Penn State edged Iowa on Saturday night to move to 4-0 on the season and maintain their progress towards the National Championship game. Our Heisman Trophy rundown continues with our look at what Twitter users had to say about the Nittany Lions’ running back Saquon Barkley. Barkley could well be one of the top picks next year, depending on whether whoever finds themselves at the top of the draft needs a running back or not. Barkley did himself plenty of favours on the way to a top berth on mock draft boards over the weekend as he put up 358 all purpose yards and made some highlight-reel plays. Let’s take a look at what social media had to say about his impressive performance and where they think he’ll go by the end of the season.
Of 35,738 tweets, 7,237 mentioned the words “best” or “Heisman”, with 95% of those tweets being positive (in case anyone thought users might be saying he wasn’t worthy of the Heisman). Overall, sentiment was measured at 79% positive to 21% negative, demonstrating how positive fans are feeling about the star running back and they thought his performance was impressive. The emotional response to him was mostly happiness (33%), love (14%) and thankfulness (13%), with some fans pre-emptively angry (22%) at their NFL team for probably not drafting him or at the fact that their college teams will have to play against him.
Current NFL running back and one of the stars of last season, Ezekiel Elliott, had his say on Barkley. Elliott was the fourth pick of the 2016 draft for the Dallas Cowboys and made an instant impact on the league, scoring 16 TDs and being nominated for the Pro-Bowl, so he knows what it’s like to be a top-rated young running back with a lot of potential. He tweeted about Barkley on Saturday night, saying:
Man is unreal @saquonb21
— Ezekiel Elliott (@EzekielElliott) September 24, 2017
Maybe Barkley’s physical talent was what got Elliott and other fans talking. The 20 year old was involved all game and made a huge impact on his side’s chances in an extremely tight game, which bodes well for the NFL, but it was this play that really got fans on Twitter talking:
Saquon Barkley is just not fair. pic.twitter.com/kctEK2EBpg
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) September 24, 2017
That hurdle is ridiculous for so many reasons: first, the pure height he had to reach to get over the defender (who was hardly even ducking into the tackle); second, the fact that he bounced the second tackler even whilst mid-air; and finally, he landed on his feet and continued running.
Oh my, Saquon Barkley. A Heisman hurdle right there.
— Pat Forde (@YahooForde) September 24, 2017
Was it a Heisman hurdle? When it comes to the end of the season it could well be plays like that which stand out over anything that Sam Darnold might do. With Todd Gurley (LA Rams running back) pulling off a similar move in the NFL last Sunday it’s clear to see how Barkley’s skills fit with that of an NFL player. That was backed up by Cris Carter, who pointed out the other physical tools at Barkley’s disposal:
RBs like Saquon Barkley don’t come around often. Tremendous lateral quickness, and with power.
— Cris Carter (@criscarter80) September 24, 2017
Rich Eisen, Michigan fan and therefore not a Barkley fan, was nevertheless impressed by the star player from a rival school and was quick to praise him. Eisen hosts the NFL Network coverage of the Combine so has certainly seen his fair share of talented and physically impressive players over the year. If he holds a player in such high regard then we really need to sit up and take notice.
Special isn’t special enough of a word to describe Saquon Barkley. Wow.
— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) September 24, 2017
In fact, fans have already started comparing him to NFL players, including Elliott.
Saquon Barkley is even better than Ezekiel Elliott. Unreal talent and should be a top 3 pick in April. pic.twitter.com/cjVUQo6WjT
— Drew Bulbuk (@DrewBulbuk) September 24, 2017
A top 3 pick? Maybe. A Heisman Trophy winner? Quite possibly. The best running back in college football?
Saquon Barkley is a absolute freak of nature and arguably the best RB in college football #WeAre
— Gray© (@King_JGray) September 24, 2017
Social media users are gushing in their praise of Saquon Barkley and are excited to see him making the step up to the professional game. Barkley is definitely one to watch as the season continues, as are Penn State. We could well see both of them in the National Championship game in January and Barkley could be on his way to the NFL as one of the top prospects by April.
If you think Blurrt’s social media analysis could benefit your journalistic production or broadcasting, get in touch with Ali at alistair@blurrt.co.uk