STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- In the green room at AT&T Stadium as draft hopefuls waited to become NFL draft picks while their nervous yet excited families tried to wish away the waiting away, James Franklin saw Saquon Barkley’s football journey come full circle.
“To be there for that moment and then to kind of think back on all the way back to the recruiting process and showing up to the high school and talking to guidance counselors and high school coaches and to be sitting in Saquon’s living room and see that and then the whole journey when he was at Penn State to that moment was pretty powerful,” Franklin said this week. “He made the comment and said he couldn’t hug everybody, they’re going to need me to get up there. I said, ‘Just so we’re clear: You’re hugging me.’ I’m sitting right next to mom and dad and I’m like I’m getting a hug because you know I’m an emotional guy and I’m probably going to start crying anyway so you’re hugging me.”
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