Penn State in the NFL: A closer look at Saquon Barkley, Chris Godwin, and KJ Hamler with camp on the horizon

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Penn State will be represented in NFL training camps this summer by nearly 50 former players. Some will be going through drills at the pro level for the first time. Others will be fighting just to make the team. Another handful is confidently set in starting roles.

Then, there is a trio of onetime Lions looking to put a year of either injuries, struggles, or both behind them for a bounceback season in 2022.

The list starts with Saquon Barkley. A former Penn State All-American who was the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and a Pro Bowl selection in 2018, he suffered an ACL injury and torn meniscus two years later and needed most of the 2021 season to trust his knee again. That, and a pedestrian New York Giants offense as a whole, led to just 593 rushing yards and two scores during his fourth year as a pro.

However, heading into year five, the Pennsylvania native seems to be rounding back into form in the Big Apple, which has him and his teammates thinking big things could be in store this fall.

“Coming into this [minicamp], focus on my body, work on my body,” Barkley told ESPN. “Doing all the little things necessary to keep my body healthy. When you have that, when you can trust your body, your confidence just grows.

“I would say the difference [from college to now] was I was a way more confident player in college and early in my career than I was prior to last year. Now I’m starting to get that swagger back.”

With Brian Daboll now leading the Giants, Barkley and the team’s attack as a whole are hoping for a better fall.

Former Penn State star KJ Hamler dealt with more than just an injury last year

Receiver KJ Hamler is hoping to find himself in a similar place. Dubbed ‘the human joystick’ at Penn State thanks to his mixture of speed and ability to make defenders miss, he caught three touchdowns as a rookie for the Denver Broncos but then spent all but three weeks on the sidelines in 2021 with both a torn ACL and a hip injury. And, on top of that, he lost his grandmother, Ethel Gooding, shortly after undergoing surgery. The dark days of rehabbing and grieving then are his inspiration now.

“… No one has taken care of me more than her besides my actual mother,” Hamler said of his grandmother in an interview with ESPN. “I used to take her to get her hair done and get her food every time I came home. She was going through struggles. She had Parkinson’s disease. There were days where I didn’t want to show up to therapy, but I always thought about her. She was doing therapy, so I had to go do it. I knew she wouldn’t give up, so I didn’t give up.

“I was in a dark spot for a while going through that. That was probably the toughest thing for me. Now that I’m back on the field and now that I’m around all the guys and I’m being able to do a little bit of what I was able to do before, it’s been uplifting my spirits. I won’t say that I’m out of that dark place, but I’m getting better. I can tell you that.”

Hamler is now looking to pair up with new Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson to explode back onto the NFL scene in his third year as a pro.

When will Chris Godwin return to the field?

Finally, Tampa Bay Buccanneers receiver Chris Godwin is also working his way back onto the field. The 26-year-old tore his ACL in Week 15 of the 2021 season. But, he still led the NFC South team in receptions (98) and yards (1,103). A new three-year, $60 million deal will keep the former Penn State star in Tampa for the foreseeable future. But, when he’ll actually return to action continues to be unclear and likely won’t be known until closer to kickoff in September.

“Knowing Chris and the way he works — he had a good surgery, and those guys are coming back faster and faster now — I don’t think that’s going to be a problem at all,” Bucs coach Bruce Arians told ESPN.