Penn State Football: Grades vs Kentucky

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ORLANDO, FL – JANUARY 01: Miles Sanders #24 of the Penn State Nittany Lions runs the ball against the Kentucky Wildcats in the second quarter of the VRBO Citrus Bowl at Camping World Stadium on January 1, 2019 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

Running Backs

Coming into the Citrus Bowl, I expected Penn State to take advantage of the running game, as Kentucky’s rush defense was statistically worse than its pass defense this season. However, that didn’t work out, as the Penn State running backs had one of their worst games of the season collectively.

Miles Sanders, who declared for the NFL Draft on two days after the Citrus Bowl, had 13 carries for 51 yards. He also had two receptions for seven yards. True freshman running back Ricky Slade, who’s set to become the starter next season, had four carries for 27 yards.

Redshirt freshman Journey Brown played a series at running back and had one carry for four yards. In addition, senior running back Johnathan Thomas had the one carry on the fake punt that went for no gain.

Regardless of the bad game for the running backs, Penn State has a bright future at the position with Ricky Slade, incoming freshmen Devyn Ford and Noah Cain, and incoming Notre Dame transfer C.J Holmes.

Grade: C

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