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<p>After his first full season of hurdles, spins, sprints and touchdowns, Saquon Barkley is at the top of the Big Ten.</p><p>Penn State&#8217;s standout sophomore was honored Wednesday by earning the conference&#8217;s offensive player of the year and the running back of the year awards.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a big award, a big achievement,&#8221; Barkley said during the Big Ten Network&#8217;s awards show. &#8220;I&#8217;d like to give thanks to my O-line, my coaching staff and everyone on the offensive side of the ball for helping me out to achieve that award.&#8221;</p><p>He is the fourth Penn State player to be named the league&#8217;s top offensive player, joining Kerry Collins (1994), Curtis Enis (1997) and Michael Robinson. He is the first to win the running back award, which wasn&#8217;t established until 2011.</p><p>Barkley, who was also a unanimous first-team All-Big Ten selection, finished the regular season with 1,205 rushing yards and 17 total touchdowns.</p><p>Though he burst onto the scene as a true freshman last year, he missed a handful of games because of an ankle injury and wasn&#8217;t in the mix for the league&#8217;s major awards.</p><p>As it happens, Barkley is dealing with another apparent ankle injury ahead of Saturday&#8217;s Big Ten title game against Wisconsin. Both Barkley and Nittany Lions coach James Franklin, however, have said that the tailback will be ready to go.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m feeling really good,&#8221; Barkley said Wednesday. &#8220;Taking it day-by-day. Getting treatment everyday. Just trying to get to 100 percent, or the best I can get for the game this weekend.</p><p>&#8220;I expect to play. The coaches expect me to play. I&#8217;m excited.&#8221;</p><p>Joining Barkley on the league honor roll were quarterback Trace McSorley and tight end Mike Gesicki, who earned second-team All-Big Ten selections.</p><p>McSorley was a unanimous pick, edged out for a trophy by Ohio State&#8217;s J.T. Barrett.</p><p>&#8220;We knew he was really capable of this,&#8221; Barkley said. &#8220;Flash back to our bowl game last year with him coming in and leading us back, even though we lost, you could see how talented he was in that game.</p><p>&#8220;This year, he&#8217;s very underrated. He doesn&#8217;t let it affect him. He doesn&#8217;t need attention on him. He just comes out every day and works his butt off.&#8221;</p><p>Gesicki was a second-team selection by the media and third-team by the coaches after setting Penn State single-season records for receptions and receiving yards by a tight end.</p><p>&#8220;We have a lot of guys who have stepped up as leaders,&#8221; Gesicki told reporters in State College after Wednesday&#8217;s practice. &#8220;Trace being one of them. Obviously being the starting quarterback, that&#8217;s one of the roles that comes along with that. He&#8217;s done a great job with that.</p><p>&#8220;Saquon is a very vocal leader for us, and I&#8217;ve also tried to take it upon myself as well to become more of a leader.&#8221;</p><p>Rounding out the awards, wideout Chris Godwin was a third-team pick by the media and honorable mention for the coaches. Center Brian Gaia was an honorable mention by both the media and coaches.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">In just his sophomore season, Saquon Barkley was named the Big Ten&#8217;s top offensive player and top running back. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_bark.jpg</photo0><caption0>In just his sophomore season, Saquon Barkley was named the Big Ten&#8217;s top offensive player and top running back. </caption0><photoCredit0>Michael Conroy | AP photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>UP NEXT</strong></p><p>Big Ten championship</p><p>Penn State vs. Wisconsin</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> Oo9FDfk116k</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;"> YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo9FDfk116k</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> Big Ten Network</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Saquon Barkley named Big Ten’s top offensive player and top running back