STATE COLLEGE — As the wet, quiet fans at Beaver Stadium cooed over Saquon Barkley’s ‘Hello, world’ play, the running back returned to the sideline and pointed to his shoes.
There, Barkley told fellow running back Akeel Lynch that the 17-yard gain — which he punctuated with a leap over two Buffalo defenders — should have produced a touchdown. But Barkley couldn’t stick the landing on the wet turf.
Lynch agreed, then smiled. He was proud of this freshman from Whitehall High who soon might take his job.
“If someone is balling like that,” Lynch said, “you have to give him the ball. … Saquon took over the game.”
And how. In his first game at Beaver Stadium, Barkley rushed for 115 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries, rejuvenating Penn State to a 27-14 victory over Buffalo. Afterward, head coach James Franklin pointed to Barkley as the spark for a dormant offense that had gone scoreless in 16 possessions covering two games.
Barkley rushed for 101 yards and his first college touchdown in the fourth quarter alone, charging through holes opened by Penn State’s line against a weary Buffalo defense. The 5-11, 220-pound back showed a combination of speed and power that allowed him to run past, through and over attempted tackles.
With that, Barkley established himself as Penn State’s most assertive runner, one who could see more (and earlier) carries in the future. He rushed for all 115 yards in the second half, becoming the first true freshman to top 100 in a game since Silas Redd in 2010.
“When you have somebody back there who can make something happen, guys block better,” Franklin said. “It has that type of impact on everybody.”
Once Barkley broke through, Penn State’s offensive body language changed. The line, which lost tackle Andrew Nelson to injury, looked more assertive, and quarterback Christian Hackenberg was able to take more shots downfield.
Barkley’s big gains (he averaged 9.6 per attempt and had gains of 17, 24 and 33 yards) helped the offense atone for a first half in which it had more return yards than offensive. And though Barkley may have turned heads in Beaver Stadium, Franklin had come to expect it.
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“He doesn’t run like a freshman,” Franklin said. “He’s making people miss, but he’s also breaking tackles. You usually don’t get that combination in a freshman. We’re going to need to develop him.”
The Lions have been high on Barkley since getting him to flip his commitment from Rutgers last year. On Signing Day, Franklin gushed over Barkley’s highlight reel, calling it “sick.”
The coach was particularly enamored with Barkley’s penchant for hurdling defenders, something that earns a penalty in Pennsylvania high school football.
So upon arriving at Penn State, Barkley promised to cut that out. Franklin wouldn’t hear of it. Then he leaped over two Buffalo defenders on the seventh carry of his career.
“I’m glad he brought that back out of his bag of tricks,” the coach said.
This summer, Barkley pointed himself toward playing time quickly. In addition to running a 4.4-second 40-yard dash in testing, Barkley asked for extra work. He also proved inquisitive during 7-on-7 player drills and position meetings.
“He’s always asking question after question after question,” fellow running back Nick Scott said. “He’ll ask so many questions that it gets to the point where I’m looking at him like, ‘Bro, can we get out of here?’ That’s the best thing about Barkley: his attitude.”
For Hackenberg, having Barkley eat some yards took pressure off him. The quarterback threw his first touchdown pass of the season after Barkley’s big series, then took a few shots downfield.
Hackenberg said that, in the second half, Penn State’s offense began establishing its “identity.”
“We were able to get the ball up and out to our playmakers’ hands and take our shots when we needed to,” Hackenberg said. “We have to continue to do that. We’ve got to understand what makes us efficient. Our identity was what you saw today.”
Midway through the fourth quarter, Barkley scored on a 9-yard run to give the Lions a 27-7 lead. The touchdown helped compensate for not scoring on his leaping play. It also signaled a promising future.
“I’ve been dreaming about this ever since I committed here [last year],” Barkley said in a video released by Penn State. “It was awesome. It was everything I expected.”