'What Might Have Been' for Penn State Football, Part 3: Return of the LawnBoyz

Journey Brown's record-setting Cotton Bowl left Penn State in an enviable position at running back entering 2020. That was bound to change, since all four backs were unlikely to return, but the season still carried so much promise.

The LawnBoyz were a Penn State revelation in 2019, with Brown emerging from a crowded room as the headliner. He set a Penn State bowl record in Dallas, rushing for 202 yards against Memphis in a performance that made him a Doak Walker Award candidate entering this season.

But so much has changed, both in and out of that position room. Ricky Slade transferred to Old Dominion, and Devyn Ford was charged with drug possession in July. Beyond that, there's no guarantee now that Brown will return for whatever kind of season Penn State plays next.

That's quite a difference, considering what Brown promised after the Cotton Bowl.

"I'm coming back regardless," he said. "I've got stuff to do."

Before heading to what's next, AllPennState this week is exploring "What Might Have Been" for the Lions during a conventional, coronavirus-free 2020 season. In Part 1, we posed five reasons Penn State could have been a College Football Playoff contender this season. Part 2 examined the relationship between quarterback Sean Clifford and offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca.

Here, we check in with the running backs, who, despite change, could have been even better in 2020.

The LawnBoyz (Brown, Slade, Ford and Noah Cain) brought their own individual traits to a group that worked together under one brand. They maintained devoted to James Franklin's and position coach Ja'Juan Seider's insistence that carries be shared throughout the season.

Brown and Cain combined for 20 rushing touchdowns, while Ford averaged 5.7 yards per attempt. With true freshman Caziah Holmes entering the mix, Penn State had put together one of the best backfields in the Big Ten. And Seider was shifting their mentality.

"We talked about pushing each other physically, mentally," Seider said this spring. "You have to learn how to prepare different, to have a target on your back, because last year you were supposed to be the weak link. And now everybody is going to look at you as one of the better groups in the country."

For Brown, a quarantine spring was similar to how he spent the summer of 2019, when he was suspended from the program and trained at home. Once again, he trained as if someone might lap him.

"I was afraid that everybody was getting ahead of me and everybody was going to beat me out," Brown said this past spring. "So I’m applying that to now.”

Brown rushed for at least 100 yards in four of his last five games, punctuated by the Cotton Bowl. His 32-yard touchdown run in the first half heralded a national introduction.

"I would say the last 4-5 games, and I know I’m biased, but I think Journey Brown was playing as well as any running back in the country," Seider said. "He has freakish athletic ability and strength that he’s finally starting tap into."

Cain tapped that ability as well, crafting back-to-back 100-yard games before an injury sent him to the sideline. But Cain returned to action in the Cotton Bowl to rush for 92 yards and two scores. He worked out in Arizona during the offseason and expected to return even better.

"It was really hard for me to sit back on the sideline," Cain said this summer. "... I was blessed to get back in the bowl game. It definitely was a challenging time for myself."

Holmes a 5-11, 208-pound freshmen, entered this room with confidence. A Rivals four-star prospect from Florida, Holmes enrolled early and made one of the most important transitions, Seider said: overcoming the homesickness.

By the end of winter conditioning, Seider said he saw a different back.

"A lot of times, we take it for granted that, when you bring in these kids mid-year, that it's easy," Seider said. "That's the hardest part. They come in January, and most of the coaches are on the road recruiting, so he didn't get to see the same faces that recruited him.

"I think him battling through January, getting to February, which is the hardest time of winter conditioning, it builds character for the kid. ... The last part of winter conditioning, I saw a kid who was shy and I paired him with Journey, because he has that type of speed. And they were impressive, where Journey had to look over one time and say, 'This kid can run.' [Holmes] pushed him. He understands that he can play on this level."

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