So You Drafted Saquon Barkley...

The Skinny

While the former four-star running back coming out of high school in Coplay, PA was expected to help bolster a running back corps in desperate need of consistent production, nobody could have envisioned that by the time Saquon Barkley would leave Happy Valley, he would hold numerous school records and leave behind a legacy as the most freakishly athletic offensive player not just in Penn State history but also in the greater college football universe. Saquon first burst onto the scene as a freshman in Penn State’s second game of the 2015 season, when he hurdled a Buffalo defender and helped the Nittany Lions pull away in the fourth quarter of a tight game with a touchdown of his own. His true breakout performance however, would come the following week under the Beaver Stadium lights against Rutgers, as he ran for 195 yards and a pair of TD’s. Barkley would go on to swiftly become a household name by season’s end while becoming the first PSU freshman to rush for over 1,000 yards.

You know how the rest of the story goes by this point: Saquon continued to be the focal point of the Penn State offense, playing a pivotal role not only on the ground, but through the air (wheel routes, anyone?) and in his final year in a Blue and White uniform, as a kickoff return specialist. When his career was all said and done, Saquon had helped lead PSU football back into the national spotlight with back-to-back 11-win seasons, including a Big Ten title in 2016. He also leaves Happy Valley holding the single-game school all-purpose yards (358 at Iowa in 2017), and career rushing touchdowns (43) records, as well as being second (behind only Evan Royster) on the list of career rushing yards with 3,843.

What You’re Getting

A little bit of this:

Definitely some of this:

If your team’s coach is smart enough to have him return kickoffs, you’ll also see this:

And if your team’s coach is truly an open-minded, innovative guy, perhaps even something resembling this: