Heisman hopeful Saquon Barkley preps for a Penn State season like no other

Saquon Barkley is becoming the most talked-about commodity in college football.

Part of it is his grinder mentality combined with a flair for the breathtaking. Eighteen-wheel power with a Porsche engine.

That's his long-awaited Heisman Trophy opening. Because the Penn State tailback won't need inflated statistics and rushing numbers to win the beauty pageant in December. Not when he can deliver exactly what fans and analysts want each week — the dynamic and the dramatic. He's built specifically for that.

It also helps that Barkley will propel a winning team in the toughest division in the nation.

And yet this is what really sets him apart from most everyone who has come before him at Penn State:

"The best way I can describe him is he doesn’t have any weakness," said Brian Dohn, Scout.com's national recruiting analyst.

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"He can catch, he can block. He's a team guy. He can run outside, he can hit the home run, he can do everything you need a running back to do. ... The downside to that is he's so good at everything Penn State will have to manage his touches."

Great problem to have, doing everything well.

Maybe most impressive is the perseverance to shrug off countless hits behind the line of scrimmage ... only to suddenly slip a tackle, find a hole and win a game.

Torching USC's elite defense on that shifting, accelerating Rose Bowl run alerted the nation of everything to come.

He's the most hyped Penn State player in the preseason since linebacker LaVar Arrington in 1999.

He's the first Penn State preseason Heisman Trophy front-runner in who-knows-how-long.

And he's the Nittany Lions' best all-around runner since Larry Johnson in 2002, quite possibly its best ever.

"You never know what he's going to do," Michigan State linebacker Chris Frey told Lions247.com at Big Ten Media Days. "He's just a different breed, honestly."

Barkley should build on his success as a receiver, too, which was almost as overlooked as his blocking.

Plus, his offensive line should be the best in three seasons, certainly the deepest and most talented. It's difficult to overstate how much Barkley earned on his own the past two years because of the ragged blocking in front of him.

How did he break a big run in 14-straight games (second-best mark nationally in 20 years) behind those lines? 

Of course, numbers only begin to tell his story. Better to watch what goes on behind the scenes ...

Start with his work in the weight room, which places him in a unique stratosphere. The recent video of his 400-pound power clean lift went viral. He also bench pressed 225 pounds a stunning 30 times amid a crowd at Lift for Life.

"Saquon's been doing freakish acts of strength, size, speed and quickness since he arrived on campus," said coach James Franklin. "I honestly feel like he could have done more (weight on the power clean), but there comes a point where you say enough's enough. What are we trying to prove here?" 

He certainly is the strongest Penn State running back of all-time.

One who probably won't need 2,000 rushing yards to win the Heisman, that blessed benchmark for tailbacks. Rather, his ultimate value will be in leading the Lions toward the playoffs with an unequaled diversity in production and creativity.

Plus, it doesn't seem bothersome that the college football world will watch every move. He is likable and humble and his own harshest critic, all which resonate beyond Penn State.

He makes it easy to buy into the grand possibilities of an unpretentious kid who can run the shoes off USC. The one who shredded Ohio State as a true freshman.The one who actually keeps getting better.

That's a Heisman Trophy favorite, for sure.

Which could well lead to much more important successes for Penn State.