PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Kaytron Allen set the Penn State all-time rushing record last week. Now, the senior running back is putting distance between himself and the rest of the field.
With a 55-yard run in the first quarter at Rutgers on Saturday, Allen became the first Penn State player in program history and the 23rd Big Ten player ever to eclipse 4,000 rushing yards in his career.
Allen has carried three times for 63 yards as Penn State leads Rutgers, 14-7, with 5:11 left in the first quarter at SHI Stadium.
Allen entered Saturday with 747 carries for 3,954 yards and 38 rushing touchdowns in his career. He already owned the career carries record, and he passed Evan Royster for the top spot in rushing yards in last week’s win over Nebraska. Allen entered the Rutgers game tied with Lydell Mitchell for third all-time in rushing touchdowns.
Allen began the season at No. 11 on the all-time list with 2,877 yards.
Through 11 games, Allen had carried 188 times for 1,077 yards (5.7 yards per carry) and 14 touchdowns, and he also had 16 catches for 56 yards.
Allen has been arguably Penn State’s top offensive player of late. He’s rushed for 100 yards in three of the past five games, including a career-high 181 yards at Michigan State on Nov. 15. He also had 160 yards in his record-setting win over Nebraska at Beaver Stadium.
“I’m still trying to wrap my head around it, and I just been trying to take it one game at a time,” Allen said latest weekend. “Unfortunately, the season didn’t go how I planned. If I can be winning the whole season and not get the record, I’d rather do that than get the record. But I got an opportunity to do this, and man, I’m just grateful, man, for my team, Coach Terry [Smith], everybody, for real.”
Allen is capping a four-year career that began when he arrived on campus as a Top247 recruit in the Class of 2022. Allen, a Norfolk, Va., native, was rated as a four-star recruit by 247Sports out of Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy, and he was ranked as the No. 22 player in Florida, the No. 15 running back nationally and the No. 179 overall prospect in the class.
Allen has been praised for his development both as a player on the field and as a presence in the locker room, where he’s worked in tandem with classmate Nick Singleton across the entirety of his career.
“Kaytron Allen, as a person, he has transformed himself,” Smith said last week. “As a freshman, maybe early in his sophomore year, Kaytron wasn’t a very friendly guy in the building. You had to really pull words out of him. He has matured tremendously. He’s always been an extremely hard worker, and he’s always been super talented. But now, you see more personality out of him. He’s a leader.”
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Daniel Gallen covers Penn State for Lions247 and 247Sports. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow Daniel on X at @danieljtgallen, Instagram at @bydanieljtgallen and Bluesky at @danieljtgallen.bsky.social.
