Penn State football: Journey Brown emerges to top of depth chart

Penn State football running back Journey Brown has emerged to the number one spot on the backfield depth chart.

The college football season has been full of surprises so far. And Penn State football has undoubtedly added to that suspense over the last few weeks — for better or for worse. So far, the team is in excellent shape. Obviously, with a winning record of 3-0, nobody can complain.

However, there are still tons of question marks that haven’t been figured out quite yet. Right now, the backfield remains one of the most prominent question marks on the team. With such a talented group, Penn State figured they would utilize a running back by committee going into the season.

At first, it seemed like a good idea with a ridiculous win over Idaho. Now, it seems as though the Nittany Lions have to start finding the hot hand and rolling with it. Initially, Ricky Slade was the No. 1 back for the first couple of games. But the coaching staff made a change last week.

Instead of Slade starting against Pitt, Penn State elected to go with Journey Brown. For his first career start, Brown didn’t disappoint as he became the first Nittany Lions rusher to exceed 100 yards in a single outing this season. And it turns out; his progress wouldn’t go unnoticed. Now, Brown has seen a promotion on the depth chart heading into Week 4.

Journey Brown: Number one back

We’re just days away from the Maryland matchup. So that means the Penn State depth chart is released and as expected — there are changes. With Ricky Slade being off to an underwhelming start, it looks like Penn State is confident in rolling with Brown as the starter for another week.

Although Slade gets downgraded, he hasn’t been surpassed by anybody else quite yet. Last week, Noah Cain might’ve been the better rusher, but he remains third behind the veteran. Despite the change in lineup, it’s still necessary to add that Penn State has placed an “Or” next to all of their names meaning the committee is still in effect.

As we know, there hasn’t been enough of an apparent breakthrough to ditch the committee, so James Franklin and the rest of the staff will continue to utilize the same method. Perhaps we’ll get some clarity on the position sooner than later though. With some slight changes on paper, we could see more changes on the field as well — it’s only a matter of time.