There’s been a ton of buzz surrounding Penn State running back Saquon Barkley since the 2017 college football season started. Some already view the junior as the Heisman Trophy favorite. Others conclude he’s simply the best player in the nation.
Likely to enter the 2018 NFL Draft after this season, one anonymous NFL scout is going on record to indicate that Barkley is a better pro prospect than current Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott.
“Saquon Barkley is better than Zeke, he’s faster than Zeke and has more twitch,” the scout said, via Yahoo! Sports. “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.”
That’s some mighty high praise, especially considering Elliott was the fourth pick in the 2016 NFL Draft and is coming off a rookie season that saw him put up nearly 2,000 total yards and 16 touchdowns.
Though, there’s absolutely no reason to believe Barkley can’t dominate at the NFL level. Through three games this season, the Nittany Lion stud has gained 548 total yards of offense and five touchdowns. He’s averaging 8.1 yards per rush and has tallied 11 catches for a whopping 241 yards.
It will be interesting to see if Barkley is able to dominate at this same level against Big Ten competition moving forward on the season.
But it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him follow in the lines of Elliott and Leonard Fournette, both of whom are recent top-five picks from the running back position.