Can Penn State Football RB Nicholas Singleton break Gatorade Player of the Year curse?

Penn State Football true freshman running back Nicholas Singleton won the 2021 Gatorade National Player of the Year, an award that has seen many of its recent winners not quite live up to expectations.

Although Penn State Football running back Nicholas Singleton has all of the tools to be a great running back at the collegiate level, if the history of the award is any indication, it may not exactly be a guarantee that he will have success in college.

If you’ve heard of the Madden curse, or the Sports Illustrated jinx, you may be surprised to know that the Gatorade Player of The Year award has a similarly troubling track record among its recipients …

Many of the winners of the award in the recent past have not always lived up to the hype.

Perhaps the best one of the last decade is Kyler Murray, but he didn’t see his success come until transferring. Many of the winners over the past 15-20 years are not household names for a lot of college football fans.

Arik Gilbert and Jake Smith are both receivers that have each seen limited playing time thus far, as they have been plagued by injury.

JT Daniels has only spent one full season as a starter when he threw 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions as a true freshman at USC in 2018. He did just win a national championship ring with Georgia, although it was by backing up a former walk-on in Stetson Bennett. Daniels has once again entered the transfer portal and is searching for his third home in five years of college football.

Tate Martell only attempted 35 passes over the course of four seasons at three different schools, and has just retired from football after spending this past season at UNLV.

After starting his career at Georgia, Jacob Eason transferred to Washington where he was able to put together a good final college season in 2019, completing 64.2% of his passes for 3,132 yards, 23 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions. He is now the third-string quarterback for the Seahawks. So, he has fared better than Daniels and Martell, but maybe not quite what you would expect out of a former national player of the year.

Andrew Brown only recorded 10.5 sacks over the course of 4 seasons at Virginia, was drafted in the 5th round of the 2018 NFL draft, and has only appeared in 23 games over 3 seasons, and recording just 18 total tackles during that time.

Max Browne was the #1 quarterback in the 2013 recruiting class, but he only ended up throwing for 1,647 total yards and 7 touchdowns over the course of 4 seasons between USC and Pitt. He went 19 of 32 for 138 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions in 2017 against Penn State Football, a game in which the Nittany Lions won 33-14. He never made it to the NFL and is now an analyst.

Can Penn State Football’s Nicholas Singleton buck the trend?

Not a great past decade for Gatorade National Player of the Year winners. So, can Nicholas Singleton right the ship during his time with Penn State Football?

Well, the first key is staying healthy, as some of those former winners have had trouble staying healthy.

Another common theme among many recent winners is that many of them were quarterbacks.

The jump in competition from high school to college may be tougher at quarterback than any other position, as the defenses they face get more complex, the offenses they run are the same way, and the windows they are expected to throw into get much tighter.

The jump is obviously still a tough one for a running back, but not nearly to the same degree as quarterback.

The last running back to win the award was Jonathan Gray, who rushed for 2,610 yards and 17 touchdowns over the span of four seasons for the Texas Longhorns. That’s a solid career, but still not quite what you would expect out of a former five-star running back.

The good news is that all of these past players have no effect on Singleton, and he has his own opportunity to write his own story.

He will be a part of a deep-running back room, so he will not be expected to have to be the workhorse and carry the load right away. Sharing some of his carries will also allow him to remain fresh and healthy.

Ultimately, we can speculate all we want, but it remains to be seen if Singleton can live up to the hype of being a five-star recruit and a former Gatorade National Player of the Year once he actually takes the field for the Nittany Lions.

I said earlier that the history of the award would indicate that Singleton might not live up to expectations. However, the history of Penn State Football developing running backs from Pennsylvania indicates living up to and sometimes exceeding expectations. Just ask Saquon Barkley, Miles Sanders, and Journey Brown.

If it doesn’t work out, perhaps he can become an all-star catcher for the Minnesota Twins, but let’s hope it does work out.