Comics » The only thing that Saquon Barkley has to prove at the NFL

”For a guy like Barkley who has worked so hard to develop his gifts http://www.vikingsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-irv-smith-jr.-jersey , I mean, for him it ought to be a victory celebration. It really should,” NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said. ”You got to come in and knock it down, one drill after another.

”He’s going to walk out of there four days later and everyone’s going to go: `Wow, he’s just as good or better than we thought he was.”’

Then, there would be no doubt that a running back will go in the top five picks of the draft for the third consecutive year, joining Ezekiel Elliott in 2016 and Leonard Fournette in 2017.

The Penn State star might even be the first running back selected in the top two picks since Reggie Bush in 2006 or even the first to go No. 1 overall since another Nittany Lion, Ki-Jana Carter, in 1995.

”I’m just focused on coming out here and trying to dominate this combine,” Barkley said.

Everyone expects him to do just that.

General managers and coaches know all about the 5-foot-11, 233-pound back with a magnificent medley of jaw-dropping quickness and excellent acceleration, speed, balance, vision and power to go with an off-the-charts work ethic who helped Penn State dismantle Washington’s vaunted defense in the Fiesta Bowl .

Mayock said Barkley will dazzle teams even when he’s not on his feet.

”When he goes into meetings at night,” Mayock said Alexander Mattison Jersey , ”he’s going to blow people away.”

Barkley, who grew up boxing like his father and great uncle but was always drawn more to the gridiron than the ring, quickly rose to national prominence as one of the country’s most dynamic players as a true freshman at Penn State in 2015.

He flashed a frenetic running style to compile a lengthy highlight reel full of hurdles, spin moves and jukes on his way to a program-best 43 rushing touchdowns in three years.

Mayock said Barkley is at least equal to the last four top-10 running backs – Fournette, Elliott, Todd Gurley and Christian McCaffrey – all of whom made their teams significantly better as rookies.

”I could make the case that this kid Barkley is the best of those guys, best of all five of them,” Mayock said. ”He’s clean off the field. And he’ll be great in your locker room. I would be absolutely stunned if this kid doesn’t go in the Top 5.”

The Browns, Giants and Colts own the top three picks in next month’s draft. Cleveland also owns No. 4 and Denver has the fifth selection.

”Any team that wants to draft me,” Barkley said, ”is a blessing to me.”

Barkley said he embraces the chance to transform a downtrodden team like the Browns, who have one win in two years, or the Giants, coming off a down year: ”You want to be part of something like that, something that’s bigger than yourself.”

Whoever ends up choosing Barkley can expect to be picking a lot later in next year’s draft. (Fournette’s Jaguars are picking 29th this year http://www.vikingsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-dru-samia-jersey , five picks after McCaffrey’s Panthers).

Barkley averaged nearly 6 yards a carry as a junior in State College, rushing for 1,271 yards and 18 touchdowns and catching 54 passes for 632 yards and three TDs. He also completed two passes – one for a score – and returned two kickoffs for touchdowns.

He won the Paul Hornung Award as college football’s most versatile player and left Penn State after his junior year just 89 yards shy of the program rushing record with 3,843 yards.

”I feel whether I’m running the ball from the 99-yard line or the 1-yard line that I can find a way to get into the end zone. I can do it all, I feel like,” Barkley said. ”I can go over the top of you, I can beat you with speed, I can beat you with some wiggle, I could run through you.”

That may come off as boastful, but not when Barkley says it.

He said he watches all of today’s great NFL running backs but models his game after none of them.

”I’ve never wanted to be like anybody,” Barkley said. ”That’s something that my dad taught me growing up: `Never want to be like someone, be the next you.’ But I am a fan of the game, I’m a fan of the position and I watch everyone.”

Including Barry Sanders on YouTube .

If he had to pick anyone he’d like to be like, it’d be the Lions’ Hall of Famer.

”That was a great guy that I looked up to growing up not only on the field – off the field. The way he carried himself, he was humble Daniel Jones Jersey ,” Barkley said. ”When he scored a touchdown, he’d give the ball to the ref. If you look at his football life, he’s carrying cups to his offensive linemen, and I think that’s what a running back should be about. That’s what our position should be about and I try to model myself after that.”

—


The future is back.

Twenty years ago, Ken Griffey Jr. and the Seattle Mariners‘ marketing department put on one of the most memorable promotions in franchise history — which is saying a lot, since Funny Nose Glasses Night in 1982 drew more fans than Gaylord Perry’s 300th win two nights earlier — with Turn Ahead the Clock Day.

Instead of wearing retro uniforms like most teams do for Turn Back the Clock Day, the Mariners imagined what things might look like in 2027, when they will celebrate their 50th anniversary.

The Kingdome was turned into the “Biodome.” A DeLorean drove actor James Doohan, who played Scotty on “Star Trek,” to the mound to deliver the ceremonial first pitch.

The Mariners’ Moose mascot was replaced by Marty the Mariners Martian. Griffey was referred to as “Digit 24” instead of his last name by the public-address announcer.

Player positions were called quadrants. And the Mariners and their opponent that night, the Kansas City Royals, wore futuristic, untucked uniforms that Griffey, the Hall of Fame center fielder, helped design.

According to Kevin Martinez Maxx Crosby Jersey , the marketing director for the Mariners in 1998, it was Griffey’s idea to change the Mariners’ colors from navy, teal and white to crimson, black and silver. Junior wore his hat backward and spray-painted his glove and spikes silver.

“There were always some surprises,” Griffey recently told The Athletic. “You never knew what was going to happen that night. It was like, ‘Stay tuned.'”

Twenty years later, the Mariners and Royals will reprise Turn Ahead the Clock Night when they meet Saturday night at Safeco Field.

Royals outfielder Jorge Bonifacio is certainly looking to the future after making his season debut in Friday night’s 4-1 loss to the Mariners.

Bonifacio missed the first 80 games of the season while serving a Major League Baseball suspension after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug in spring training.

“I’m so excited to be back with the team,” said Bonifacio, who batted .255 and hit 17 home runs as a rookie last season.

Bonifacio batted .392 in 13 games for Triple-A Omaha before being activated. He batted fifth Friday, going 0-for-3.

“We’re glad to have him back,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He was swinging very well (at Omaha).

“I mean, the kid hit 17 homers last year. … Yeah, he was going to hit in the middle of the order, until all this surfaced.”

Bonifacio played left field Friday to give Alex Gordon a day off, but likely will be in right field Saturday.

“We are going to move him around. He’s going to play http://www.raiderscheapshops.com/cheap-authentic-isaiah-johnson-jersey ,” Yost said. “He’s going to play some right, play some left. What difference does it make?”

On the mound, right-handers Jason Hammel of the Royals (2-9, 5.34 ERA) and Felix Hernandez of the Mariners (7-6, 5.10) will be looking for vintage performances.

Hammel, who won 15 games for the World Series champion Chicago Cubs in 2016, has lost four straight starts — in which the Royals have scored a total of five runs. The graduate of South Kitsap High School in nearby Port Orchard, Wash., is 3-3 with a 3.53 ERA in eight career appearances against Seattle, including seven starts.

Hernandez, the American League’s 2010 Cy Young Award winner, is 6-6 with a 3.15 ERA in 15 career starts against the Royals. That includes an 8-3 victory on April 10 in Kansas City in which he pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing three runs and six hits.