Before Saquon Barkley became Penn State's all-time freshman rushing leader, he was breaking records at Whitehall.
The former Zephyr says a big reason for his breakout freshman season at Penn State was his preparation at Whitehall, especially in the weight room.
"Yea, I definitely give a lot of credit to where I'm from," Barkley said in a phone interview on Thursday. "One thing that I was happy to have was we had a great weightlifting program, where we worked out with a Lehigh coach. The lifting programs, we were kind of lifting like we were in college already. As I came up here, like the first week I got up here and was lifting, you could see I was more mature with the weight room than a lot of my other teammates who are freshman. Whitehall definitely gave me an edge."
"It taught me if you want success, you've got to work hard," Barkley added about his alma mater. "Everyone knows that Whitehall isn't the biggest school and they go against bigger schools. So nothing's handed to you. You have to work hard. It kind of gave me that mentality. That's the mentality that I was taught as a little kid from Hokey to Whitehall. Just being from there, that's the mentality I brought with me my freshman year. Definitely our weightlifting program really helped me a lot and also Coach (Brian) Gilbert and all the coaches and teachers around there, they were amazing. Their support was amazing. They really helped me throughout school and helped me keep my head on straight. It really prepared me for the next level."
The 223-pound Barkley showed off his strength in March by tying a Penn State team record by power cleaning 390 pounds. The former Zephyr also reportedly squatted 495 pounds seven times and benched 390 in the offseason.
Barkley is Whitehall's all-time leading rusher, finishing his career with 3,642 yards and 61 total touchdowns. He racked up 1,851 yards and 24 touchdowns in his senior season with the Zephyrs.
When he gets the chance to head home, he makes sure to stop in at his old school.
"I'm at Penn State most of the time. When I do get a chance to go home, I do go home. I'm only like 2 hours, 45 minutes away, 3 hours. When I do get to go home, I definitely stop by the school, stop by the weight room and see how the guys are doing, how they look, how they're growing, how they're developing," Barkley said. "Just try to remember when I was a sophomore and the difference lifting offseason made for me from sophomore to my junior year. Seeing that development in other guys, it puts a smile on your face. They see you doing really well. It's kind of like motivation and hope that they can be able to play at a Division I college soon."
And when Barkley is back in his hometown, he's still the same guy who was running up and down the field at Zephyr Stadium, nickname included.
"When I come back to Whitehall, no one treats you different. I'm still SaSa to them," Barkley said. "Nothing different at all. That's what I love and I love to go home. They're just happy to see me. With football, they're kind of busy all year round. But just be able to go home and see them and see smiles on their faces. Just talk about how they're doing. I wouldn't say anyone treats me like a celebrity. To be honest, I don't view myself like that."
Josh Folck may be reached at jfolck@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshFolck.