Penn State football: Will Miles Sanders be more productive than Saquon Barkley?

Penn State football star Saquon Barkley was a treat to watch, but could his successor Miles Sanders be even more productive for the Nittany Lions?

After a stellar 2017 season, Saquon Barkley cemented himself as the best running back in Penn State history — even over John Cappelletti — the only Penn State player to ever win the Heisman trophy. Now Penn State’s beloved running back is in the NFL, making millions of dollars as a rising star with the New York Giants.

Fortunately, Penn State has another very good running back in Miles Sanders, who is ready to take over as their leading rusher. Sanders must fill the major void Barkley left behind, but he could have a breakout season for the Nittany Lions.

Sanders is about 25 pounds lighter than Barkley, but what he lacks in size he makes up with his speed. Multiple teammates have talked about Sanders’ speed being the part of his game that makes him so special.

During the recruiting process, Sanders was rated higher than Barkley coming out of high school. Sanders was a five-star recruit and the top-ranked running back in his class. Barkley was not in the top ten of running backs in his class and was only a four-star recruit.  Given that Sanders was an elite recruit, he had offers from Alabama, Michigan, Florida State, Ohio State, and many other programs. However, he decided to stay in his home state and ended up waiting two years to be the starter for the Nittany Lions.

After learning from a tremendous talent like Barkley, he now has his chance to prove himself and create his own legacy. According to Jordan James of 247Sports, Sanders has been asked many times about no longer having Barkley in Happy Valley, but he just wants to create his own legacy. His goal is to not have the media asking questions about Barkley after the first game.

Sanders could do exactly that after the Nittany Lions open their season at home against Appalachian State. That game will be a good opportunity to carry the momentum he gained last season into 2018. He rushed for 191 yards on 31 carries in 2017, which was an average of 6.2 yards per carry. Sanders finished the season strong in Penn State’s Fiesta Bowl win over Washington when he had one of his two rushing touchdowns in 2017.

In 2018, Sanders could have a better statistical season than Barkley in 2017, since teams will not initially be creating their defensive game plans to slow him down. Instead, teams will likely be concerned with slowing down Heisman candidate Trace McSorley. Also, an improved and more experienced offensive line will benefit Sanders this season.

Sanders could eclipse Barkley’s 1,271 rushing yards in 2017, but he may have difficulty matching Barkley’s 18 rushing touchdowns last season. He certainly has the talent to beat Barkley in both categories, but he will have to remain healthy and consistent throughout the 2018 season.

Sanders is the unproven player on the Penn State offense with a chip on his shoulder to show that he is an elite running back who can carry an offense. He probably will never be able to run away from the Barkley comparisons, but he can create his own legacy by helping Penn State make it to the College Football Playoff in his last two seasons at Penn State.

Sanders will have one season with Trace McSorley at quarterback and one with Tommy Stevens most likely, but he could go down as one of the greats at Penn State. Now is his chance to show the rest of the country that there is another great running back from Penn State who cannot go unnoticed.