STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Saquon Barkley's next act started just days after the Fiesta Bowl when he declared for the NFL Draft and quickly headed to a training center in Orlando.
While ESPN's Wide World of Sports Complex was home to Barkley and a handful of teammates last March for spring break as they worked out at the facility and had the chance to meet Dak Prescott in the process, it's now the place where Barkley, a projected top-5 pick, is gearing up for the NFL Scouting Combine. Barkley is training at the Tom Shaw Performance Camp at ESPN's Wide World of Sports Complex, working on combine-specific events in anticipation of next month's Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. Barkley's on-field workout at Lucas Oil Stadium will take place on March 2.
While the combine events are much different than football specific drills, performing well in the underwear Olympics will be a large part of the biggest job interview of Barkley's life. In Orlando, he's training among 40-plus NFL prospects, including former Buckeye J.T. Barrett.
"Your natural athletic ability can only do so much," Barkley said Tuesday in an interview with reporters who were on hand at the training site for their media day. "When it comes to combine techniques, it's the little things; the little stuff is the difference between combine and game training."
For Barkley, those little things could be the difference between going No. 1 overall of potentially sliding out of the top-5. While his draft stock could be tied into what happens in free agency as the Browns, Giants and Colts, who own pick Nos. 1 though No. 4 could make a move there that would alter draft plans, Barkley can't worry about the many possibilities that are out of his control.
"It's amazing here," Barkley said. "You have Disney here, multiple fields, a great lifting facility and so that's a big part of why I came here. You get to meet Pro Bowlers and pick their brain, and that played a part in why I came down here."
It's unclear what Pro Bowlers are there working out with Barkley, but as his whirlwind winter continues he'll fine tune his workout plan for the combine while also prepping for team interviews. He'll then head to Indianapolis for testing and interviews and then likely fly all over the place meeting with teams again ahead of Penn State's pro day in March.
Count Shaw, who is training Barkley for the combine, among those impressed with the running back.
"Saquon Barkley is a kid that every young person should try to be like, because of his work ethic, his desire," Shaw said on Tuesday. "He wants to be the best, he's shown it, and he's proved it by going out and doing it."
