STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Penn State was the buzz of the NFL Scouting Combine, and during the course of the 2018 NFL Draft the Nittany Lions continued showing off the talent this staff recruited and helped develop on both sides of the ball during back-to-back 11-win seasons.
It was bound to be a big year for Penn State in this draft class with Saquon Barkley leading the way as the No. 2 overall selection by the New York Giants while five of his other former Penn State teammates also heard their names called during the weekend.
James Franklin grinned while standing in the background of Barkley's draft night photo in Arlington, Texas while Charles Huff, who recruited Barkley and was his position coach, flew in from Mississippi State so he too could celebrate and smile with the running back.
"We were looking at my tux, it has my high school jersey number in there and I was like, ‘Remember when you guys promised me I was getting that jersey number?’ " Barkley said on draft night. He of course never got his high school number 21 in Happy Valley. "They laughed and said it worked out for the best since I got 26. We had a great, great run there. ... Those two helped shape me more than as a player. They helped shape me as a man and get me ready for this experience."
Barkley's jersey sales already skyrocketed since Thursday night and he was introduced in New York on Saturday. But, while Barkley was holding up his jersey for the press corps in New York, there was more for Penn State to celebrate within these past seven rounds. By the time pick No. 256 was in and the draft closed, Penn State tied the program's 2010 mark by having six players drafted. Penn State's all-time mark of 10 selections was set in 1996.
Behind Barkley and second-round pick Mike Gesicki who went to the Miami Dolphins, Penn State rounded out a deep draft class that was highlighted by their defensive backs.
Three members of last year's secondary are NFL bound — including safety Troy Apke who was the first former Nittany Lion taken on Saturday when the Redskins selected him in the fourth round. It's just the second time in Penn State history that three defensive backs were drafted, the first happening in 2006.
Wide receiver DaeSean Hamilton was also a fourth-round selection, going just four picks after Apke to the Denver Broncos.
Safety Marcus Allen heard his name called in the fifth round where the Steelers helped Allen, a Homewood native, fulfill a childhood dream of not just getting drafted, but also getting picked by his favorite team. Cornerback Christian Campbell, a sixth-round pick by the Arizona Cardinals rounded out Penn State's draft class.
"It's all tears of joy right now," Allen said. "Everyone has been anxious wondering where I was going to go, but it's a perfect situation. This is my home, man. It's my hometown. My grandmother is from there, my grandfather is from there — my whole family. I'm just so excited."
While Allen ran up to his bedroom and put on a Steelers hat — one of many pieces of Steelers gear he's had since he was a kid — Pittsburgh's familiarity with the physical safety, who popped a bottle of champagne with his family at home in Maryland, stemmed back to another Penn State connection.
"We're awfully excited to get him and we know a lot about this young man. And he's been coached by some local people here, coach Terry Smith from Gateway High School coached him [at Penn State], so we've gotten to know a lot about this young man through the process of the draft," Steelers defensive backs coach and former Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley said.
Penn State's draft showing comes just one year after the Lions only had one player, wide receiver Chris Godwin, selected during the third round of last year's draft. Ups and downs and trying to have balance and class structure on a roster is all part of the process and what Barkley, Gesicki and the defensive backs did this weekend is certainly another point of emphasis Penn State can use on the recruiting trail.
Much like the impressive testing numbers that were posted in Indianapolis this winter, the results of this weekend are another way to show how this team has developed since Franklin's arrival and how this staff helped churn out their best draft class during their time in Happy Valley.
