Each year for the past three seasons, I’ve rallied my full support behind one player for the 2017 Heisman trophy. In 2014, I was torn between Melvin Gordon and Poly king Marcus Mariota, but eventually chose Mariota because of his HawaiĘ»i roots. I passionately advocated for Deshaun Watson in 2015 due to my extreme dislike of Christian McCaffrey and did the same for Lamar Jackson last year (still love him even though his team sucks this year). This season, I would rather slice off my arm than see a Baker Mayfield trophy winner, so I’m backing up the top player in the nation: Penn State’s Saquon Barkley. I usually watch a total of zero Big10 games and had no idea who Barkley was at the beginning of the season (much like every other CFB fan), but damn the man has skills. Each week or so, he returns a kickoff or punt for a 95+ yard TD and jukes every defender senseless. He’s extremely fast, agile and strong and reminds me a lot of Marshawn Lynch in his BeastMode days. On the season, Barkley helped lead his team to a 7-1 record and has notched 138 carries for 801 yards and 9 TDs. He’s also had 36 receptions for 471 yards and 3 TDs. In the past three seasons however, Barkley had 592 carries for 3,373 yards and 34 TDs and 84 carries for 1,034 yards and 8 TDs. I’ve given two shits about Penn State in the past, but I’ve heavily rooted for them this season and hope they continue a successful year!
