Penn State was without one of its top players last weekend in a home win against UCLA, but head coach [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] says that is not expected to be the case this week against USC. Franklin provided an update on the status of star running back [autotag]Nicholas Singleton[/autotag] during his Monday press conference, and he shared some encouraging news.
“As long as we don’t have any setbacks this week, I would anticipate him going,” Franklin said when speaking about Singleton, according to Lions247. Franklin went on to say he expects Singleton to be available for practices this week leading up a road trip to USC this weekend.
“We’re very confident,” Franklin said. “I think Nick is very confident, talking to him on Sunday, that he’ll be ready to go.”
Singleton missed some practices last week and was limited in a late-week practice leading up to Penn State’s home game against UCLA. Singleton was listed as questionable on Penn State’s player availability report hours before kicking off and was then ruled out by the team’s staff just before kickoff. [autotag]Kaytron Allen[/autotag] carried the bulk of the rushing responsibilities in Penn State’s home win against the Bruins.
Having Singleton back for this week’s game at USC would be big for the offense, as Singleton is one of the team’s best players and he has the ability to break loose for a long run at any given moment.
USC will be coming into this weekend’s matchup with the Nittany Lions with the Big Ten’s 17th-ranked rushing defense. The Trojans are allowing an average of 158.6 rushing yards per game this season. Michigan rushed for 290 yards on the Trojans a few weeks back and Minnesota just racked up 193 rushing yards on the Trojans this past weekend in USC;’s road loss to the Gophers. USC has allowed eight rushing touchdowns this season, all in their three most recent games.
Singleton is averaging 7.70 rushing yards per attempt and is one of five running backs in the Big Ten averaging over 100 rushing yards per game so far this season.
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