6 reasons NFL fans should watch Penn State RB Saquon Barkley vs. Iowa

Saquon Barkley has been one of the dynamic players in the Big Ten since his true freshman year in 2014. Now a junior, the Penn State running back is eligible to declare for the 2018 NFL draft after this season.

With little left to prove in the college ranks, Barkley is expected to hit the draft in the spring, and if he does, he’s likely to be the No. 1 player at his position.

His competition could be LSU’s Derrius Guice, but the two appear to be in a class of their own among draft-eligible backs.

In Barkley’s first two seasons, he racked up 2,572 rushing yards, 563 receiving yards, and 30 total touchdowns. Three games into the 2017 season, he already has 655 all-purpose yards and five touchdowns.

But those first three games were against Akron, Pitt and Georgia State. On Saturday, Penn State will open Big Ten play on the road against Iowa on ABC with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. ET. With the national spotlight on the Nittany Lions, this weekend is a great time for NFL fans to take a close look at Barkley.

There’s really not too much reason to believe a tougher defense is going to slow Barkley. He tallied 167 yards and a touchdown on the ground against Iowa last year and exploded for 194 yards against USC in the Rose Bowl.

Michigan State found the most success against Barkley in 2016, holding him to just 14 rushing yards and 11 receiving yards.

But Barkley has performed in many big games and his physical tools are undeniable. ESPN’s Todd McShay has already called him “the most dynamic weapon in college football” and a future top-five pick.

Barring an injury, Barkley’s performance against Iowa — positive or negative — probably won’t topple him from his lofty draft status.

Even though Saturday won’t have much impact on Barkley’s standing as a top running back in 2018, there’s still reason to watch.

One reason is that he’s really fun to watch as a football fan, but another is that his competition isn’t just Guice. It’s also the Ohio State tape of Ezekiel Elliott and what Leonard Fournette did at LSU.

Elliott and Fournette were each selected No. 4 overall in the 2016 and 2017 NFL drafts, respectively. It’s impossible to project now what teams in the top five will need, but Barkley has a chance to be picked just as early if he proves he presents the same or better value.

“Saquon Barkley is better than Zeke, he’s faster than Zeke and has more twitch,” an NFL scout told Yahoo Sports in a post published Wednesday. “Saquon Barkley is a different guy with an extra gear. He’ll never get caught from behind. Zeke doesn’t get caught often, but he can.”

Another scout told Yahoo that he preferred Elliott when the scouting the two running backs.

It may come down to personal preference, but if Barkley does decide to enter the draft, there are only 10 more games for NFL fans to decide which running back prospect of the last three years was the best.

Like Elliott at Ohio State, there’s not much to harp on with Barkley. He’s thick, fast, explosive, smart, and reliable as a pass blocker.

In a scouting report from July, Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com took a shot at finding something Barkley could improve on:

“There have been a few occasions where he gets ‘bounce happy’ instead of staying inside and taking a 2-3 yard gain. He has some negative plays as a result of his eagerness to hit the homerun.”

Another question is just a matter of workload. He had 300 offensive touches in 2016 and will likely have a similar amount in 2017.

If scouts aren’t entirely convinced in Barkley as a draft prospect after the 2017 season, there’s a good chance he’ll win over NFL teams during the pre-draft process simply because he’s an animal in the weight room.

His accomplishments as a lifter earned him the No. 1 spot in Bruce Feldman’s annual Freaks List for Sports Illustrated.

Barkley is the Penn State record holder in the power clean at 405 pounds, can bench press 225 pounds for 30 reps, and reportedly runs a 40-yard dash in the 4.3s. His athletic profile alone makes him an incredible draft prospect.

Even though Penn State relies on Barkley heavily on offense, the team also uses him on kick returns. That’s an odd decision that not many teams make with star players and could put him at risk of a violent collision.

Penn State special teams coordinator Charles Huff isn’t buying those concerns, though:

“The misconception that the injury level goes way up because he’s on kick return, well, the injury level goes way up when he’s walking to class,” Huff said, via The Morning Call. “… We’re not idiots. The amount of reps on the body is the amount of reps on the body. But the fact that, ‘Oh, because he’s a kick returner, he’s going to get hurt,’ well, he could get hurt on a speed sweep.

“If you’re going to give him three speed sweeps, you might as well give him two speed sweeps and a kickoff return.”

Well OK, then.

Any team that drafts Barkley probably won’t use him in the same way, but as long as he stays healthy doing it, kick returns make Saturday an even more intriguing time to watch the Penn State prospect.

Hear me out. I know Iowa gave up 41 points to Iowa State, allowed 113 rushing yards to the Cyclones’ David Montgomery, and got lit up by Barkley last year. But big plays are still hard to come by against the Hawkeyes.

Only Air Force and Alabama allowed fewer rushing plays of 10 or more yards than the 42 given up by Iowa in 2016. The team has given up seven so far in 2017, which is tied for No. 12 in the FBS.

To burst for big plays against Iowa, Barkley will have to beat a trio of senior linebackers.

There are other good rushing defenses on the schedule for Penn State in October and November. But Iowa is the first test in 2017 and if Barkley can have a big game, he’ll continue to solidify his place atop the 2018 running back rankings.

Other prospects to watch Saturday:

Boston College OLB Harold Landry vs. Clemson, 3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2 — Landry is a 6’2, 250-pound senior who is one of the best defensive players in the nation hidden on a team that doesn’t win much. Notre Dame effectively shut down Landry a week ago, but the pass rusher could re-stake his claim as a top prospect if he finds success against the finely tuned machine that is Clemson.

Oklahoma State QB Mason Rudolph vs. TCU, 3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN — The Oklahoma State offense roasts everybody and TCU has their hands full trying to slow Rudolph. But that’ll be every team on the Cowboys’ schedule and TCU could be about as competent and real of a test as it gets.