The man who has led the Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl run, the man who has been the most exciting player in football, almost quit the sport just before his career was about to take off. That was 14 years ago, in Eastern Pennsylvania, before Saquon Barkley became SAQUON! — a hulking, hurdling blur with superhero-like muscles and an origin story that feels right out of Marvel, too.
Brian Gilbert, former head coach, Whitehall (Pa.) High: I don’t want to exaggerate, but the varsity coaching staff and I literally brought him in because we’d heard after his freshman year of high school he was gonna quit football.
Barkley was frustrated, struggling with his self-confidence. Some kids had matured faster than him. Sophomore year, he didn’t play varsity because his best friend was ahead of him. Saquon had to work. That’s how he’s wired and why he’s so great. I said, “Listen, you may not be the best one right now, but we see potential in you. We see how fast you are. You’ve got to give it more time.”
He said, “Coach, I’m so skinny. If I come up and play varsity football, I’m gonna get broken in half.” We said, “Just get in the weight room and get stronger.” Thank God he listened!
Nick Shafnisky, former varsity Whitehall High QB: He was always the freakiest athlete and the nicest human. But it seemed like there was always someone a year or two older who was a little bit better. He was never “The Guy,” as crazy as that sounds, because now he is the epitome of “The Guy.”
Gilbert: He played a little varsity as a sophomore (in 2012) at the end of that season. That summer we went to Rutgers as a team camp. His improvements that he made that offseason are different from any other athlete I’ve ever seen. He had a tremendous camp. (Then-Rutgers head coach) Kyle Flood brings him and me into his office and offers him. He said it was based on what he saw that day and the film they’d watched — which was JV film, because that was all we had.
Kyle Flood, Texas OL coach and former Rutgers head coach: Norries Wilson (Rutgers’ running backs coach) did a phenomenal job of identifying him early. We thought this kid was a complete stud. You could see how explosive he was.
Shafnisky: Saquon committed to Rutgers and he legitimately thought they offered the wrong guy. He knows he’s good, but he doesn’t know he’s great. He called us and said, “I think I got an offer.” I said, “What do you mean you think? Normally, that’s pretty clear.” He goes, “No, I think they messed up.” So he commits because he thought they were gonna take the offer back.
Gilbert: Rutgers gave him that offer, and Saquon being Saquon says, “I need to work my tail off to prove that I earned that scholarship.”
Barkley formally committed to Rutgers months later, on Sept. 7, 2013, in his junior year. The following month, he took an unofficial visit to Penn State and the Nittany Lions offered him. After that season, Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien resigned to become the coach of the Houston Texas and was replaced by James Franklin. Barkley flipped to Penn State in February 2014.
Charles Huff, Southern Miss head coach, former Penn State RB coach: He wasn’t even the No. 1 RB in the state of Pennsylvania when we got there. Andre Robinson, at Bishop McDevitt High School (in Harrisburg), was. Saquon was like the No. 2 or 3 guy.
No one on the staff looked at his high school film and thought this guy was gonna be a generational talent. It was, “This guy will be pretty good. Let’s take him, but we’ve gotta have Andre.”
Sean Spencer, Texas A&M defensive line coach, former Penn State D-line coach: I called him. I don’t know if it was that day or a day later, but he committed pretty quickly. I think he grew up a Penn State kid.
Gilbert: As far as why he flipped so fast, he went up to a White Out game (in 2013). I think he was like, “Oh. My. God! This is night and day from Rutgers to Penn State.”
Shafnisky: One million percent. That White Out game changed his life.
Gilbert: Saquon is such a pleaser, and doesn’t want to disappoint anybody. He asked me how to tell Rutgers. I said, “We’re gonna call coach Wilson and tell him.” He said, “Can you tell him?” I said, “No! You’re gonna tell him. You’re gonna feel better, like you’ve achieved something by doing this. It’s gonna be hard, but you can do it.”
He was so nervous, but I think that little step of knowing that he hates disappointing people but sometimes having to do what’s best for your own good (helped). It made him grow up a bit.
Spencer: A while later, he called me and said, “I just got a call from Ohio State.” Same with Notre Dame. Urban Meyer called him. Brian Kelly called him. Saquon didn’t waver. He never went on another official visit. Never went on another unofficial visit. He asked me if he could go on five official visits to Penn State because he didn’t want to go to any other school. I said the NCAA won’t allow that.
Flood: I would’ve loved to have coached him, but even now when I watch him, I root for him because I know what a great kid he is.
After rushing for 1,506 yards and 27 touchdowns as a junior at Whitehall, Barkley scored 31 touchdowns and ran for 1,856 as a senior, averaging almost nine yards per carry. His scouting report on 247Sports, grading on a scale of 1-10, ranked his speed and build as “7” and his tackle-breaking and power as “6.”
James Franklin, Penn State head coach: To be honest with you, even up until his senior year, he wasn’t that highly thought of. He was a good player, but nothing crazy. Then he had a dominant senior year. Then he played in some East-West All-Star Game and they didn’t even start him at tailback. He played fullback in the game.
Spencer: James and I went out to see him play early his senior year. He had like over 200 yards of offense and four touchdowns in the first half, and I was like, “I think we can leave now.” I was texting the pilot. Our job here was done.
Huff: Spence texts me, “We’re leaving.” I said, what do you mean you’re leaving? The game started at 7 and it’s only 7:38.
Franklin: I have a cool picture from me and Spence standing on the sideline. A local photographer shot a picture of us from over our shoulders with him in the background. I have it hanging in my basement.
Saquon Barkley defied his early career narrative and dominated during his three years in Happy Valley. (Jennifer Stewart / Getty Images)
Barkley ended up as the nation’s No. 119 prospect, the 13th-best running back in the class of 2015. He was part of the recruiting class that helped Franklin return the Nittany Lions to national prominence. It did not take long for Barkley to show his new teammates that he was more special than anyone had realized.
Franklin: Have you heard the story about the track deal when he was in high school?
Gilbert: The story is legendary.
Franklin: He wouldn’t miss opportunities to do something special.
Gilbert: I was at the district track meet that Whitehall hosts every year. At the 100-meter dash, this girl ran and finished first, but there was a mistake with the clock, so they had to re-do it. And when they re-did it, she came in second. Saquon witnessed all this, so he went over and gave her his gold medal and said, “You deserve this.” People at local pubs and restaurants will ask if it’s really true. Yep, it is.
Huff: For me realizing he was special, it was probably the first day we were in full pads in summer camp. He ran a basic inside zone play. He hit the A-gap, then made a jump cut all the way back to the edge and went like 70 yards. Everyone’s going crazy. He comes right back to me and says, “Should I have pressed it a little more?”
That’s where the legend of Saquon started.
Franklin: I remember the run from the Oklahoma drill where the three O-linemen basically blocked nobody and the three D-linemen came through and he shook ’em all. That was the welcome to Saquon Barkley moment. Have you seen that?
All these guys, when you’re recruiting them, say they wanna play as freshmen, but their actions don’t align with that. His actions did. He was super inquisitive, constantly asking players and coaches questions before and after practice. He was that guy. And on top of that, it was the numbers he put up in the weight room. Freakish.
Still, Barkley actually didn’t make his first start until late October of his freshman season, after proving to be impossible to keep off the field. He ran for 115 yards on just 12 carries in his second game, against Buffalo. The next week he ran for 195 yards and two touchdowns against Rutgers.
Spencer: He gets in the game when we’re playing Buffalo. He hurdles some guy, like three people, goes 50 or 60 yards, does a backflip — all this Saquon stuff. All my D-linemen started hugging me. When I saw Huff put him in, I said, “All right, guys. Here we go!”
We knew from practice that this guy was really special. I’d pause the film and ask them, “Do you think we could tackle him here?’ They’d be like, “NO!”
Huff: In the first year, we kept trying to protect him. He had unbelievable physical tools, but we were conscious of throwing him to the wolves too soon because we didn’t want to scar him. After that Buffalo game, we were like, “OK, we gotta play this guy.” Then it was, how do I get him ready to play in the Big Ten without throwing too much at him?
Spencer: I went into our (position) room and went up to the board. I wrote up the number 26 and circled it. (My D-linemen) asked what it was. I said, “This is called the Theory of 26. It means if any of you motherf—–s hit this dude in practice and hurt him, you’re gonna have hell to pay. Don’t touch him. He’s like a quarterback. Leave him alone.” I didn’t want one of them big-assed dudes falling on him.
In Week 5, Penn State visited Ohio State and got blown out, but Barkley ran for 194 yards. The following week, he started against Maryland. He finished the season with 1,076 yards and seven touchdowns. As dazzling of a debut as Barkley had, he felt like he could’ve been much better, and that meant he had a lot more work to do.
Huff: After his freshman year, he said he wanted to be the best running back ever. “What do I need to do to get better?” We went back and looked at some of the long runs where he got run down. It happened against Rutgers, against Michigan. We went back and did a series on looking at winning in open space, with breaking tackles and making guys miss.
Saquon Barkley: You try to improve in every aspect of the game. I watched film of myself. I did a self-evaluation. I wanted to get better at finishing the run. Break loose and make another guy miss to get into the end zone. Eliminate that next play because any time you have to line up again you give the defense another opportunity. You can have a muffed snap. Anything.
My freshman year, I was explosive, but I didn’t have true speed. My 20- and 30-yard burst was really good, but when I got to go 60 or 100, I didn’t really have another gear. I really wanted to increase my 40.
Huff: I called our track coach and asked about a bunch of things that offseason, like how to elongate your stride without losing your form. I still have videos that I’ll show our running backs of a young Saquon in the sandpit running in place for 30, 45 seconds, of him sprinting in the sandpit and turning around and sprinting full speed out of the pit.
I’m not saying I’m a running back czar. It was strictly trial and error. He was helping me and I was helping him. We started jumping rope. We did some soccer ball drills because in all of athletics, who has the quickest feet? Soccer players and boxers. Soccer ball alternating taps quick and as long as he could. He’d get 100 taps in. He still does some of this stuff today. He’ll send me videos in the summer, with a laughing emoji.
Barkley: We always talked about that Mamba mentality. Huff helped install that mentality and that confidence in me. He definitely made me work for it, but he knew my goal and the goals that we created for each other, and he held me accountable. He pushed me every single day to be the best person and player that I can be, and I’m forever thankful for him.
Huff: He challenged me to be a better running back coach because he wanted to be a better running back. He was really big into the mental game. We had some meetings addressing some things: How do you go out and challenge yourself even when the competition already says you’re the best? Then, it started to rub off into fall camp.
In 2016, Barkley ran for 1,496 yards and 18 touchdowns. The Nittany Lions went 11-3 and made it to the Rose Bowl, finishing No. 7 in the country — their best season in 11 years.
Huff: Going into the next year, I told him, “You’ve got to be prepared to have the biggest letdown season of your life.” I said, “Now teams are not gonna let you beat (them).” You have to be able to find success in the little things. Maybe you don’t rush for 200 yards and three touchdowns, but you can eliminate a few negative plays, improve your pass blocking, get better at catching the ball coming out of the backfield. Develop the other parts of your game.
He was like, “OK, I’m good with that.”
Barkley signed with the divisional rival of the team that drafted him and has led the Eagles’ run to the Super Bowl. (Emilee Chinn / Getty Images)
In 2017, Barkley ran for 225 fewer yards than he did in 2016 but posted more yards from scrimmage (1,903 with 21 touchdowns) in one fewer game because he became such a weapon in the passing game. Barkley became the only player in school history to gain 3,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving; he also finished as Penn State’s all-time leader in rushing touchdowns (43) and total touchdowns (53). The New York Giants drafted him with the second pick in 2018. He won Offensive Rookie of the Year and put up two spectacular seasons before suffering a knee injury in the second game of the 2020 season.
Spencer: I was with him again with the Giants (as the defensive line coach) when he got his (torn ACL) injury against the Bears in 2020. He looked at me in the locker room and said, “Why me, Coach?” We were both about to tear up. I said, “You’re gonna come back stronger.” It was emotional. I’ve known this dude since he was 17 years old.
Barkley recovered, but the Giants continued to sputter. Last March, Barkley signed a three-year, $37.75 million deal with the Eagles. Playing for the Giants’ division rival, Barkley tore up the NFL, going for a league-high 2,005 rushing yards — almost 700 more than his previous career-best.
All of that work that started in Happy Valley to help not get caught? It worked. He’s had nine runs of 50 yards or longer this year. No one else in the NFL has more than three. His seven touchdown runs of 60-plus yards are only three fewer than the entire rest of the league has combined, according to Pro Football Focus.
Spencer: When that kid (Eagles backup running back Will Shipley) breaks that run at the end of the playoff game, and you see how excited Saquon is for him? That’s who he is. The way he is now, the same way he was in high school.
Gilbert: It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy than Saquon. And that doesn’t happen overnight. That’s upbringing, coming from good roots and from a community where you’re expected to work hard to get what you want.
Spencer: He’s still the same guy who will go to high school games and sign every autograph. If it’s 100 people, he’ll sign every one. They just don’t make them like that any more.
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Kara Durrette / Getty Images)
