The Fatman.

After four seasons donning the blue and white, Kaytron Allen will hope to hear his name called in the 2026 NFL Draft, just two and a half hours away from where he made Penn State football history.

Allen split carries with fellow Class of 2022 running back Nick Singleton throughout his whole Penn State career, but just like Singleton, he didn’t let that stop him from being one of the most productive backs in college football.

Allen’s Penn State career can really be split into two parts: 2022-24 and 2025. He and Singleton essentially mirrored each other in their first three seasons, but Allen set himself apart in 2025. Despite all of the craziness surrounding Penn State’s program, Allen hunkered down and willed the team to compete against Indiana and salvage some wins late in the year.

Allen rushed for 1,303 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2025, propelling himself to become Penn State’s all-time leading rusher. He scored in all but one game this year. In his career, he totaled 4,180 yards and 39 touchdowns, good for a 5.4-yard average in 54 total games.

The record-breaking season brings Allen to the 2026 NFL Draft, where he’ll look to reap the benefits of his tough running and competitiveness.

“Allen is productive with good size and vision, but below-average explosiveness. He’s a fluid runner with ideal patience and a natural feel for when to cut off his blocks. He runs low to the ground with the strength to run through arm tackles and fall forward after contact,” NFL analyst Lance Zierlein wrote. “A feel for lane development allows him to fit any run scheme, but his lack of burst is likely to constrict the field and limit his ability to find explosive runs. Allen appears to lack third-down and special-teams value, but he could earn a spot as a solid backup.”

Zierlein likened Allen to Arizona Cardinals running back Tyler Allgeier, who became known for his physical running style as a member of the Atlanta Falcons.

Allen’s lack of explosiveness and pure speed always made him and Singleton such good foils to each other in Penn State’s offense. While it isn’t the strong suit of his game, Allen did have three games with a run of 50+ yards, including a 67-yard dash against FIU in September. He specializes in bully ball, but his comparison to Singleton minimizes him to that. Allen has shown that he can belt off consistent, explosive runs if given the tools to do so.

Allen stands at 5’11” and weighs 216 pounds, putting him right in the sweet spot of preferred NFL running back metrics. He isn’t as athletically gifted as a Saquon Barkley or Christian McCaffrey, but his consistency is what makes him stick out from the rest of the pack. He’s improved year after year at Penn State and is the all-time leading rusher of a blue-blood program. That speaks more than anything.

Another thing Allen brings to the table is his experience in a two-back system. He isn’t the workhorse that some NFL teams might desire, but he knows how to share the ball and find the end zone while doing it. Allen can produce positive yardage in the early downs and allow a silkier counterpart to move the chains. However, it has become somewhat of a trend in the league, with the Detroit Lions’ two-back duo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery in recent years being a prime example.

“Allen is a scheme-versatile runner. He executes both gap and zone rushing concepts. He possesses great patience to press the line of scrimmage before declaring which lane he will choose. His vision guides him to daylight as he follows the lead blockers,” Bleacher Report’s Damian Parson wrote. “He’s equipped with a powerful and dense build suited for contact between the tackles. Allen is a physical runner who powers through tackles for extra yards. He runs with a forward lean, which causes him to fall forward upon contact.”

While Allen outshone Singleton in the running game, the one clear facet in which Singleton consistently trumped him was the receiving game. Allen really doesn’t have the speed to explore the field beyond screen plays or checkdowns, which does bring him down a notch in the NFL sphere. NFL squads are prioritizing reliable pass-catchers out of the backfield, and Allen doesn’t bring anything dynamic to that goal.

Nevertheless, Allen has produced the tape and now awaits his draft call. Potential team fits include the Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, Kansas City Chiefs, and Atlanta Falcons.