The Keys To Unlocking Keyvone Lee’s Full Potential
Once a Promising Young Runner Brimming with Upside, the Nittany Lions Presumed Starter to Start the Year Has to Sharpen Several Aspects of his Game to STAY the Starter at the End of the Year
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Seems like several lifetimes ago by now, but remember that Keyvone Lee earned PFF grades of 75+ in both rushing and receiving in 2020. Purdue’s Zander Horvath is the only other B1G RB who can make that same boast; he’s playing for the Chargers now.
Both players averaged 4.9 yards/carry that year.
In 2021, Lee averaged…4.9 yards/carry. Not a step back, but not the step forward expected after what he did in his first season in blue and white.
Suddenly there are a couple of talented freshmen (Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen) ready to do to Lee what he did to Noah Cain. The good news – for Keyvone – is he 100% has the tools to headline a RB room and ward off four- and five-star teammates from snatching away carries.
Let’s break down what he has to do to avoid transferring and fading from our collective memory while exhausting his eligibility at some forgettable C-USA or Sun Belt football “farm upstate.”
“To thine own self be true”
Lee has exceptional shiftiness but he also has a tendency to chase the dragon. Against Wisconsin in 2021 he didn’t record a run longer than 2 yards despite forcing a season-high 7 missed tackles, per PFF. That’s a lot of wasted energy.
I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water (see the first three plays below) but I’d like Lee to recognize when he’s out-matched, square his shoulders and put his 234-pound frame to use. The final clip is an example of that: stacked up in the backfield, he finds a lane, lowers his head and plows traffic for 8.
“My kingdom for a horse!”
Lee doesn’t have Saquon quads but he does display good contact balance – much better than expected for his speed/elusiveness. He led the team last year in yards after contact/attempt (2.82). In the first clip in the video below he shakes off a couple arm tackles; in the last two, it takes four defenders to get him on the ground. That’s a theme you’ll see a lot of in his tape.
“…One man in his time plays many parts”
Lee led the team in missed tackles forced last year (30) playing at a crouton shy of 240 pounds, roughly the same weight as former Alabama/current Steelers RB Najee Harris. Lee shaved off five pounds entering this season to aid his elusiveness; he’s not just reprising his role, he’s rewriting it.
Lee is anything but a one-trick pony (“My kingdom…”). His speed, soft hands and fluid tracking ability make him a difficult matchup for linebackers in coverage. Forcing the defense to respect him out of the backfield early will loosen running lanes later.
“To do a great ‘right’ do a little wrong”
In 2021, Lee averaged 5.48 yards running right of center. When running left of center he produced only 4.48 yards per carry. Despite this disparity, he ran to the left 62/108 attempts (57%). This trend was even more pronounced in 2020: in almost equal sample sizes (ran left 45/89 attempts) he averaged 3.82 YPC running left compared to 6.20 YPC running right.
I wouldn’t read too much into such a small sample size, but all three of his fumbles this past season came on rushes to the left. Notice in the first two clips he’s carrying the ball in his field-side (more vulnerable) arm. The third one was actually friendly fire, but all three show minor carriage concerns that shouldn’t be hard to tidy up.
“And it must follow, as the night the day…”
In 2021, Lee ran behind zone-blocking schemes (72 attempts) exactly twice as often as gap-blocking schemes (36 attempts). He has the vision and cutback ability to excel as a zone runner, but I’m not convinced this line has the athleticism needed to excel as zone blockers.
Power running (pulling weak-side blockers behind the LOS at the snap to lead the charge) may not have the explosive potential of the outside zone run but it might be more compatible with Penn State’s personnel. Lee is a complete back who can do whatever is asked of him; cater your ground game to the limitations of your offensive line.
I’m also not sure if this is Franklin’s preference, or Mike Yurcich’s, or Sean Clifford’s, but a ton of what they do is out of the shotgun. When your QB is under center your RB can get south-to-north more quickly; we call that “running downhill.”
“…If you wrong us, shall we not revenge?”
Quick example of Lee’s coachability here: if he followed his lead blocker and cut up inside on the first play he would have scored. Either Lee got in the film room or someone got in his ear, because the next time they dialed it up he found pay dirt.
“A rose by any other name…”
You know what the real problem is? The kid needs a nickname. Kiefer Sutherland starred in television’s “24.” Keyvone Lee wears jersey number 24. Therefore my official nickname recommendation is Kiefer, or Kief for this TikTok generation that loves vaping and runs out of attention in the middle of learning someone’s name. Catchy, eh? I think it’s got a puncher’s chance of sticking.
