work hard. Obviously, school (comes) first. Always give back to your community. Just give it your all every day. Anything’s possible if you just put your mind to it. I’ve been in their shoes.”

That’s what he did when he arrived at Penn State in January 2022: He went to work. He got in the weight room and saw bigger, faster guys around him. He knew he had to get after it.

“Everybody can play,” he said of his first impressions of major college football. “I knew it wasn’t high school any more. Everybody’s fast, everybody’s stronger, everybody knows everything (about the game). It was eye-opening. I knew I wasn’t the best player on the team. I knew I had to keep working.”