Earlier this season, ESPN’s top draft expert, Todd McShay, had this to say about Saquon Barkley: “I think Saquon is the most complete [running back] probably since Adrian Peterson.”

Todd Gurley, Ezekiel Elliot, and Leonard Fournette have all be selected with first round draft picks the last three years and have excelled. This year, Barkley has been hyped up as the top running back prospect for the 2018 NFL Draft.

When asked if he looks up to any running backs in the league today, Barkley said, “I’m a big believer in trying to stay true to yourself, and so I watch a lot of backs and I try to take part of their games and add it to mine.”

Barkley did mention two of the guys that stick out to him. “Todd Gurley and Le’Veon Bell, those are two backs, they’re not just downhill runners and only do one thing, or they’re only coming in on third down; they’re every single down backs. They catch the ball out of the backfield, they block, they run.”

Barkley got a shout out from Gurley during his career game against Iowa, which saw the junior rack up a school record 358 all-purpose yards on the national stage.

Barkley special frfr

— Todd Gurley II (@TG3II) September 24, 2017

Barkley won’t announce his decision on entering the draft until after the Nittany Lions take on Washington in the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 30.

About the Author

Nathaniel Pinskey

Nathaniel is only filling this out because he was forced to. He prefers to be called Nathaniel, but it always turns into Nate or Nathan. Send questions and comments via e-mail (nathaniel@onwardstate.com) and follow him on Twitter (@nlpinskey3896) even though he doesn't tweet.

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