The man who has led the Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl run, the man who has been the most exciting player in football, almost quit the sport just before his career was about to take off. That was 14 years ago, in Eastern Pennsylvania, before Saquon Barkley became SAQUON! — a hulking, hurdling blur with superhero-like muscles and an origin story that feels right out of Marvel, too.
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Brian Gilbert, former head coach, Whitehall (Pa.) High: I don’t want to exaggerate, but the varsity coaching staff and I literally brought him in because we’d heard after his freshman year of high school he was gonna quit football.
Barkley was frustrated, struggling with
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