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Washington players believe Saquon Barkley is best RB they’ve seen all season
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Washington has seen some pretty good running backs throughout the course of the 2017 season. But some Huskies are still concerned about the damage that Penn State star Saquon Barkley can do.
On Saturday, the Huskies will square off against the Nittany Lions in the Fiesta Bowl in a battle of 10-2 teams. And as the game nears, several players have carved out time to speak with the media about the upcoming matchup.
The question that has been reserved for most of the Washington defenders has been regarding Barkley and his ability to do just about everything on the field. For the Huskies, it’s definitely a concern. A few players believe that the Penn State superstar might even be better than Stanford back Bryce Love, who was one of the Heisman finalists at the end of the season.
“Saquon, he’s a hell of a back,” said Washington’s Vita Vea, according to Ben Jones of StateCollege.com. “He can go side to side and create space with just a couple of inches. [Barkley and Love] are both up there, the top tier backs. Obviously Saquon — I think Saquon might be better. It’s a better team than we’ve played all year. So we’ll see when we get out there Saturday how everything works out.”
Another Huskies defender, Ben Burr-Kirven, also added that he believes Barkley is the “best back” his team has seen.
For most of the year, Barkley was in the Heisman conversation. But after back-to-back losses to Ohio State and Michigan State, his name dropped out of the running.
He finished the year with over 2,000 all-purpose yards to lead the B1G and accounted for 22 total touchdowns.
Penn State and Washington square off in the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. The game will air on ESPN.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB