Penn State Running Back Keyvone Lee Enters NCAA Transfer Portal

Penn State running back Keyvone Lee, who led the Lions in rushing twice over the past three years, has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal. Lee announced his decision Friday on social media.

Lee’s decision completes a one-year transformation of Penn State’s running back room. The Lions in January 2022 had five scholarship running backs, including then-freshmen Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen. But with Singleton and Allen’s emergence, three running backs left the team.

Caziah Holmes transferred to Florida State, Devyn Ford left the program after playing in four games and Lee decided to leave following the season. He has two seasons of eligibility remaining.

At the Rose Bowl, Lee said he dealt with an injury the kept him off the field for the last six regular-season games. Coach James Franklin said that Lee would be available for the Rose Bowl, but the running back did not play.

Lee, who led Penn State in rushing in 2021 and ’21, began the season with promise. He started the first two games and delivered one of the season’s biggest plays, catching the game-winning touchdown pass in the final minute against Purdue.

But Singleton rushed for 179 yards and two touchdowns against Ohio and started the next five games. Allen started three games, and the duo combined for nearly every running back snap in the season’s second half. They combined to rush for 1,928 yards, the fifth-highest total for a Penn State duo since 1960.

Lee played in five games, one more than the requirement for redshirting. He could apply for a medical waiver in the future.

“You know, [Singleton and Allen have] been fortunate to have a guy like Keyvone Lee that was the starter earlier in the year before he got some injuries and really did a good job of taking those young guys under his wing,” Franklin said before the Rose Bowl.

“And then obviously, when the opportunity presented itself, Nick and Kaytron have really been able to play well, not just as running backs in the traditional manner of carrying the football, but also in protections, on special teams, in route-running and being a threat in the passing game. It’s important that we have well-rounded, complete backs. They’ve just continued to gain confidence and gain production as the year has gone on.”

Singleton and Allen represent a strong one-two punch at running back, but the team is limited behind them. The Lions added two running backs, Cam Wallace and London Montgomery, in the 2023 recruiting class. Montgomery, however, is coming off a knee injury that prevented him from playing at Scranton Prep last season.

Wallace rushed for 1,300 yards and 15 touchdowns as a senior at Montgomery County (Ga.) High, winning all-state honors and the the Region Class player-of-the-year award.

Following Penn State in the NFL playoffs