Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/590325
T H E 2 0 1 5 S E A S O N football since he was sitting on my hus- band's lap watching [as a preschooler], and he'd say, I want to do that." Saquon was born in the Bronx, where both Johnson and Alibay Barkley grew up and lived until 2001 when the family moved to Pennsylvania. Saquon, his par- ents, his two brothers and two sisters first resided in Bethlehem before moving to Coplay. That's the place Saquon considers home. It's also where he established himself as arguably the top high school player in the state. Named Mr. Pennsylvania as a senior at Whitehall, Barkley rushed 216 times for 24 touchdowns and 1,851 yards, setting a school record. All the while, Barkley juked, spun and hurdled away from would-be tacklers (even if the latter wasn't legal according to the high school rulebook) just like he did in the first part of his freshman season with the Nittany Lions (where it's now legal to leap over defenders, which he seems to routinely do). While Barkley was growing up, his par- ents both worked full time – Johnson in customer service, Alibay in food service – and they took turns transporting Saquon back and forth to sporting events and supporting him at his games. Early in high school, it was Alibay who was in the stands while Johnson was at work, but they re- arranged their schedules during Saquon's last high school season so Johnson could be in attendance. And what she saw looked an awful lot like the moves that PSU fans witnessed in Barkley's first three home games. She watched them in awe. "I wasn't really a sports person, but it amazed me," she said. "How'd you do that? My husband would be like, You haven't seen anything yet." The same might be said for Barkley's PSU career, which is still in its infancy. There was one point during his high school career, though, in which it appeared that another Big Ten fan base would be granted the opportunity to watch it all unfold. Despite normally being a step ahead in his athletic endeavors – in the boxing ring or on the peewee football field – Barkley's Whitehall career didn't take off until his junior season. Therefore, he didn't start appearing on the recruiting radar of many Football Bowl Subdivision programs until relatively late in the process. "He wasn't highly rated; he wasn't a star guy until going into his senior year," Whitehall head coach Brian Gilbert said. "The offers only came in late." The first of which was from Rutgers, which also happened to be his dad's favorite college football team. Soon after earning that scholarship, Barkley verbally com- mitted to the Scarlet Knights. But after a junior season in which he topped 1,500 yards rushing, scholarship offers continued to pour in. Penn State's was one of them. Bill O'Brien first offered Barkley before he left for the NFL, and after James Franklin came on board, Barkley became one of his top recruiting priorities for the Class of 2015. One month after his hire, Barkley flipped commitments. "I didn't want him to go to Penn State, because my team is Rutgers," Alibay said. "I was upset – not going to lie." He soon came around to it, though, es- pecially after he visited University Park with Saquon and met the coaches and players. Among the reasons why he changed his mind? "The education, the alumni – it's great," Alibay said. "Then when I met Franklin, he was like family." Additionally, the Barkleys saw a chance for success – not only individually, but more important, as a team. Barkley had won individual awards before, but there's a reason why he pursued football over boxing. "He's never won a championship," Al- ibay said. "He's never had that experi- ence. He's always been the best [player] on the team, but he hasn't [won a cham- pionship] yet. I think that's what he's striving for. He saw that he can do that at Penn State." ■