Happy Anniversary: Saquon Barkley Flipped His Commitment From Rutgers To Penn State On This Day In 2014

Icon Sportswire. Getty Images.

Never forget that Saquon Barkley -- a 2nd overall pick, a Rookie of the Year, an All-Pro, an Offensive Player of the Year, and a 2,000-yard Super Bowl champion -- was originally committed to play football at RUTGERS. But on this fateful day in 2014, he officially flipped his commitment to Penn State, and the rest was history.

Hailing from Whitehall, Pennsylvania, Saquon didn't have much game tape heading into his junior season of high school. He was very lightly recruited, but his JV film was enough for him to garner his first scholarship offer from the Scarlet Knights. At the time, Saquon referred to Rutgers as his dream school, and he verbally committed to play in New Brunswick in September of 2013. 

But then he visited Beaver Stadium for the Whiteout that October, as 107,000 fans packed in to see Penn State beat Michigan 43-40 in quadruple-overtime, and everything changed from there. Flash forward a few months later to when James Franklin took over for Bill O'Brien as Penn State head coach, and it was clearly a top priority for Big Game James to keep Saquon in Pennsylvania. Sure enough, Saquon flipped and went on to torture Rutgers in the Big Ten for three years straight. 

It's crazy to look back on today. I mean, how different is Saquon's career if he doesn't go to Penn State? Would he still wind up as a Top-5 draft pick? Would he still spend much of his junior season as a Heisman frontrunner? Would he still go viral for squatting over 500 pounds in the weight room?

I think the more interesting question is how different is James Franklin's career if he doesn't land Saquon? Without Saquon, Penn State doesn't win the Big Ten in 2016, which was Franklin's only conference championship in his tenure (and the moment that fully brought the program back to national relevance). Not to mention, Saquon was the perfect pitch for Franklin to give to prospective recruits. Barkley was a lower-profile commit who came to Penn State and turned into a football sensation all of a sudden. How many future star players does Franklin miss out on if he's never able to capitalize on the career of Saquon Barkley? And the momentum that was built in that era? Truly, how much shorter is his head coaching career in State College? They're all questions rattling around in my brain. 

Sean M. Haffey. Getty Images.

Advertisement

Fortunately, those "what-ifs" don't have to be answered, because we got to experience the magic of Saquon Barkley at Penn State after all. Watching him in the blue and white is still the most fun I've ever had consuming football. The only thing comparable was watching him in the midnight green, running for over 2,000 yards en route to a Super Bowl. 

I love the man. Plain and simple. And I thank my lucky stars -- on this 19th of February -- that he changed his mind and came to Happy Valley all those years ago.