Penn State Sports Magazine
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LAST WORD N A T E B A U E R | N B A U E R @ B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M onths before Saquon Barkley took a kickoff return, grabbed a recep- tion, threw a pass or had a carry in his junior season, he sat down for a lengthy interview for this magazine's preseason edition. Relaxed and clearly growing more comfortable with his rapidly advancing stature in the world of college football, Barkley spoke at length about the aspi- rations he held for the Nittany Lions in their 2017 campaign. The individual ac- colades, Heisman hype and potential jump to the NFL weren't secondary topics to which Barkley would turn his attention later. Rather, they simply weren't items worthy of his attention. "It might sound cliche, but it's how I honestly feel about it: I don't personally like talking about it," Barkley said. "Every college football player's goal is to make it to the NFL. But I feel like there's some stuff here that I would like to get done, whether that's academically or athleti- cally, and I feel like if I [am going] to be the best player that I [can] be this year and help my team out and continue to grow as a player, and as a person and a leader, that's something I can't focus on." Six months after that interview, Barkley was offered yet another oppor- tunity to back up the sentiment. On the evening of Dec. 4, the news began to spread. It had been inconceiv- able at the midpoint of the season, but it gradually began to seem like an in- evitability, and then, on that night, it fi- nally became a reality. The votes had been tallied, and Barkley was officially left off the invitation list for the 2017 Heisman Trophy award ceremony in New York. The response to his absence was swift and unrelenting among Penn State fans, teammates and coaches. This was a running back viewed almost unani- mously as the best to ever lace 'em up as a Nittany Lion, and perhaps the most complete player in the program's his- tory. That he would not even be on hand for the game's most prestigious award was seen as an injustice. Marcus Allen, Penn State's senior safety with his own rightful place among the program's favorites, weighed in shortly after the revelation. "My Heis- man Winner," his statement read simply, followed by a series of images of the pair together at different times in their Nit- tany Lion careers. Replying to Allen's as- sertion, former All-America tailback Curtis Enis took it a step further, de- scribing Barkley as, hands down, the greatest runner in Penn State history. Barring a miraculous afternoon against Washington in the Fiesta Bowl, he isn't going to become Penn State's all-time leading rusher, but his numbers are formidable. This season, Barkley has carried the ball 199 times for 1,134 yards and 16 touchdowns to go along with his 47 receptions for another 594 yards and three more scores. He completed two passes for 36 yards and a touchdown, and as a kickoff return specialist he ripped off two touchdowns and an aver- age of 28.4 yards per attempt. Barkley's average of 179.5 all-purpose yards per game ranks second nationally, and it has earned him the Paul Hornung Award and a bevy of Big Ten honors, including Offensive Player of the Year, Running Back of the Year and Return Specialist of the Year. But the Heisman Trophy requires overwhelming statistical production, and Barkley's numbers through 12 games weren't good enough to earn him a spot among the top three vote-getters for the award. He finished fourth, receiving only 15 first-place votes and 304 total points, and was too far behind third- place finisher Lamar Jackson (793 points) to be invited to the ceremony. Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield easily took home the award, surpassing second- place finisher Bryce Love of Stanford by more than 1,000 total points. Considered a frontrunner for the Heisman through the seventh week of the season, Barkley saw his production fall off dramatically in the Nittany Lions' final five regular-season games. In many ways, though, the sense of de- termination that opponents showed in trying to shut him down served to illus- trate his value. Even with Barkley frequently bottled up, the Nittany Lions have fielded one of the best offenses in school history this year. Their average of 41.6 points per game is third-highest ever at Penn State, and Barkley's presence on the field, with or without the ball in his hands, has everything to do with that success. For his part, Barkley appeared to take no offense at the Heisman snub. In- stead, he posted a message of thanks to fans, teammates and coaches for their support of his career. Barkley's response reinforced the stance he had proclaimed long before his journey began. And in doing so, he reinforced something else, a selfless quality that Penn State fans have long treasured among many of the program's all-time greats. His numbers may not have been big enough to garner the na- tional praise and attention that fans wanted for him, but he used his plat- form to celebrate others, displaying the kind of humility and maturity that sup- porters of the program hold dear. It's an outcome Nittany Lion fans can take plenty of pride in. Maybe even more than a Heisman Trophy would have brought. ■ Point of pride M