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Former Penn State RB Miles Sanders writes about Saquon Barkley, being himself in The Players’ Tribune
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Penn State has taken a step in the right direction since hiring James Franklin to be its head coach.
Franklin not only brings a solid culture with him, but he recruits incredibly well. Just looking at running backs from Saquon Barkley to Miles Sanders, Franklin brings in high-level talented individuals.
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Sanders, who started a year after sitting a couple season behind Barkley, wrote about a number of topics in an article he wrote in The Players’ Tribune titled, “What’s Up, Philly?”. Here are some quotes from the current Philadelphia Eagles RB:
“When I was coming up, people called me the next LeSean McCoy, which I was cool with because I always loved Shady’s game,” Sanders wrote. “He could ball. But after a while, the comparisons get to be a lot. Not so much the pressure — I’m cool with that — but more the fact that it’s easy to get caught up in trying to be somebody else or live up to expectations, instead of just controlling what you can control and doing you. It’s easy to forget who you are.”
At one point, Barkley told Sanders to “Just go out there and be you. Don’t try to be anybody else.”
Here’s more from Sanders:
“I don’t think I ever had it in my head that I needed to be Saquon. “But can you imagine a tougher player to follow? Those are big shoes to fill. And for him to make it a point to let me know that he had the confidence in me to make a name for myself and help carry our team … that really meant a lot.”
Here’s Sanders closing out his piece:
“But there’s gonna be no more comparisons. No more ‘next this,’ or ‘next that.’ Because the Eagles didn’t draft me to be the next anything.
“They drafted me to be Miles Sanders.
“Boobie.
“And I’m gonna work my tail off to make sure you remember the name.”
Sanders’ full piece can be read here.
Kevin covers Big Ten football for Saturday Tradition.