From Lehigh Valley to Philly: Why it was a ‘no-brainer’ for Saquon Barkley to come ‘home’

COPLAY, Pa. — There’s a boulder in a park on the corner of Chestnut Street and North 2nd Street here in Coplay, just a few first downs away from where Saquon Barkley was raised. The rock features a plaque emblazoned with Barkley’s face. Barkley swiped through images of the monument recently and offered an innocent smile that brought him to a time before he was an NFL superstar, when he was a teenager sneaking through the window of the ground-floor apartment to play with friends.
Across the street, a waitress at Samuel Owens Restaurant & Bar greets visitors from Philadelphia. They bring up Barkley’s name. Does she know Barkley? Of course! Her family lived in the apartment below Barkl...