Centre Daily Times Logo

Is Saquon Barkley the best Penn State running back of all-time? | Centre Daily Times

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Customer Service
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Archives
    • Contact Us
    • Plus
    • eEdition
    • Newsletters
    • Subscribe
    • About Us
    • Local
    • Penn State
    • Sandusky Scandal
    • Communities
    • Crime
    • Business
    • Education
    • Politics
    • Public Records
    • State
    • Nation/World
    • Weird News
    • Sports
    • College
    • Golf
    • High School
    • MLB
    • Motorsports
    • NFL
    • NHL
    • Outdoors
    • Penn State
    • State College Spikes
    • Politics
    • Elections
    • PSU Sports
    • PSU Football
    • PSU Basketball
    • PSU Baseball
    • PSU Hockey
    • PSU Soccer
    • PSU Volleyball
    • PSU Wrestling
    • Nittany Lines Blog
  • Penn State Football
    • Living
    • Announcements
    • Family Pages
    • Eat, Play, Live
    • Home & Garden
    • Entertainment
    • Weekender
    • Comics
    • Games & Puzzles
    • Celebrities
    • Horoscopes
    • Movie News & Reviews
    • Music
    • TV
    • Opinion
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Submit a Letter
  • Obituaries

  • Classifieds
  • Jobs
  • Cars
  • Homes
  • Place An Ad
  • Mobile & Apps

Penn State Football

Is Saquon Barkley the best Penn State running back of all-time?

By Gordon Brunskill,

Ryne Gery,

John McGonigal, and

Josh Moyer

    ORDER REPRINT →

January 02, 2018 07:27 PM

Something we all can agree upon: Saquon Barkley is one of the best running backs to ever come through Happy Valley.

He leaves behind a legacy at Penn State that will never be forgotten, as he thrilled with 3,843 career rushing yards and a school-record 43 rushing TDs. But the big question here isn’t whether Barkley is one of the best. He is.

But is he the best ever? Where exactly does he rank among Penn State’s storied history of backs? We asked our sports crew for the answer; here’s what they said:

John McGonigal: Greatest of all-time

SIGN UP

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to the Centre Daily Times

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

He didn’t hoist the Heisman Trophy or win a national championship, and he is not the program’s all-time leading rusher.

But Barkley is the greatest running back in Penn State history, without any question in my mind.

Barkley was a back-to-back Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year recipient, won the Paul Hornung Award as college football’s most versatile player and came away with three end-of-the-season conference honors (offensive player, running back and return specialist of the year) in 2017. Barkley, who was snubbed of a Heisman invitation, was also a finalist for the Maxwell, Walter Camp and Doak Walker Awards.

Unlike Curt Warner or D.J. Dozier, Barkley wasn’t a leader of a national title team. But after seven- and eight-win seasons in the face of damaging NCAA sanctions, Barkley was the driving force in bringing Penn State back to prominence. He was the main attraction and best player for a program that rebounded with 22 wins the past two seasons. In a pair of New Year’s Six bowl games — where the stage was brightest for the Nittany Lions — Barkley accumulated 481 all-purpose yards and five touchdowns.

Sure, Barkley isn’t Penn State’s all-time leader in rushing yards. That top spot belongs to Evan Royster, a four-year player.

But Barkley finished his career with 3,843 yards on the ground, 90 shy of breaking Royster’s record. In three years. With a worse offensive line.

He is the only three-year Penn State player to eclipse 1,000 rushing yards in each season and easily breezed by Lydell Mitchell’s career rushing touchdowns record with 43 total. Oh, and don’t forget his 1,195 receiving yards, 500 return yards and 11 non-rushing touchdowns.

Fans’ emotional attachment and investment in Barkley, who helped elevate Penn State from mediocre to great and captivated their attention every time he touched the ball, is immeasurable.

But the stats alone are enough to crown Barkley as Penn State’s greatest running back — and someone worthy of a retired number.

Josh Moyer: Best all-around back

For me, it comes down to two players: Ki-Jana Carter and Barkley. It’s so hard to compare the two because Carter ran behind one of Penn State’s greatest offensive lines and Barkley ran behind ... well, let’s be nice ... not one of the greatest. At the same time, Joe Paterno didn’t hesitate to pull his star back when games got out of hand. Carter could’ve easily had 2,000 yards in a single season if he stayed in during garbage time.

So I can’t say Barkley is the better pure runner over Carter. Maybe he is; I just don’t feel comfortable making that judgment. What I do feel comfortable saying: Barkley is easily — easily — the Nittany Lions’ best-ever all-around back.

Some, I’m sure, will make the argument for Lenny Moore, who played from 1953-1955. I get that. But Moore wasn’t a fan of catching balls in college, and he finished his career with 125 receiving yards. His production didn’t match his talent until the NFL. Barkley had 1,195 receiving yards, and he had more than a handful of highlight-worthy blocks too.

Barkley is the greatest in a lot of categories. So, even 10 or 20 years from now, I think that’s his legacy: Best all-around running back and one of Penn State’s five best all-around offensive players.

Gordon Brunskill: Greatest of all-time

My first impression of Saquon Barkley was jaw-dropping — seeing him hurdle over Buffalo tacklers at Beaver Stadium when he was a freshman — but the lasting images are a handful of far more important plays. They are seeing him sprinting to the end zone after the opening kickoff against Ohio State, or leaving tacklers grasping at air at the Rose and Fiesta bowls.

The two latter runs make me think of the 1995 Rose Bowl, with Ki-Jana Carter galloping across the green grass in Pasadena. Greatness can be measured statistically, and he is leaving with the school’s all-purpose yardage mark set in three seasons. That demonstrates his value and importance was far more than merely a ball-carrier out of the backfield.

Throw in the flash of Carter from that 1994 Nittany Lions season, and there is a better glimpse of what Barkley did for the program. There were more seats filled thanks to Barkley. Much like going to baseball games and not making a trip to the concession stand when Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton are coming to bat, you didn’t want to be out of your seat when Penn State was on offense. The next highlight to be repeated for weeks and months and years could happen on any play.

There have been so many great backs to race across Beaver Stadium, and each has a reason to lay claim as the program’s best. Evan Royster has the yardage numbers, John Cappelletti has the Heisman, Franco Harris has the Super Nowl rings and best pro career, Larry Johnson had the propensity to break off huge runs, Curt Warner was so dependable with so much resting on his shoulders, and he and Blair Thomas have those national championship rings.

But if I was deciding who to pick in April’s NFL draft, the decision is easy. It’s rare to find everything — the style and the substance — that came in the best back in Penn State history.

Ryne Gery: Greatest of all-time

Barkley is the greatest running back in Penn State history. He has the numbers to claim that title, finishing first in program history in both all-purpose yards and rushing touchdowns while also finishing second all-time in rushing yards. And his ability to leave his teammates, opponents and fans in awe sets him apart from other Nittany Lions legends.

Barkley routinely hurdled defenders, made impressive cuts and used his speed to run away from defenses throughout his career. The Penn State running back seemed to break off a highlight-reel run every week, leaving you wondering how he pulled it off. Looking through old highlights of Penn State greats like Cappelletti, Carter, Johnson and Warner, you don’t see the same type of jaw-dropping plays Barkley made. You don’t see the same combination of power and speed that generated conversation about Barkley being one of the best running backs in college football in decades.

His name was mentioned in the same breath as Barry Sanders and Adrian Peterson. Ohio State coach Urban Meyer praised Barkley as perhaps the best “all-purpose running back” he’s seen in his career. Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald offered similar praise, saying Barkley was “maybe the best player I’ve ever seen on tape.”

Plus, Barkley achieved everything behind an offensive line that struggled throughout his career. He still piled up yards and put on a show with his all-around talent to leave as the greatest Penn State running back of all-time.

Related stories from Centre Daily Times

psu-football

Top-15 plays of Saquon Barkley’s Penn State football career

January 02, 2018 11:34 AM

psu-football

Saquon Barkley: ‘I promised my mom when I was a little kid that I would buy her a house one day’

January 01, 2018 12:10 PM

psu-football

Here’s what the experts are saying about Saquon Barkley’s NFL draft stock

December 31, 2017 11:12 PM

psu-football

Read Saquon Barkley’s farewell to Penn State

December 31, 2017 09:13 PM

psu-football

What NFL team will draft Saquon Barkley? An ESPN draft expert gives us his best guess

January 01, 2018 03:42 PM

  Comments  

Videos

Penn State’s new wide receivers coach aware of challenges

McSorley doesn’t want to put a ceiling on the next group of players

View More Video

Trending Stories

Penn State Thon total tops $10 million for second consecutive year

February 17, 2019 04:16 PM

Penn State football freshmen, early enrollees dance at Thon 2019 pep rally

February 17, 2019 04:22 AM

Scott Stossel’s win, Brady Berge’s return highlight Penn State wrestling’s Big Ten title-clinching win

February 17, 2019 04:52 PM

Letters: Water runoff tax needed in State College; ban on Sunday hunting makes sense

February 17, 2019 03:45 PM

Penn State wrestling mailbag: Can Iowa or Ohio State test the Nittany Lions at Big Tens?

February 18, 2019 05:08 PM

things to do

Read Next

‘Ready and willing’: Why Penn State is confident it can replace OL Bates, McGovern
Video media Created with Sketch.

Penn State Football

‘Ready and willing’: Why Penn State is confident it can replace OL Bates, McGovern

By John McGonigal

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 18, 2019 04:48 PM

Michal Menet spoke Saturday about how ‘hungry’ Penn State’s OL is

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to the Centre Daily Times

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE PENN STATE FOOTBALL

Penn State football freshmen, early enrollees dance at Thon 2019 pep rally

Penn State Football

Penn State football freshmen, early enrollees dance at Thon 2019 pep rally

February 17, 2019 04:22 AM
State of the program: Nittany Lions address Galiano, early enrollees as spring camp nears

Penn State Football

State of the program: Nittany Lions address Galiano, early enrollees as spring camp nears

February 16, 2019 07:00 PM
How Penn State football’s Thon Explorers Program put things ‘into perspective’ for Nittany Lions

Penn State Football

How Penn State football’s Thon Explorers Program put things ‘into perspective’ for Nittany Lions

February 16, 2019 04:30 PM
Penn State assistant coach Phil Galiano leaving to pursue NFL opportunity

Penn State Football

Penn State assistant coach Phil Galiano leaving to pursue NFL opportunity

February 15, 2019 09:20 AM
Former Penn State WR Juwan Johnson transferring to Oregon Ducks

Penn State Football

Former Penn State WR Juwan Johnson transferring to Oregon Ducks

February 14, 2019 07:10 PM
Tracking Penn State football’s 10 free agents this NFL offseason

Penn State Football

Tracking Penn State football’s 10 free agents this NFL offseason

February 13, 2019 12:00 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Centre Daily Times App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Photo Store
  • Archives
Advertising
  • Information
  • Place a Classified
  • Local Deals
  • Place an Obituary
  • Today's Circulars
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story