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Before Saquon Barkley was a member of the Philadelphia Eagles or even committed to play his college ball with the Penn State Nittany Lions, the future NFL MVP candidate was a freshman at Whitehall, Pennsylvania, who was thinking about quitting football because he wasn’t developing as quickly as some of his peers.
Now sure, in hindsight, that sounds crazy, as Barkley is one of the freakiest players in football history who was so impressive in Happy Valley that he was drafted second overall by the New York Giants in 2018. But it’s true, as, in the lead-up to the Super Bowl, Bruce Feldman of The Athletic caught up with Barkley’s high school coaches to learn about a fateful period of his life when the football world almost changed dramatically.
“I don’t want to exaggerate, but the varsity coaching staff and I literally brought him in because we’d heard after his freshman year of high school he was gonna quit football,” Whitehall High’s Brian Gilbert explained.
“Saquon Barkley was frustrated, struggling with his self-confidence. Some kids had matured faster than him. Sophomore year, he didn’t play varsity because his best friend was ahead of him. Saquon had to work. That’s how he’s wired and why he’s so great. I said, ‘Listen, you may not be the best one right now, but we see potential in you. We see how fast you are. You’ve got to give it more time.’ He said, ‘Coach, I’m so skinny. If I come up and play varsity football, I’m gonna get broken in half.’ We said, ‘Just get in the weight room and get stronger.’ Thank God he listened!”
Whoa, is that true? Did Barkley almost quit football for good because he was too small? Well, according to Gilbert, it’s true, with Barkley instead opting to take his advice and get bigger in the gym to compensate. He went on to earn a scholarship offer from Rutgers in the summer after his sophomore season due to an appearance at a camp for the school, and eventually ended up committing to Penn State, where his athleticism, paired with the school’s coaching, turned him into a national sensation that the Giants simply couldn’t pass up.
From there, Barkley had seasons that ranged from lost to great in New York before signing in Philadelphia, where he is now widely considered the best running back in the NFL. And the best part? No one is more excited about Barkley’s success than his old coach, who believes things couldn’t have happened to a better person.
“It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy than Saquon. And that doesn’t happen overnight,” Gilbert declared. “That’s upbringing, coming from good roots and from a community where you’re expected to work hard to get what you want.”
The post How Eagles star Saquon Barkley almost quit football before Penn State appeared first on ClutchPoints.
