It remains to be seen if Saquon Barkley is the best running back in his eventual draft class, but he’ll undoubtedly be one of the strongest.
After showing off a 405-pound power clean just a few weeks ago, the Penn State star bench-pressed 225 pounds 30 times on Saturday, as you can see above, at Penn State’s annual Lift for Life charity event, per BlueWhiteIllustrated. At this year’s NFL Scouting Combine, Barkley’s total would have tied him for first place among RBs with Samaje Perine of Oklahoma. Perine was selected in the fourth round of the draft (No. 114 overall) by the Washington Redskins.
Barkley will be a junior this fall and has been ranked one of the top two running backs in the college game, along with LSU’s Derrius Guice, by NFL.com analyst Lance Zierlein. Analyst Daniel Jeremiah likened Barkley’s game to that of Ezekiel Elliott. He’s also one of the most freakish athletes in the nation, and his weekend showing on the bench press flashed one reason why.
“The thing that makes Saquon unique is, he does 30 [in the bench press], and then he runs a 4.3 [in the 40-yard dash],” said Dwight Galt, Penn State’s director of performance enhancement, per The Morning Call. “Usually it’s one or the other.”
Barkley’s 30 reps not only tied Perine’s mark from this year, but it’s also tied for the seventh-best total by a running back in official combine records that date back to 2003. Barkley ran for 1,496 yards and 18 touchdowns for the Nittany Lions last season, so he has plenty of impressive film for NFL scouts to see, along with his weight-room prowess.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread*.
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