James Franklin thought Saquon Barkley’s combine was ‘average’

Saquon Barkley put together an impressive NFL Combine that many buzzing about his abilities. About the only person he didn’t impress with his combine performance was his college coach, James Franklin — and that’s a compliment.

Franklin told the Akron Beacon Journal’s Nate Ulrich that he thought Barkley’s performance at the combine was only average.

“I actually think he had a very average combine,” Franklin told Ulrich. “I know he’s done 34 reps of 225 [pounds] multiple times. I would not have been surprised if would have run in the 4.2s at the combine, and I say that because our combine numbers are almost identical year in and year out at what we’ve tested guys at. What we tell the scouts our guys run, they run at the combine, and he’s run 4.3 here forever. So he actually had a fairly average combine.”

Franklin went on to praise Barkley, saying he didn’t think his former running back at Penn State had any weaknesses. He believes he should be the No. 1 pick in the draft and that he would be an excellent asset to any team, especially in the locker room.

Keep in mind that Barkley ran a 4.40 40-time, which was second among running backs. His 29 reps on the bench press tied for first among running backs, and his 41-inch vertical leap was first. And all that was only average based on what he’s done in the past. That’s why Barkley was said to be in the mix to be the top overall pick in the draft.