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that success appears to have gone to his head. By the time he'd wrapped up 12 minutes of fidgeting and fumbling for the right words – acknowledging off the top his discomfort talking to the media – what had already been obvious was made even more so. Spectacular as he may be on the football field, gracious and likable as he may be off the field with coaches and teammates, Barkley is very much the humble 19-year-old kid that Franklin had described moments earlier. "I think I'm doing a decent job," Barkley started, summing up his accom- plishments to date. "I'm becoming a complete back – working on leadership and especially working on my pass blocking and picking up blitzes. I think I'm doing a pretty good job so far." If anything about Barkley's current it- eration is "pretty good," the question quickly becomes what "even better" could look like for the Coplay, Pa., resi- dent as he prepares for his second sea- son at Penn State. Despite missing a pair of games due to injury last year, Barkley still proved him- self to be one of college football's most electrifying young running backs. His average of 5.9 yards per carry ranked 34th nationally, and the number of highlight-reel runs he delivered on what seemed to be a weekly basis only provid- ed confirmation of his place moving for- ward. Not that the outside affirmation mat- ters much to Barkley. "I'm honored to be compared to some great running backs," he said, "but I try to block that out and be myself and just try to be a better player every single day." Coming off of a winter workout pro- gram in which he finished with the team's top marks in the 40-yard dash Akeel Lynch knew his tenure as Penn State's first-team running back was about to end when he watched his backup, true freshman Saquon Barkley, leap over a would-be tackler in the Nit- tany Lions' home opener last season against Buffalo. Barkley's dazzling 17- yard run signaled the emergence of a tremendous young talent, but it also pushed Lynch into the background and prompted him to consider whether he had a future at Penn State. As it turned out, he didn't. Lynch, who won the starting position in pre- season practice last year only to lose it to Barkley halfway through the season, announced in January that he would be transferring. The following month, he revealed his destination: the University of Nevada. "I still feel like I have a lot of football left in me," Lynch told The Lion 90.7 FM in April. "So that was motivation of sorts. And aside from that, you've got to think about school and the people there. I know the head coach. He went to my high school, so I have a good connection there. I also wanted to ex- perience something new. I'm still able to experience America – I'm Canadian – and get to travel out to the West Coast and experience something new while I don't have to worry about fi- nances. That played a role as well." Lynch, who rushed for 1,318 yards in his three seasons at Penn State, will be playing for fourth-year coach Brian Polian. Graduates of St. Francis High in Buffalo, N.Y., Lynch and Polian will have one season together in Reno. As a graduate transfer – he is set to receive his Penn State degree in May – Lynch will be eligible to play right away after he enrolls over the summer. Said Po- lian, "We expect him to come in and compete immediately at running back." Lynch didn't play much after Barkley emerged as Penn State's pri- mary running back, receiving only six carries in the Nittany Lions' final sev- en games. But he refused to sulk as his playing time dwindled. As he told Penn State's student radio station, "What happens in moments like that is that you can go in the tank and be like, my career's over, I suck, I can't play football anymore, it's over. Or you can be like, let me help nurture FOOTBALL GAME OF CHANCE Seeking opportunity, Akeel Lynch heads to Nevada

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