Happy Monday! We are officially 26 days away from Penn State football!
It’s hard to talk about Penn State without mentioning this player. He is perhaps one of the best running backs to ever step foot on Beaver Stadium. A player that left his mark not only as a Penn State Nittany Lion, but also in the Big Ten. Saquon Barkley.
Barkley was a very talented player coming out of high school. The Pennsylvania native received multiple offers around the NCAA, including Notre Dame and Boston College, before committing to play at Penn State.
When Barkley left Penn State, his success only continued. Teams fell in love with his work ethic both on and off the field. At the combine, Barkley put on a show, including a 4.40 40-yard dash and 29 bench press reps of 225 pounds.
Throughout NFL draft season that year, there were several mock drafts that had the Cleveland Browns selecting the star running back with the first overall pick. Barkley was selected second overall in the 2018 draft by the New York Giants.
His success didn’t stop there. After his first NFL season, Barkley won 2018 NFL rookie of the year after rushing for over 1,300 yards and 11 touchdowns. He then continued to put himself on the map in his second year, rushing for over 1,000 yards and six touchdowns. During week two of the 2020 NFL season, Barkley was one of several gruesome injuries that happened throughout that week, tearing his ACL and sidelining him for the rest of the year. However, Giants head coach Joe Judge did mention that Barkley is making “tangible progress” in his ACL recovery.
Barkley will go down as one of the best running backs to ever put on a Nittany Lion uniform. He will be an easy candidate for 2021 NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
Who will be the next great Penn State running back? We will hopefully start to find out in 26 days at Camp Randall Stadium against the Wisconsin Badgers.
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