Saquon Barkley (; born February 9, 1997) is an American football running back for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Penn State for three seasons, running for 3,843 yards with 43 rushing touchdowns, while garnering 1,195 receiving yards with 8 touchdown receptions.
He totaled 5,557 all-purpose yards in his three-year collegiate career. Barkley received national attention and finished fourth in Heisman trophy voting with 304 total votes and third in Maxwell Award voting. He also received multiple national and Big Ten Conference awards and recognition. During Barkley's three-year collegiate career, he broke and set numerous Penn State Records including most rushing touchdowns in a career, most rushing yards by a freshman and sophomore as well as most total yards in a single game.
Barkley was drafted second overall by the New York Giants in the 2018 NFL Draft.
Video Saquon Barkley
Early years
Barkley was born in the Bronx, New York. He grew up a New York Jets fan idolizing running back Curtis Martin. Boxing talent ran in the Barkley family. Barkley's father, Alibay was a strong amateur boxer and Barkley is the nephew of Iran Barkley. Barkley and his family moved to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in search of a safer and more suburban environment in his youth. Barkley attended Whitehall High School in Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania. He rushed for 3,646 yards with 63 touchdowns from his sophomore to senior year, including 1,856 yards and 31 touchdowns as a senior. Barkley was rated as a four-star recruit and committed to Penn State University to play college football. He originally committed to Rutgers before changing to Penn State.
Maps Saquon Barkley
College career
Freshman year
Barkley earned immediate playing time as a true freshman at Penn State in 2015. After rushing for one yard on one carry during his first game, he rushed for 115 yards with a touchdown in his second game. In October, he missed two games due to injury. In his first game back against no. 1 Ohio State, he rushed for 194 yards on 26 carries. During his first year, Barkley had 182 carries for 1,076 yards and seven touchdowns during the 2015 Penn State football season campaign.
During the offseason, Barkley received large amounts of praise for his great freshman year. He was awarded second-team All-Big Ten (getting votes for first team) and BTN.com Freshman of the Year.
Sophomore year
In his first game of his sophomore campaign, Barkley rushed for 105 yards and a touchdown in a 33-13 win over Kent State. In week two, in a renewed rivalry game against Pitt, Penn State trailed at one point in the second quarter 28-7. Barkley scored five touchdowns, his fifth coming with 5:00 left in the fourth quarter, to bring the Nittany Lions within three points. Unfortunately, quarterback Trace McSorley threw an interception in the Pitt end zone with 1:41 left, that denied the Nittany Lions' hopes of completing the comeback. In week five against Minnesota, in what would become a recurring theme for the 2016 Penn State football team, Penn State had to comeback from another halftime deficit. In overtime, on Penn State's first play, Barkley ended the game with a stunning 25-yard touchdown run. Prior to that carry, Minnesota had held him to only 38 yards on 19 carries. In week six against Maryland, Barkley had his first ever 200-yard rushing game in college. He finished with 31 carries for 202 yards and one touchdown. In week seven, in a match up versus Ohio State, Barkley rushed for 99 yards on 12 carries with a long of 37 in a 24-21 win over the no. 2 Buckeyes. In week eight, Barkley and no. 24 Penn State scored a season high 62 points versus Purdue. Barkley achieved a career-high 207 rushing yards with a career-high long of 81 yards and two touchdowns, along with 70 yards of receiving, giving him a total of 277 yards on the day. Penn State defeated Purdue 62-24 and improved to 6-2 and 4-1 in Big Ten play.
On November 1, 2016, it was announced Barkley was named a semifinalist for the Maxwell Award. On November 5, Barkley rushed for 167 yards and one touchdown versus Iowa. He added 44 yards and another TD in the air, for a total of 211 all-purpose yards in the 41-14 win.
After the regular season, Barkley was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, Ameche-Dayne Running Back of the Year and First Team All-Big Ten.
On December 3, 2016, Barkley had 19 carries for 83 yards, rushed for one touchdown, and caught another touchdown on a perfectly-timed wheel route. His efforts helped Penn State recover from a 28-7 deficit to stun Wisconsin, 38-31, in the 2016 Big Ten Championship Game.
During the 2017 Rose Bowl, Barkley added 25 carries for 194 yards, at 7.8 yards per carry, as well as a 79-yard touchdown that gave Penn State a 28-27 lead. Penn State at one point had trailed 20-7 in the second quarter, but then scored seven touchdowns on seven consecutive possessions, including four touchdowns on four consecutive offensive plays, including Barkley's 79-yard touchdown. Barkley would score the first, fourth, and seventh touchdowns for Penn State, giving the Nittany Lions a 49-35 lead in the fourth quarter, but ultimately USC won the game, 52-49.
Barkley has set the Penn State record for rushing yards in a season by a freshman (1,076) and by a sophomore (1,496).
Junior year
In the first game of the season against Akron, Barkley had 14 rushes for 172 yards, two touchdowns, and a long run of 80 yards. He also recorded 54 receiving yards on two catches. For his efforts, Barkley was named co-Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week.
In the 2017 Big Ten opener, the Nittany Lions visited the Iowa Hawkeyes. In the 21-19 win, Barkley had a total of 358 all-purpose yards, outgaining the entire Iowa offense by himself. He also set a program record for most yards in a single game. Barkley finished the game with 211 rushing yards and a touchdown, 94 receiving yards, and 53 kick return yards. For his efforts, Barkley was again named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week.
In his first Big Ten home game of his junior campaign against the Indiana Hoosiers, Barkley rushed for 56 yards on 20 carries, an underproductive day for him. Despite this, his Heisman chances only increased, as he had 4 catches for 51 yards, he returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, and threw a 16-yard pass to DaeSean Hamilton late in the fourth quarter to cap off a 45-14 win. Barkley became the first player in Big Ten history to score a return and passing touchdown in the same game. For his efforts, Barkley was named Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week. On December 31, 2017, about 24 hours after the team's 2017 Fiesta Bowl win, Barkley declared his intentions to enter the draft.
College statistics
Awards and honors
- Fiesta Bowl champion - 2017
- 6× Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week - 2017, 2016
- ESPN and Sporting News Midseason All American - 2017
- 2× Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week (2017)
- Paul Hornung Award - 2017
- Consensus All-American - 2017
- Sporting News All-American First team - 2017
- ESPN First Team All-American - 2017
- FWAA First Team All-American - 2017
- AP First Team All-American - 2017
- Walter Camp First Team All-American - 2017
- Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year - 2016, 2017
- Big Ten Running Back of the Year - 2016, 2017
- Big Ten Return Specialist of the Year - 2017
- Big Ten champion - 2016
- AP Third Team All-American - 2016
- Sporting News All-American second team - 2016
- All-Big Ten First team - 2016
- All-Big Ten Second team - 2015
Records
Penn State
- Most career rushing touchdowns - 43
- Most rushing yards by a freshman - 1,076 yards
- Most rushing yards by a sophomore - 1,496 yards
- Most total yards in a single game - 358 yards
- First player to score a return and passing touchdown in the same game
Professional career
On December 31, 2017, Barkley who was a projected top 10 pick by many, declared his intentions to enter the 2018 NFL Draft. In the weeks leading up to the NFL Combine Barkley's stock rose even higher. By late February, mock drafts projected him as the No. 2 selection overall, the highest for a running back since Reggie Bush in 2006. Mel Kiper Jr., who has history of being against drafting running backs in the first round, said "Barkley is a once in a lifetime talent, teams that pass on this young man will be sorry." At the combine, Barkley had a widely praised performance, running a 4.40 sec 40-yard dash and pressing 225 pounds for 29 reps, tying for the most reps at the running back position. According to Ian Rapoport, the Cleveland Browns were "strongly considering" taking Barkley at No. 1, which would have made him the first running back since Ki-Jana Carter in 1995 to go first overall.
Barkley was drafted by the New York Giants with the second overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
Personal life
Barkley is the son of Alibay Barkley and Tonya Johnson. He has two brothers, Rashard Johnson and Ali Barkley, and two sisters, Shaquona and Aliyah Barkley. His great uncle is former WBC middleweight champion Iran Barkley.
On March 9, 2018 it was announced the Pennsylvania House Chamber voted in favor of making Wednesday March 14 Saquon Barkley Day in Pennsylvania. Barkley attended the Pennsylvania State Capitol on March 14 and addressed the House. And on March 29, ten days later Barkley and his family participated in a parade through his hometown of Coplay, Pennsylvania that included the Whitehall High School marching band and kids from the league where Barkley played youth football. The parade drew an estimated 5,000 parade goers. City and parade officials said: "We wanted him to know he has his hometown behind him no matter where he goes."
Barkley has a daughter, Jada Clare Barkley, with his girlfriend Anna Congdon. She was born on April 24, 2018, two days before Barkley was drafted by the New York Giants.
References
External links
- Saquon Barkley on Twitter
- Penn State Nittany Lions bio
- New York Giants bio
Source of article : Wikipedia
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