Wondering how TCF compares to Wade in camp, thus far. Wade looks much more thick than I was expecting.
2017 Preseason Practice Articles/Discussion
- Thread starter Judge Smails
- Start date
Interesting, Dienhart mentioned Nelson and Mahon both playing Tackle and Bates (a rising star) playing Guard....
Also a slick pick by C. Campbell on the deep throw to Thompkins
How is Alex Barbir doing ? Touchbacks, accuracy, distance etc. Not much discussion with Tyler at the helm, and JJ no longer with the team.
Crazy thing about Wade is that apparently Clairton's gym/weight facilities are way way behind the norm. Galt made the comment that Wade had no real idea about how to train. Give him a couple of years with Galt, and by the time he's a junior he could be 210.
I'm all for keeping kids fresh but PSU did not have a dominate defense last year. They ranked 47th in the country yielding 25.4 pts per game. 5 of 11 starters are gone from that defense so there are a lot questions. DT might be our best position where it looks like we have a legitimate 2 deep. It will be interesting to see how we do at DE. They hype was about Simmons but it sounds like others are well ahead of him at this point. LB is also a question. PSU needs Cabinda to stay healthy, Bowen to take the next step, and for someone like Farmer or Brown to fill the open spot on the outside. I think PSU is in good shape at safety with Allen leading the way but somebody has to step up and fill Reid's spot at corner.
Michigan yielded 14.1 pts per game last year. OSU yielded 15.5 pts per game and Wisconsin yielded 15.6 pts. PSU has a great offense but they have to be better on defense if they hope to repeat as conference champs. I think they can do it if the defense can hold opponents to 20 pts per game. That requires a big improvement.
247 feature on the freshman (incl. RS frosh) it expects to play a role this year.
They have Miranda as one of them. Unless we see injuries in the interior of the line, I don't think that Miranda will see any snaps. He's so talented, be a shame to waste a year of eligibility on garbage time snaps. Think the starters go Bates, Gonzalez, McGovern, Mahon, Wright.
http://pennstate.247sports.com/Gall...ld-play-Week-1-106129338/GallerySlides/642187
(Photo: Sean Fitz, 247Sports)
CB Tariq Castro-Fields
Castro-Fields has added plenty of functional weight and maintained his top-notch speed. He's seen second-team reps in practice.
They have Miranda as one of them. Unless we see injuries in the interior of the line, I don't think that Miranda will see any snaps. He's so talented, be a shame to waste a year of eligibility on garbage time snaps. Think the starters go Bates, Gonzalez, McGovern, Mahon, Wright.
http://pennstate.247sports.com/Gall...ld-play-Week-1-106129338/GallerySlides/642187
(Photo: Sean Fitz, 247Sports)
CB Tariq Castro-Fields
Castro-Fields has added plenty of functional weight and maintained his top-notch speed. He's seen second-team reps in practice.
A
anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
Guest
Fluid situation right now, but reports I've seen have him 2nd string ahead of Windsor, surprisingly.
https://bwi.rivals.com/news/tough-ticket-penn-state-s-among-most-sought-after-games
In advance of the start of the 2017 season of NCAA football, online ticket marketplace StubHub has released data regarding the most in-demand teams across the country.
According to the group's rankings, Penn State sits behind only Michigan, Notre Dame and Alabama as the fourth-most in-demand team in advance of the 2017 season.
Top 10 Most In-Demand Teams
Based on total ticket sales on StubHub as of 8/7/17
1.Michigan
2.Notre Dame
3.Alabama
4.Penn State
5.Ohio State
6.Florida Gators
7.USC
8.Virginia Tech
9.Wisconsin
10.Clemson
Top 10 Overall Games
Based on total ticket sales on StubHub
1 Chick-fil-A Kickoff: FSU v Alabama on 9/2
2 Advocare Classic: Michigan v Florida on 9/2
3 Georgia at Notre Dame on 9/9
4 LSU at Florida on 10/7
5 Ohio State at Michigan on 11/25
6 Michigan at Penn State on 10/21
7 Oklahoma at Ohio State on 9/9
8 Pittsburgh at Penn State on 9/9
9 Michigan State at Michigan on 10/7
10 Texas at USC on 9/16
Additionally, the Big Ten as a conference is considered the most in-demand across the country this preseason, reportedly "outselling the SEC by 11 percent this year," with the Nittany Lions listed second in the conference behind Michigan, while Ohio State has taken third.
In advance of the start of the 2017 season of NCAA football, online ticket marketplace StubHub has released data regarding the most in-demand teams across the country.
According to the group's rankings, Penn State sits behind only Michigan, Notre Dame and Alabama as the fourth-most in-demand team in advance of the 2017 season.
Top 10 Most In-Demand Teams
Based on total ticket sales on StubHub as of 8/7/17
1.Michigan
2.Notre Dame
3.Alabama
4.Penn State
5.Ohio State
6.Florida Gators
7.USC
8.Virginia Tech
9.Wisconsin
10.Clemson
Top 10 Overall Games
Based on total ticket sales on StubHub
1 Chick-fil-A Kickoff: FSU v Alabama on 9/2
2 Advocare Classic: Michigan v Florida on 9/2
3 Georgia at Notre Dame on 9/9
4 LSU at Florida on 10/7
5 Ohio State at Michigan on 11/25
6 Michigan at Penn State on 10/21
7 Oklahoma at Ohio State on 9/9
8 Pittsburgh at Penn State on 9/9
9 Michigan State at Michigan on 10/7
10 Texas at USC on 9/16
Additionally, the Big Ten as a conference is considered the most in-demand across the country this preseason, reportedly "outselling the SEC by 11 percent this year," with the Nittany Lions listed second in the conference behind Michigan, while Ohio State has taken third.
Schedule gets the "easy" label because PSU is not yet scheduling a top 25 team in the nonconference. Akron, Pitt and Ga. State doesn't impress anyone. Akron, Oregon and Ga. State would look a bit better. Not that Pitt will be an easy game. They have talent (maybe not as much as last year, but they have talent), and beating PSU pretty much makes their season.
When Pitt is off the schedule and the quality (meaning home+home series) noncon opponent is, say, Va. Tech, the PSU schedule will appear better to national media.
Agree about Indiana -- that was a TOUGH game and PSU was fortunate to win. Pry and Brandon Smith baited Lagow into an INT (which was the play of the game), then PSU got a punt muff; without the turnovers Indiana could have won that game. Hoosiers have real talent on both sides of the ball - best LB in the conference, probably the best corner in the conference. Lagow has one of the best arms in the conference and they have receivers.
PSU gets them at home this year -- historically, Indiana at the Beav has not been anything like Indiana on their home field. Also new coaching staff at Indy so who knows what to expect with the transition. But I would expect them to be good again.
Also, the thing that hurt PSU last year vs. Indy was they didn't get enough pressure from their DEs -- Lagow had way too much time. If PSU can get better pressure from DEs this year, passing teams like Indiana will have a little more difficulty.
Saquon Barkley Is the Superstar College Football—and Penn State—Needs
GREG COUCHAUGUST 15, 2017
The picture Saquon Barkley's family paints of his early childhood is not pretty. Is not fun. Is not joyful.
"Lyman Place in the Bronx..." his mom, Tonya Johnson, says. "That block started deteriorating more and more. And more."
"Shootouts," says his dad, Alibay Barkley, joining in from the family living room in Coplay, Pennsylvania, to help tell the story.
"It was so bad," Tonya says, "to the point you were only able to go on—allowed in—the block if you lived there. And they had to know who you were. It was just so much."
So is that the story of Saquon Barkley? He grew up in fear of the mean streets and gained an innate toughness from that fear? And that toughness led him to football stardom—the star running back at a national championship contender, Penn State, and a future high-first-round NFL draft pick?
It's a narrative you've heard before, so many times by now. And yes, it's true here.
But also, no, it's not.
At least it's not the story as Barkley tells it. The way he tells it, Lyman Place was pretty. Was fun. Was joyful.
"I didn't think it was a rough neighborhood," he says. "You're a kid. You're just having fun.
"I don't think any place is truly that bad. It's the stories you hear about it [that make it seem that way]. I just grew up being a little kid having fun."
If it sounds like obliviousness, it's not. There's no obliviousness to Saquon Barkley. He knows where he's from. Knows all about it. Knows his dad almost ruined his own life with a drug habit. Knows his uncle had problems with drugs, too. He knows what the neighborhood he was born into was like, and he knows the neighborhood in Pennsylvania they moved to after it was rough, too.
But still, he remembers how green that grass was—even in the dreariest of neighborhoods. He doesn't hide from the bad, and so he doesn't end up forgetting the good.
"One thing I would tell you about Saquon that is really interesting is that a lot of families and a lot of people are uncomfortable by the challenges they had to overcome," Penn State head coach James Franklin says. "There might be circumstances in their history, their past, that they might not be proud of. One thing that's so interesting about Saquon and his family...
"They own everything."
Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
They had no choice but to own their problems. Barkley never was allowed an illusion that the world was perfect or easy. He worked for what he's become, and he is on the verge of achieving the American dream.
And maybe that, and not just the otherworldly talent, is what makes him such a perfect star for college football right now. Especially given where he's playing.
Penn State was a story of all things good for so long. They called the place Happy Valley—a location on the map but also a state of mind that the people there believed in. The feeling in town and on campus was that they were driven by the wholesomeness of the place, exemplified by former head coach Joe Paterno.
There is no need to dive too deeply into what happened to that image. You already know: Assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was sexually abusing young boys. There were people who could have done something to stop it and didn't, desperate to maintain the illusion of perfection. And in the end, Happy Valley had its impossible ideal brought down by impossible monstrosity.
It's a story in stark contrast to what was happening at the same time just across the state, in a world of lesser extremes, though one still squarely in the realm of harsh reality.
A family moved from the Bronx to public housing in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, because a strong mother, Tonya Johnson, decided she was going to improve the future of her family.
A photo posted by Saquon Barkley(@sb_xxvi)
"Are you coming?" she asked Alibay, "because either way I'm going."
He had to clean himself up first. After Bethlehem, they moved to another rough neighborhood in Allentown before finding peaceful, quiet Coplay. Alibay says he has been clean ever since.
In other words: While all that mess was being made of impossible ideals in Happy Valley, a story of real American ideals was in the works right across the state. And that's the story Happy Valley is cheering for now.
Barkley says that the cheering is for the team, not for him, and that it's about Penn State's sudden re-emergence under Franklin. But privately, Alibay admits this about his son:
"He feels he's helping the school get its name back."
He is cleaning up and redefining that name with a reality like this:
"My mom got pregnant at a young age, 15," Barkley says. "She gave birth at the age of 16. My father was a normal kid in the streets of New York, doing dumb stuff. He could have really jeopardized his life. ...
"Then my dad got caught up in a drug habit. Life could have went the other way, but my mom was in his life. My mom told him: 'I don't want my kids to go through this. I don't see a great future for them here.' My mom basically told my dad that he's got to stop doing what he's doing and get right. And then they moved to Pennsylvania."
Barkley was three or four at the time. Maybe five. When family members tell the story, it varies a little. The thing is, they have no problem telling it, no inclination to hide it.
"My dad's drug habit?" Barkley says. "To be honest, I think he was a great example to learn from. He told me about it when I was a little kid. He wasn't embarrassed about it. He had his demons. Everyone has demons. I'm not embarrassed about him. He has been clean ever since. He raised me to be the person I am today."
Alibay now works as a chef at a Chili's restaurant. Tonya works on retail much of the year and then in a tax office during tax season.
"I'm blessed to say I have both my parents together," Barkley says. "Not many people can say that."
An American success story.
You drive into Coplay on narrow, hilly streets. Pass a park on the right, mom-and-pop stores and restaurants all around. The Bacon Strip. Barry Lovelace Athlete Training Academy. Log Cabin. Karaoke on Friday night!
The walls in the Barkleys' nice, modest house are filled with family pictures, sayings, trophies: "Family. One of the Greatest Blessings." There's a picture of Malcolm X shaking hands with Martin Luther King Jr.
Barkley is not there, but is instead on the Penn State campus. Alibay sits on the couch watching a replay of the Rose Bowl, the incredible 52-49 USC win over Penn State. Barkley rushed for 194 yards and two touchdowns, including a 79-yarder. He also caught five passes for 55 yards and another touchdown.
"You win some, you lose some," Dad says simply.
No overreaction. No pretending it's something it's not.
Alibay credits the quiet of Coplay for helping him to stay in control, to stay away from trouble.
"It's a good place to raise kids," he says. "Saquon was always a tough kid. Your energy attracts people to you. He has good energy, a good aura, so good people come around. No negativity came to him."
"Sometimes," Tonya says, "you've got to change your environment to change your circumstances."
Tonya's aunt lived in Bethlehem and used to take the Barkley kids away from the Bronx for a few weeks at a time and watch them. Tonya would eventually take the 90-minute bus ride there and stay for a few days before taking the kids home.
"I used to look at them and see how much they were enjoying themselves," she says. "They could just run around in the grass—my oldest son, Rashard, and Saquon."
Alibay and Tonya tend to be in a sort of positive bickering state. They debate how long they've been married, how long they were together before that. Oral history has a tendency to be long on feeling and short on factual detail.
They describe Alibay's drug use differently, too. She says he was a "functioning drug addict," which she says means he could work all week away from drugs and then use again on weekends. He says, "Sometimes it got bad. I'm not going to lie. I'd go to the program, clean up."
In Coplay, they found themselves removed from all troubles, he says. And the kids—Barkley and his siblings—were safe.
When Barkley reached Whitehall High, there were still no signs of what was coming. He flew on an airplane for the first time when his team went to Florida for a game.
"Going into his sophomore year, the kid we knew was talented but unsure of himself," Barkley's high school coach, Brian Gilbert, says. "He lacked confidence in the weight room, with body and strength. But what made him who he is was that when you put a challenge in front of certain kids, they won't stop until they can achieve it.
"I'll never forget the first time I put 300 pounds on the squat rack and said, 'You can squat this.' He said, 'No way.'"
Soon, he blew right past that.
"Quick story," Gilbert says. "We used to go to a weightlifting competition, and it was bench [press] and squat only. Going into his junior year, he was squatting 425 [pounds] in our weight room, but if he wanted to beat the kid in front of him, he needed to squat 500. He said, 'I can't do this; I can't do this.' His goal was 435. And then he got 500 so easy."
That was a turning point for Barkley, a moment when he started to believe.
"He is very sensitive," Gilbert says. "And I think that's part of what drives him—here I sound like a shrink—but I think part of it is he just doesn't want to displease anyone. He doesn't want to let down the coach. Part of what motivates him is his sensitivity."
His brother Rashard says the change was bigger than that. It's also that Barkley was in a place where that sensitivity could thrive. And it was a realization of who he is.
"It was just a different atmosphere in Coplay," Rashard says. "It wasn't the ghetto of Bethlehem, wasn't the ghetto of Allentown, wasn't the ghetto of New York. It was quiet. Cars weren't driving around all night. Nothing dangerous."
By the end of Barkley's sophomore year, he got an offer to play for Rutgers. He had gone to a college camp, but the offer shocked him. It was his only one. He says they must have seen something off his JV tape or something.
But everything just kept growing and growing.
As a junior, he started getting everyone's attention. And he started to really, truly believe.
Coming from where he did, though, he didn't let it change him.
He joined the track team, and at one meet he saw a girl win the 100-meter hurdles. But there had been a problem with the timer, so they made the girls run the race again. Before that happened, Barkley ran—and won—his regularly scheduled race.
"She was in the lead again and got clipped on a hurdle," Barkley recalls. "And it was a league tournament. She got messed up in her stride and lost. I felt she deserved the gold medal."
So he gave her his.
"She was just, Thank you. Thank you so much," he says. "It put a smile on her face."
Barkley continued to thrive. His dad helped him get a job at Golden Corral, mostly sweeping up. And Rashard, who now proudly works making molds at a plastic plant—and also delivering Domino's late at night to support his family—helped Barkley get a job at his place, "sweeping around," Barkley says, "picking up stuff."
Three years ago, he was sweeping around, picking up stuff. Now he's a Heisman contender.
A photo posted by Saquon Barkley(@sb_xxvi)
He was developing as a person and as a player.
"We didn't hide anything from him," Rashard says. "We're a very truthful, very straight-up family. Especially my dad. Straightforward.
"I say it helped Saquon in some way. It helped me, too. I didn't do drugs."
When Barkley arrived at Penn State, his roommate was another running back, Andre Robinson, who also was from Pennsylvania. Ask Barkley who his best friends on the team are, and Robinson will be on his shortlist.
"He's my brother," Barkley says.
Saquon Barkley and Andre RobinsonMichael Conroy/Associated Press
But at first...
"I didn't like him," Robinson says. "We didn't get along."
That's true. Barkley agrees. By the time he got to college, he carried a grudge against anyone listed ahead of him on recruiting charts. One too many people told him that Robinson was better than him. So even during his senior year of high school, he thought about Robinson. He wondered how hard Robinson was working.
"I just wanted to work harder than he was that day," Barkley says.
He watched films of Robinson.
And now they're roommates?
"It's funny, because he's one of my closest guys now," Barkley says. "We came in the same year, the same class, the same position. We were always going to compete against each other to see who was going to play."
What happened was this: Barkley won out. He got the playing time. And somewhere during the year, for some reason, Barkley wanted Robinson to play, too. He started offering advice. They started working out together and hanging out.
"When he got his first touchdown," Barkley says, "I think I was more excited than I was for any of mine in college football."
Of course, by now Barkley has plenty of his own. Last year, he rushed for 1,496 yards and 18 touchdowns as Penn State just barely—and arguably unfairly—was left out of the four-team College Football Playoff.
If it's possible to have a coming-out moment in a loss, Barkley did at the Rose Bowl. His 79-yard touchdown run might have been the most exciting play in the most exciting game other than the national title game.
The loss has not been eating away at him. He says it was something great for the team to build on.
The expectations are understandably high. Sports Illustrated ranked him the nation's top college running back going into this season and the fifth-best player overall.
Bleacher Report's NFL prospects expert, Matt Miller, calls him "the best running back prospect of the last decade. Over Todd Gurley (injury), Ezekiel Elliott (off-field), Leonard Fournette (injury) and anyone else you've seen as of late. He's a freak athlete and has the vision and game-changing speed to be a very early draft pick."
He's also the face of Penn State's re-emergence, a player who has won over the school's fans and in turn has helped Franklin do the same.
Meanwhile, back at Lyman Place in the Bronx, things keep getting uglier and uglier. According to Eddie Small of DNAinfo.com, in April police arrested 10 members of the "Lyman Place Bosses" gang in a raid and said they were connected to more than a dozen shootings over the past two years. Among the nicknames: Sal Capone and Mal Pacino.
What if Barkley had continued to grow up there? Would he still the man he's become? Would he still be a top 10 NFL prospect?
"Everything happens for a reason," Alibay says. "Once you start feeling that pain, that messes with your emotions and makes you harder. He wouldn't have been the same person."
Or?
"He could have gone to Juilliard," Tonya says. "You never know."
"No, you never do know," Alibay says. "But we weren't going to take a chance."
You can't always draw a straight line from a person's background to his present, but there is something about all the truth in Barkley's life that seems to have allowed him to develop into the right player, and person, to get people excited about Penn State football once again.
He does not hide from his past, and as a result it is not uncomfortable for him. He has been brought up in truth, taught it.
In Happy Valley, that's an important sentiment. Live in reality, not in the illusion of perfection.
Franklin fully understands that the connection between Penn State fans and Barkley is more than about touchdowns, bowl games and potential Heismans.
"Blue collar, hard-nosed, hard-working, appreciative," Franklin said. "I do think the fact he stayed home, people have gotten to know who he is (with the talk) about the things he's overcome, how he handled it all with such humility and grace. He aligns with Pennsylvania and Penn State and he aligns with the football team."
Barkley's past has freed him to be sensitive and tough at the same time. It is refreshing somehow that he can admit to having lacked confidence in the weight room just a few years ago—and how that has helped him to become a weight-room standout today.
He just knows where he's from. Accepts it. Owns it. Isn't trapped by it.
In his family living room in tiny Coplay, there is an open Bible. Also an open Quran. And a Book of Mormon. He has those books in his bedroom, too, even though he hasn't committed to one particular faith yet.
He is the face of Penn State's rebuilding not only its football team but also its image. He is a tough and rugged kid, but "don't let him tell you he doesn't cry at movies," his mom says.
"My mom said that?" Barkley asks.
Yes. Isn't it true?
"Well, yeah, it is," Barkley says. "I just can't believe she told you that. I'm going to have to have a talk with her.
"Don't put that in the story."
Sorry, but everything goes in. People need to know that it is every bit of truth that has led Saquon Barkley to who he is.
"OK," he says.
GREG COUCHAUGUST 15, 2017
The picture Saquon Barkley's family paints of his early childhood is not pretty. Is not fun. Is not joyful.
"Lyman Place in the Bronx..." his mom, Tonya Johnson, says. "That block started deteriorating more and more. And more."
"Shootouts," says his dad, Alibay Barkley, joining in from the family living room in Coplay, Pennsylvania, to help tell the story.
"It was so bad," Tonya says, "to the point you were only able to go on—allowed in—the block if you lived there. And they had to know who you were. It was just so much."
So is that the story of Saquon Barkley? He grew up in fear of the mean streets and gained an innate toughness from that fear? And that toughness led him to football stardom—the star running back at a national championship contender, Penn State, and a future high-first-round NFL draft pick?
It's a narrative you've heard before, so many times by now. And yes, it's true here.
But also, no, it's not.
At least it's not the story as Barkley tells it. The way he tells it, Lyman Place was pretty. Was fun. Was joyful.
"I didn't think it was a rough neighborhood," he says. "You're a kid. You're just having fun.
"I don't think any place is truly that bad. It's the stories you hear about it [that make it seem that way]. I just grew up being a little kid having fun."
If it sounds like obliviousness, it's not. There's no obliviousness to Saquon Barkley. He knows where he's from. Knows all about it. Knows his dad almost ruined his own life with a drug habit. Knows his uncle had problems with drugs, too. He knows what the neighborhood he was born into was like, and he knows the neighborhood in Pennsylvania they moved to after it was rough, too.
But still, he remembers how green that grass was—even in the dreariest of neighborhoods. He doesn't hide from the bad, and so he doesn't end up forgetting the good.
"One thing I would tell you about Saquon that is really interesting is that a lot of families and a lot of people are uncomfortable by the challenges they had to overcome," Penn State head coach James Franklin says. "There might be circumstances in their history, their past, that they might not be proud of. One thing that's so interesting about Saquon and his family...
"They own everything."
Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
They had no choice but to own their problems. Barkley never was allowed an illusion that the world was perfect or easy. He worked for what he's become, and he is on the verge of achieving the American dream.
And maybe that, and not just the otherworldly talent, is what makes him such a perfect star for college football right now. Especially given where he's playing.
Penn State was a story of all things good for so long. They called the place Happy Valley—a location on the map but also a state of mind that the people there believed in. The feeling in town and on campus was that they were driven by the wholesomeness of the place, exemplified by former head coach Joe Paterno.
There is no need to dive too deeply into what happened to that image. You already know: Assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was sexually abusing young boys. There were people who could have done something to stop it and didn't, desperate to maintain the illusion of perfection. And in the end, Happy Valley had its impossible ideal brought down by impossible monstrosity.
It's a story in stark contrast to what was happening at the same time just across the state, in a world of lesser extremes, though one still squarely in the realm of harsh reality.
A family moved from the Bronx to public housing in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, because a strong mother, Tonya Johnson, decided she was going to improve the future of her family.
A photo posted by Saquon Barkley(@sb_xxvi)
"Are you coming?" she asked Alibay, "because either way I'm going."
He had to clean himself up first. After Bethlehem, they moved to another rough neighborhood in Allentown before finding peaceful, quiet Coplay. Alibay says he has been clean ever since.
In other words: While all that mess was being made of impossible ideals in Happy Valley, a story of real American ideals was in the works right across the state. And that's the story Happy Valley is cheering for now.
Barkley says that the cheering is for the team, not for him, and that it's about Penn State's sudden re-emergence under Franklin. But privately, Alibay admits this about his son:
"He feels he's helping the school get its name back."
He is cleaning up and redefining that name with a reality like this:
"My mom got pregnant at a young age, 15," Barkley says. "She gave birth at the age of 16. My father was a normal kid in the streets of New York, doing dumb stuff. He could have really jeopardized his life. ...
"Then my dad got caught up in a drug habit. Life could have went the other way, but my mom was in his life. My mom told him: 'I don't want my kids to go through this. I don't see a great future for them here.' My mom basically told my dad that he's got to stop doing what he's doing and get right. And then they moved to Pennsylvania."
Barkley was three or four at the time. Maybe five. When family members tell the story, it varies a little. The thing is, they have no problem telling it, no inclination to hide it.
"My dad's drug habit?" Barkley says. "To be honest, I think he was a great example to learn from. He told me about it when I was a little kid. He wasn't embarrassed about it. He had his demons. Everyone has demons. I'm not embarrassed about him. He has been clean ever since. He raised me to be the person I am today."
Alibay now works as a chef at a Chili's restaurant. Tonya works on retail much of the year and then in a tax office during tax season.
"I'm blessed to say I have both my parents together," Barkley says. "Not many people can say that."
An American success story.
You drive into Coplay on narrow, hilly streets. Pass a park on the right, mom-and-pop stores and restaurants all around. The Bacon Strip. Barry Lovelace Athlete Training Academy. Log Cabin. Karaoke on Friday night!
The walls in the Barkleys' nice, modest house are filled with family pictures, sayings, trophies: "Family. One of the Greatest Blessings." There's a picture of Malcolm X shaking hands with Martin Luther King Jr.
Barkley is not there, but is instead on the Penn State campus. Alibay sits on the couch watching a replay of the Rose Bowl, the incredible 52-49 USC win over Penn State. Barkley rushed for 194 yards and two touchdowns, including a 79-yarder. He also caught five passes for 55 yards and another touchdown.
"You win some, you lose some," Dad says simply.
No overreaction. No pretending it's something it's not.
Alibay credits the quiet of Coplay for helping him to stay in control, to stay away from trouble.
"It's a good place to raise kids," he says. "Saquon was always a tough kid. Your energy attracts people to you. He has good energy, a good aura, so good people come around. No negativity came to him."
"Sometimes," Tonya says, "you've got to change your environment to change your circumstances."
Tonya's aunt lived in Bethlehem and used to take the Barkley kids away from the Bronx for a few weeks at a time and watch them. Tonya would eventually take the 90-minute bus ride there and stay for a few days before taking the kids home.
"I used to look at them and see how much they were enjoying themselves," she says. "They could just run around in the grass—my oldest son, Rashard, and Saquon."
Alibay and Tonya tend to be in a sort of positive bickering state. They debate how long they've been married, how long they were together before that. Oral history has a tendency to be long on feeling and short on factual detail.
They describe Alibay's drug use differently, too. She says he was a "functioning drug addict," which she says means he could work all week away from drugs and then use again on weekends. He says, "Sometimes it got bad. I'm not going to lie. I'd go to the program, clean up."
In Coplay, they found themselves removed from all troubles, he says. And the kids—Barkley and his siblings—were safe.
When Barkley reached Whitehall High, there were still no signs of what was coming. He flew on an airplane for the first time when his team went to Florida for a game.
"Going into his sophomore year, the kid we knew was talented but unsure of himself," Barkley's high school coach, Brian Gilbert, says. "He lacked confidence in the weight room, with body and strength. But what made him who he is was that when you put a challenge in front of certain kids, they won't stop until they can achieve it.
"I'll never forget the first time I put 300 pounds on the squat rack and said, 'You can squat this.' He said, 'No way.'"
Soon, he blew right past that.
"Quick story," Gilbert says. "We used to go to a weightlifting competition, and it was bench [press] and squat only. Going into his junior year, he was squatting 425 [pounds] in our weight room, but if he wanted to beat the kid in front of him, he needed to squat 500. He said, 'I can't do this; I can't do this.' His goal was 435. And then he got 500 so easy."
That was a turning point for Barkley, a moment when he started to believe.
"He is very sensitive," Gilbert says. "And I think that's part of what drives him—here I sound like a shrink—but I think part of it is he just doesn't want to displease anyone. He doesn't want to let down the coach. Part of what motivates him is his sensitivity."
His brother Rashard says the change was bigger than that. It's also that Barkley was in a place where that sensitivity could thrive. And it was a realization of who he is.
"It was just a different atmosphere in Coplay," Rashard says. "It wasn't the ghetto of Bethlehem, wasn't the ghetto of Allentown, wasn't the ghetto of New York. It was quiet. Cars weren't driving around all night. Nothing dangerous."
By the end of Barkley's sophomore year, he got an offer to play for Rutgers. He had gone to a college camp, but the offer shocked him. It was his only one. He says they must have seen something off his JV tape or something.
But everything just kept growing and growing.
As a junior, he started getting everyone's attention. And he started to really, truly believe.
Coming from where he did, though, he didn't let it change him.
He joined the track team, and at one meet he saw a girl win the 100-meter hurdles. But there had been a problem with the timer, so they made the girls run the race again. Before that happened, Barkley ran—and won—his regularly scheduled race.
"She was in the lead again and got clipped on a hurdle," Barkley recalls. "And it was a league tournament. She got messed up in her stride and lost. I felt she deserved the gold medal."
So he gave her his.
"She was just, Thank you. Thank you so much," he says. "It put a smile on her face."
Barkley continued to thrive. His dad helped him get a job at Golden Corral, mostly sweeping up. And Rashard, who now proudly works making molds at a plastic plant—and also delivering Domino's late at night to support his family—helped Barkley get a job at his place, "sweeping around," Barkley says, "picking up stuff."
Three years ago, he was sweeping around, picking up stuff. Now he's a Heisman contender.
A photo posted by Saquon Barkley(@sb_xxvi)
He was developing as a person and as a player.
"We didn't hide anything from him," Rashard says. "We're a very truthful, very straight-up family. Especially my dad. Straightforward.
"I say it helped Saquon in some way. It helped me, too. I didn't do drugs."
When Barkley arrived at Penn State, his roommate was another running back, Andre Robinson, who also was from Pennsylvania. Ask Barkley who his best friends on the team are, and Robinson will be on his shortlist.
"He's my brother," Barkley says.
Saquon Barkley and Andre RobinsonMichael Conroy/Associated Press
But at first...
"I didn't like him," Robinson says. "We didn't get along."
That's true. Barkley agrees. By the time he got to college, he carried a grudge against anyone listed ahead of him on recruiting charts. One too many people told him that Robinson was better than him. So even during his senior year of high school, he thought about Robinson. He wondered how hard Robinson was working.
"I just wanted to work harder than he was that day," Barkley says.
He watched films of Robinson.
And now they're roommates?
"It's funny, because he's one of my closest guys now," Barkley says. "We came in the same year, the same class, the same position. We were always going to compete against each other to see who was going to play."
What happened was this: Barkley won out. He got the playing time. And somewhere during the year, for some reason, Barkley wanted Robinson to play, too. He started offering advice. They started working out together and hanging out.
"When he got his first touchdown," Barkley says, "I think I was more excited than I was for any of mine in college football."
Of course, by now Barkley has plenty of his own. Last year, he rushed for 1,496 yards and 18 touchdowns as Penn State just barely—and arguably unfairly—was left out of the four-team College Football Playoff.
If it's possible to have a coming-out moment in a loss, Barkley did at the Rose Bowl. His 79-yard touchdown run might have been the most exciting play in the most exciting game other than the national title game.
The loss has not been eating away at him. He says it was something great for the team to build on.
The expectations are understandably high. Sports Illustrated ranked him the nation's top college running back going into this season and the fifth-best player overall.
Bleacher Report's NFL prospects expert, Matt Miller, calls him "the best running back prospect of the last decade. Over Todd Gurley (injury), Ezekiel Elliott (off-field), Leonard Fournette (injury) and anyone else you've seen as of late. He's a freak athlete and has the vision and game-changing speed to be a very early draft pick."
He's also the face of Penn State's re-emergence, a player who has won over the school's fans and in turn has helped Franklin do the same.
Meanwhile, back at Lyman Place in the Bronx, things keep getting uglier and uglier. According to Eddie Small of DNAinfo.com, in April police arrested 10 members of the "Lyman Place Bosses" gang in a raid and said they were connected to more than a dozen shootings over the past two years. Among the nicknames: Sal Capone and Mal Pacino.
What if Barkley had continued to grow up there? Would he still the man he's become? Would he still be a top 10 NFL prospect?
"Everything happens for a reason," Alibay says. "Once you start feeling that pain, that messes with your emotions and makes you harder. He wouldn't have been the same person."
Or?
"He could have gone to Juilliard," Tonya says. "You never know."
"No, you never do know," Alibay says. "But we weren't going to take a chance."
You can't always draw a straight line from a person's background to his present, but there is something about all the truth in Barkley's life that seems to have allowed him to develop into the right player, and person, to get people excited about Penn State football once again.
He does not hide from his past, and as a result it is not uncomfortable for him. He has been brought up in truth, taught it.
In Happy Valley, that's an important sentiment. Live in reality, not in the illusion of perfection.
Franklin fully understands that the connection between Penn State fans and Barkley is more than about touchdowns, bowl games and potential Heismans.
"Blue collar, hard-nosed, hard-working, appreciative," Franklin said. "I do think the fact he stayed home, people have gotten to know who he is (with the talk) about the things he's overcome, how he handled it all with such humility and grace. He aligns with Pennsylvania and Penn State and he aligns with the football team."
Barkley's past has freed him to be sensitive and tough at the same time. It is refreshing somehow that he can admit to having lacked confidence in the weight room just a few years ago—and how that has helped him to become a weight-room standout today.
He just knows where he's from. Accepts it. Owns it. Isn't trapped by it.
In his family living room in tiny Coplay, there is an open Bible. Also an open Quran. And a Book of Mormon. He has those books in his bedroom, too, even though he hasn't committed to one particular faith yet.
He is the face of Penn State's rebuilding not only its football team but also its image. He is a tough and rugged kid, but "don't let him tell you he doesn't cry at movies," his mom says.
"My mom said that?" Barkley asks.
Yes. Isn't it true?
"Well, yeah, it is," Barkley says. "I just can't believe she told you that. I'm going to have to have a talk with her.
"Don't put that in the story."
Sorry, but everything goes in. People need to know that it is every bit of truth that has led Saquon Barkley to who he is.
"OK," he says.
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Quite the article on superman in BR
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...om&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...om&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial
IMO Chavis is finally ready to show what he is capable of.
Should play like a tyrant...like a king.
He will be known as Chavis Regal.
wow, thats good news IMO as I thought windsor was really impressive last year as a RS Freshman
The picture Saquon Barkley's family paints of his early childhood is not pretty. Is not fun. Is not joyful.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...perstar-college-football-and-penn-state-needs
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...perstar-college-football-and-penn-state-needs
That must have been one ultra-secret scrimmage this past weekend..if there was one.
I remember watching Joseph's H.S. highlights and thinking how quick he was for a big guy. Great to see him in the fray, competing for playing time at DE. But plays like that in practice are the reason that Jenkins does not seem to be a serious contender for prime time game action.....
Mike, question for you. Are you indeed a new poster (since last month) or did you for some reason have to change your board name? (It happens. I've had two in my 18 years on McAndrew.) I'm just curious.
I've actually enjoyed reading this board for a long time. Decided to join in and have some fun in the discussions with the season so close and the excitement taking over.
I think I get your drift, Jim. Bisbee also posts in the wrestling forum which would be irresistible for whatshisname. Time will tell.
Penn State position analysis: Defensive line
Updated: August 15, 2017 — 2:02 PM EDT
Randy Litzinger / Icon Sportswire
Shareef Miller could have a breakout season, Penn State coach James Franklin says.
by Joe Juliano, STAFF WRITER @JoeJulesinq | jjuliano@phillynews.com
Spotlight on: Shareef Miller
Two starting defensive-end jobs are up for grabs in this year’s training camp, and Philadelphia’s Shareef Miller appears to be a favorite to claim one of them. At 6-foot-5 and 255 pounds, Miller has the speed, quickness and power to rush the passer. He showed that talent last season in his varsity debut with two sacks against Kent State. Although he didn’t record another sack the rest of the season, he finished with 5 1/2 tackles for loss and a forced fumble. The redshirt sophomore and George Washington High graduate had a good spring and has been impressing coaches in training camp. Head coach James Franklin said he thought Miller “has a chance to kind of have a breakout year and take the next step.”
A crowd at defensive end
The ranks are full of contenders for starting spots and time in defensive line coach Sean Spencer’s rotation. Two are from the Philadelphia area – 6-6, 273-pound redshirt sophomore Ryan Buchholz (Great Valley) and 6-3, 220-pound redshirt freshman Shaka Toney (Imhotep Charter). Buchholz could move inside to a tackle spot on certain passing downs to give the Lions more speed with their pass rush. And Toney, who is 30-40 pounds lighter than the average defensive end, could be of value in defending spread offenses because of his quickness to the outside. Defensive coordinator Brent Pry said Toney “brings a good football IQ” to the position. Other contenders for starting positions are redshirt junior Torrence Brown, the top returnee in terms of playing time at end last season; redshirt freshman Shane Simmons; and junior Colin Castagna.
Experience at defensive tackle
The Nittany Lions boast good size and valued experience at defensive tackle, led by two fifth-year seniors – 6-4, 302-pound Parker Cothren, who started all 13 games last season, and 6-5, 295-pound Curtis Cothran. A Council Rock North graduate, Cothran overcame some early internal issues within the team to play in 10 games, with eight starts, and had three solo tackles for loss against Wisconsin. Again, depth is a strength with third-year sophomores Kevin Givens (7 tackles for loss, most of any interior lineman last season) and Robert Windsor and senior Tyrell Chavis, who came in last year as a junior-college transfer.
Any emerging freshmen?
Franklin calls 6-5, 242-pound end Yetur Gross-Matos “the freshman that everyone is excited about.” Two other freshmen he mentioned were tackles, 302-pound Fred Hansard and 285-pound Corey Bolds. This should give Spencer a lot of chips with which to play on the line.
And about that rotation …
Spencer likes to play as many as 10 defensive linemen in every game to keep them fresh, and Pry calls the rotation important. “If they’re able to do it, if we’re accomplished with it, then all those guys get more reps,” Pry said. “They want that. It’s important to them because, if we do well, it means more reps for everybody. Late in the game, third, fourth quarter, that same O-line’s been out there snap after snap, and we’re bringing in guys that are fairly fresh. So it’s been a real asset.”
Updated: August 15, 2017 — 2:02 PM EDT
Randy Litzinger / Icon Sportswire
Shareef Miller could have a breakout season, Penn State coach James Franklin says.
by Joe Juliano, STAFF WRITER @JoeJulesinq | jjuliano@phillynews.com
Spotlight on: Shareef Miller
Two starting defensive-end jobs are up for grabs in this year’s training camp, and Philadelphia’s Shareef Miller appears to be a favorite to claim one of them. At 6-foot-5 and 255 pounds, Miller has the speed, quickness and power to rush the passer. He showed that talent last season in his varsity debut with two sacks against Kent State. Although he didn’t record another sack the rest of the season, he finished with 5 1/2 tackles for loss and a forced fumble. The redshirt sophomore and George Washington High graduate had a good spring and has been impressing coaches in training camp. Head coach James Franklin said he thought Miller “has a chance to kind of have a breakout year and take the next step.”
A crowd at defensive end
The ranks are full of contenders for starting spots and time in defensive line coach Sean Spencer’s rotation. Two are from the Philadelphia area – 6-6, 273-pound redshirt sophomore Ryan Buchholz (Great Valley) and 6-3, 220-pound redshirt freshman Shaka Toney (Imhotep Charter). Buchholz could move inside to a tackle spot on certain passing downs to give the Lions more speed with their pass rush. And Toney, who is 30-40 pounds lighter than the average defensive end, could be of value in defending spread offenses because of his quickness to the outside. Defensive coordinator Brent Pry said Toney “brings a good football IQ” to the position. Other contenders for starting positions are redshirt junior Torrence Brown, the top returnee in terms of playing time at end last season; redshirt freshman Shane Simmons; and junior Colin Castagna.
Experience at defensive tackle
The Nittany Lions boast good size and valued experience at defensive tackle, led by two fifth-year seniors – 6-4, 302-pound Parker Cothren, who started all 13 games last season, and 6-5, 295-pound Curtis Cothran. A Council Rock North graduate, Cothran overcame some early internal issues within the team to play in 10 games, with eight starts, and had three solo tackles for loss against Wisconsin. Again, depth is a strength with third-year sophomores Kevin Givens (7 tackles for loss, most of any interior lineman last season) and Robert Windsor and senior Tyrell Chavis, who came in last year as a junior-college transfer.
Any emerging freshmen?
Franklin calls 6-5, 242-pound end Yetur Gross-Matos “the freshman that everyone is excited about.” Two other freshmen he mentioned were tackles, 302-pound Fred Hansard and 285-pound Corey Bolds. This should give Spencer a lot of chips with which to play on the line.
And about that rotation …
Spencer likes to play as many as 10 defensive linemen in every game to keep them fresh, and Pry calls the rotation important. “If they’re able to do it, if we’re accomplished with it, then all those guys get more reps,” Pry said. “They want that. It’s important to them because, if we do well, it means more reps for everybody. Late in the game, third, fourth quarter, that same O-line’s been out there snap after snap, and we’re bringing in guys that are fairly fresh. So it’s been a real asset.”
Missing all your LBs. and others injuries had a lot to do with that stat RIGHT???????
