Penn State Sports Magazine
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have not been confined to the running backs, receivers and defensive backs. "When we first got here, we had two student-athletes on the team that ran in the 4.4s. That was Adrian Amos and DeAndre Thompkins," Galt said. "We actually have five players running in the 4.3s right now and 13 players running in the 4.4s. So we've really im- proved our team speed." The five players in the 4.3-second range are Barkley (4.33, down from 4.38 last year), Thompkins, Grant Haley, Saeed Blacknall and walk-on Jabari But- ler. Barkley turned in another dazzling performance over the winter. Not only did he shave a bit of time off of his 40, he also power cleaned 390 pounds with room to spare. Said Galt, "Saquon got 390 last year, and he did it again this year. We cut him off. We didn't want to have him go for anything heavier than that. He proved his point." One of Barkley's backups, rising soph- omore Miles Sanders, also had a strong performance in the weight room. He was listed at 205 pounds last season, but Franklin said recently that he's up to 224. "I texted his mom [a few] nights ago that her baby looks like a man right now," Franklin said. "He was standing next to Saquon, and they are two im- pressive-looking guys. Now, he doesn't have Saquon's legs, and few people do, but he is put together right now, and Mom agreed that she's amazed how he looks." LINEBACKERS AT WORK Galt had much to say about Penn State's line- backer room following the departure of veterans Brandon Bell and Nyeem Wart- man-White. Asked to identify some of the young players who had caught his eye during winter workouts, the coach spotlighted sophomore-to-be Cam Brown. "Obviously with Brandon and Nyeem leaving, it's very competitive over there right now," Galt said. "Cam's got that big 6-5 frame, and he's up to 225 now. When he got here he was 198. So he's been here nine months and gained 27 pounds and he's still got ripped abs. So I'm real excited with where he is. He ran 4.59. He ran a 4.72 when he first got here at that small weight, so he's put all that weight on and he's increased his speed. So we're really pleased with where he's going." Added Franklin, "He has muscles that I didn't even know existed. You can see with his shirt off, he has 12 sets of abs. I didn't even know that was physically possible to have 12 sets of abs. His 40 time has gone down. His muscle mass has gone up." Another player of note who is quietly starting to look the part is redshirt sophomore Jarvis Miller, who moved from safety to linebacker during the Nit- tany Lions' bowl practices last Decem- ber. "He's up to 225," Galt said. "He's got that 4.4 speed, and now he's starting to clean, he's starting to squat. He's doing a great job. He started doing a really good job on the work end. He's getting tougher." OFFENSIVE LINE QUESTIONS Fol- lowing the departure of veterans Brian Gaia, Wendy Laurent, Derek Dowrey and Paris Palmer, Penn State's offensive line for next season is again garnering plenty of interest. While Galt did not share any insights as to who might take over Gaia's role as the team's anchor at the center spot, he did note that he had seen plenty of enthusiasm from the po- sition group, which features three po- tential redshirt freshman contributors in Michal Menet, Will Fries and Alex Gellerstedt. In fact, Galt said the team's young linemen embraced the challenge so vigorously that he had to intervene to IRON LION Galt put the Lions through their paces in the winter and was happy with the re- sults. Photo by Nate Bauer