Saquon Barkley Decided Not to Workout at Pro Day in Penn State

Penn State’s Saquon Barkley decided not to work out at his school’s pro day. He made the choice after he learned that no running back coaches from the NFL would be attending. However, the former star with the Nittany Lions is scheduled to start team visits.

Barkley was planning to participate for pro personnel in workouts on Tuesday. However, like other Penn State players who attended the NFL scouting combine, he would not go through that testing again.

Saquon Barkley told reporters that when he woke up in the morning his intentions were to do a full round of workouts. Though when he realized that there were not going to be any running back coach attending the workouts, he took the decision that there was not any point to him running routes or doing any drills.

Barkley indicated that he will just visit with different NFL teams and may do a couple of workouts, but that depends upon input he is given.

Barkley added that he was over this particular stage of working out in shorts and sweatshirts. He said he was not a combine guy.

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The testing numbers for Barkley during the NFL combined received praise, but he was more critical of himself, saying he did not meet his own expectations. The running back ran the 40-yard dash in 4.4, recorded a vertical leap of 41 inches, and bench pressed 225 pounds a total of 29 times.

James Franklin the football head coach at Penn State said on Monday that the combine performance by Barkley was average in comparison to what he did while at Penn State.

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In his three seasons with Penn State, Saquon Barkley rushed for 3,842 yards and 43 touchdowns. He also made 102 pass receptions for another 1,195 yards.

Barkley says he can run a 4.3 in the 40 and added that during his training clocked 4.29 once. He has posted vertical jumps of 42 inches and can typically complete between 30 and 35 reps with the bench press.

On the day of the NFL draft, which is April 26, Barkley will attend the event after initially saying he would remain at his Pennsylvania home.

He and Anna Congdon, his girlfriend, recently announced they were expecting their first child in April.