Penn State running back Trey Potts is home in more ways than one
Aug. 10—Trey Potts attended many Penn State football games and dreamed of playing for the Nittany Lions one day.
That dream, however, was put on hold after he tore an ACL the summer before his junior year at Williamsport High School and then tore the ACL in his other knee midway through his senior season.
Four years later, Potts is home in more ways than one. He transferred from Minnesota to Penn State in the spring and will play about an hour from his hometown for the university from which his mother and grandfather graduated.
"It was a big decision," he said at Media Day earlier this week. "I had a couple different options, but being from Pennsylvania and being able to play for my home state in front of these fans is great. With the fan culture we have here, it was kind of a no-brainer for me."
Lions coach James Franklin and running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider aggressively recruited Potts once he put his name in the transfer portal in March. He provides much-needed depth behind superb sophomores Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen.
"Coach Franklin and Coach Seider really embraced the competition initiative with me coming here," he said. "I'm not going to run away from competition. It makes the room better and makes our team better."
The 5-9, 218-pound Potts rushed for 1,195 yards and 11 touchdowns in 24 games in four seasons at Minnesota and was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree.
"We're talking about a guy who's unselfish," Seider said, "and a guy who's not afraid to come in and compete. You come into a loaded room, it says a lot about a guy and his courage. That's what I love about the kid."
He will play a vital role on and off the field for Penn State, considering its only other scholarship backups are incoming freshmen Cam Wallace and London Montgomery, who's recovering from a torn ACL he suffered last fall.
Potts understands what Montgomery is enduring. He missed his junior season at Williamsport with his first ACL injury, one year after he rushed for 2,016 yards and 34 touchdowns. He began his senior season by rushing for 580 yards in five games before his second ACL injury.
His knee injuries caused Penn State and several other schools to cool their interest in him. He wound up choosing Minnesota over Rutgers, Syracuse, Virginia, several Group of Five conference schools and at least three Ivy League schools.
Potts got off to a great start two years ago, running for 552 yards and six touchdowns in the first five games before he sustained an undisclosed injury and missed the rest of the season.
He bounced back last year by gaining 471 yards and scoring three times in 12 games behind All-Big Ten first-team running back Mohamed Ibrahim.
"Trey's been really good ever since he stepped on campus," Singleton said. "His work ethic is really good. He's a really good receiver catching the ball out of the backfield. He's helped us out a lot. He's just a big brother overall."
Penn State wanted Potts, who has two years of eligibility left, for his talent as well as to serve as a mentor for Singleton and Allen.
"A lot of people think football is just a game of X's and O's," Potts said, "but there are a lot of other things, like mental health, managing your schedule and how to treat your body. I'm an older guy in the room. They can come and talk to me. We can chop it up off the field.
"I tell them to embrace the journey and to keep an open mind in how they can change different things. I'm learning from them, too, which is nice."
Potts attended several White-Out Games while growing up in Williamsport and played against Penn State in last year's edition, carrying five times for 7 yards in a 45-17 loss. His family is excited that he's wearing blue and white.
"I have a lot of family ties to Penn State on my mom's side," he said. "Once I committed here and now that I'm here, the family is raving about the games. It's really nice to be back home."
