Photo: Onward State/Doug Leeson
Penn State running back Saquon Barkley is going into his sophomore campaign looking to build off of a stellar freshman season in which he was named to the freshman All-American team. By now everyone knows the building legend of Saquon ‘Jumpman’ Barkley and what he has been able to accomplish in his time on the field and in the weight room at Happy Valley. It is hard to imagine putting up better numbers than Barkley did in his freshman season in 2015, but if he can improve his statistics, do not be surprised if you hear his name being thrown in there when people are mentioning the Heisman trophy.
Since becoming a star on the field in 2015, Barkley was able to become a star in the weight-room this past offseason as well. The 19-year-old was able to squat a tremendous amount of weight at 495lbs and then he seemed to have broken the internet after a video of him power-cleaning 390lbs went viral. If his squat and power clean max outs are any reflection of the type of season Barkley will have this fall, James Franklin and company are going to be extremely pleased come September.
Barkley will be leaned on heavily to lead a Penn State offense that will have a new quarterback under center come September 3rd in Happy Valley. Also, Barkley is a veteran only as a sophomore when it comes to the young and extremely talented Nittany Lion running back group. He will lead the pack with Andre Robinson, Mark Allen, and Miles Sanders hoping to mirror the production of Barkley.
In 2016, Barkley wont be the most talked about potential Heisman candidate with a field of Leonard Fournette of LSU, Deshaun Watson of Clemson, Christian McCaffery of Stanford, and Baker Mayfield of Oklahoma, leading the pack. But there is no reason to overlook the sophomore in Happy Valley. With the other guys taking the spotlight, Barkley seems like he will fly under the radar, but it will be hard to ignore his statistics.
Barkley played in 11 of Penn States 13 games during last season and was still able to post remarkable numbers for a true freshman. In the 11 games in which Barkley played, he rushed the ball 182 times for 1076 yards and 7 touchdowns. He was also able to post a yards per carry average of 5.9 yards. The then freshman was also able to tally 20 receptions for 161 yards and one touchdown. To me, the most impressive thing about Barkley’s freshman season is that even though he played in 11 games he only totaled 1 carry for 1 yard in the season opener versus Temple and then was limited due to injury in the San Diego State game in which he had 8 carries for 62 yards and was still able to rush for 1,000 yards on the season. So, essentially Barkley only saw significant snaps in 9 of 13 games last season.
Barkley had his coming out party against Rutgers in Penn State’s first ever stripe out game. Barkley thrashed the Scarlet Knights for 195 yards on 21 carries and two touchdowns. Another thing that impressed me about Barkley is that he had three of his biggest games against defenses that ranked nationally in the top 30. Against Ohio State (9th ranked total defense), Barkley racked up 194 yards on 26 carries. Then, when Penn State visited Northwestern (13th ranked total defense), Barkley exploded for 120 yards with two touchdowns and 6 catches for 50 yards. However, Barkley wasn’t done, as he racked up another 103 yards on the ground on only 17 carries against Michigan State (26th ranked total defense).
Barkley has been nothing but productive since he has stepped foot on campus and he will look to build off of his stellar freshman season come this fall. If the sophomore can stay healthy and play in all of Penn State’s games this year, who is to say he can’t contend for the coveted Heisman trophy.
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