Penn State football: True freshman RB will ‘explode’ this offseason, says James Franklin

Penn State football and top Pennsylvania running backs — a combination that has yielded much success for the Nittany Lions offense in the James Franklin era. Between Saquon Barkley, Miles Sanders, and, now, Nicholas Singleton, Franklin and Penn State have made the most of the Keystone State’s best in the backfield. In January, Belle Vernon star Quinton Martin became the latest in this string of talented in-state tailbacks to become a Nittany Lion. A raw prospect when he first stepped foot on campus this winter, the true freshman has caught the coaching staff’s attention and is expected to blossom in the coming months.

James Franklin: Quinton Martin is expected to ‘explode dramatically’ this offseason

There’s little questioning of Quinton Martin and his dominance on the Pennsylvania high school football circuit. The WPIAL star was the state’s top recruit in the 2024 cycle, with over 3,500 yards and 55 touchdowns on the ground and in the air over the last two seasons.

The No. 1 player in Pennsylvania is officially a Nittany Lion.

Four-star running back Quinton Martin has signed with Penn State.

Running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider: “We think we got the best running back room in the country, and today we think it got better." pic.twitter.com/EBPbuVDOtV

— Alex Rocco (@AlexRocco13_) December 20, 2023

Arriving as one of the Nittany Lions’ sixteen early enrollees in January, the true freshman surprised the Penn State football coaching staff, but perhaps not in the way you’d expect.

On Tuesday, James Franklin explained why he and the Nittany Lions coaches were taken aback when Quinton Martin first got to campus. A solid first winter workout period has put the Belle Vernon product in position to take the next step this offseason, says the Penn State football coach.

“We were a little bit surprised when he got here. A really good football player, [from] a really good football program, but was kind of raw in terms of running a 40 and getting in a stance and the weight room and things like that,” Franklin said. “So we just think he’s going to continue to kind of grow and explode dramatically over these next couple of months. He also has the frame. As you know, he is tall, so he has the frame to carry a lot of weight.”

Chuck Losey details progress of Penn State true freshman

Tuesday wasn’t the first time that we’ve heard about the unfinished foundation — or the rapid growth — of Quinton Martin. Earlier in March, Penn State football strength coach Chuck Losey echoed James Franklin’s comments about the Nittany Lions true freshman.

“I thought he was going to be a little more finished, especially with some of the things that we do out on the field,” Losey said of Martin. “And I’m not knocking his baseline by any means. But the amount that he’s grown since being here in a short amount of time — the six or seven weeks on campus — that’s what I’ve been most impressed with.

“The numbers will come. They’ll be there at the end of the day, probably in year two, year three. He will have elite numbers. But just the short time period improvement that he’s had, I’m really happy with that. He’s a locked-in kid.”

With a loaded backfield in 2024, playing time could be hard to come by for the newest edition to the Penn State backfield. But if Quinton Martin can take the jump that James Franklin and the Nittany Lions coaches expect him to this summer, it may be impossible to keep him off the field as a true freshman.

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