James Peoples is settling in at Penn State, and Savon Huggins says the Ohio State transfer is beginning to look more comfortable with each spring practice. After 10 practices, Huggins said Peoples is having fun, learning the room and showing the kind of progress the staff wanted to see when the running backs coach arrived in early January.
Peoples spent two seasons at Ohio State, where he ran 110 times for 541 yards and five touchdowns before moving to Penn State. Huggins said the work has been about more than the playbook. He said the staff wanted to get to know the players before pushing scheme, and that approach has shaped how he has handled a room that also includes Iowa State transfer Carson Hansen and returners Quinton Martin Jr. and Cam Wallace.
Huggins said Peoples is not only getting more comfortable around teammates but also bringing what he does off the field onto it. He said he has been encouraged by where Peoples is at right now through 10 practices, calling it important that the back is having fun while still meeting a high standard. Huggins also said he wants the backs to know one another’s gaps and strengths so the group can function with more trust and fewer mistakes.
That standard matters because the competition is still sorting itself out. Hansen has taken first-team reps throughout practice, and his track record suggests a different kind of runner: 361 carries for 1,771 yards across three seasons at Iowa State, even if only 20 of those runs went for 15 or more yards. By comparison, Penn State’s returnees and transfers are being asked to fit into a room where finishing plays and understanding one another may matter as much as pure production.
For Penn State, the spring is less about naming a winner than building a backfield that can handle different jobs without hesitation. Huggins has made accountability, communication and knowledge of each player’s strengths a central part of the evaluation, and that puts Peoples’ adjustment and Hansen’s early first-team work at the center of a competition that is still unfolding.
