Tom Shaw Performance Camp Star Running Back Saquon Barkley is Second Player Selected In 2018 NFL Draft

Filed in: ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, Professional Sports, Tom Shaw

Saquon Barkley, who spent the last three months training at Tom Shaw Performance Camp at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort, was the second player selected in the 2018 NFL Draft.

Barkley’s selection gives Shaw 146 NFL first-round draft choices and 10 No. 1 overall picks.

Barkley, the former Penn State Nittany Lions running back, joins a star-studded roster of NFL players who trained with Shaw prior to the draft and were later selected by NFL teams in the first round.

That impressive stable of players includes Kansas City Chiefs OT Eric Fisher, former Detroit Lions WR Calvin Johnson, Oakland Raiders LB Kalil Mack, Pittsburgh Steelers C Maurkice Pouncey, Seattle Seahawks DE Bruce Irvin and Tennessee Titans RB Derrick Henry.

“With their first and only pick Thursday night, the New York Giants won the entire NFL Draft,” said Bert Whigham, sports performance trainer at Tom Shaw Performance Camp since 2010. “By drafting Saquon, the Giants landed the best player in the draft. They announced to the world on Thursday that they are going to get back to what has made them one of the NFL’s most successful and proud franchises – and that’s running the football with authority, strength and power and they got the best guy in the draft to do it.”

Running with power is nothing new for Barkley. The 6-0, 233-pound running back recorded 1,903 yards from scrimmage and scored 23 touchdowns last season for Penn State while also showing off his elusiveness and speed by scoring twice on kickoff returns.

“All this guy cares about is winning and improving every facet of his game,” said Brian Stamper, sports performance trainer at Tom Shaw Performance camp. “There were a lot of impressive things about Saquon we learned during the three months he trained with us, but the one thing that stands out was how obsessive he was about perfecting his running style as he prepared for the 40-yard dash for the NFL Scouting Combine. We trained him, but he did the work and turned in a fast time, which led to him being the second pick in the NFL Draft.”

Barkley, who was clocked at 4.40 seconds in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine, plans to spend at least four weeks back at Disney working with Whigham and Stamper to prepare for his first NFL training camp.

“He is going to be back here with us in June,” Whigham said. “Our job now is to get him ready for training camp and that process includes working with him on his speed, strength, agility and conditioning. We will send him back to the Giants in the best shape of his life because you can’t simulate the Florida humidity or heat that we have here in Florida. When he heads back north for camp with the Giants, he’ll be ready.”

Prior to establishing his own sports performance camp at Walt Disney World Resort, Shaw was on the strength and conditioning staffs for Florida State University, the New England Patriots and the New Orleans Saints. Other NFL players Shaw has worked with include Tampa Bay Buccaneers starting QB Jameis Winston, Dallas Cowboys starting QB Dak Prescott and Devin Hester (Chicago, Atlanta, Baltimore and Seattle), who holds the NFL record for most all-time return touchdowns with 20.