After meeting Tom Shaw on-site at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort earlier in his college career, Saquon Barkley knew then where he was going to train next.

Visiting during spring break with friends and teammates, Barkley got to see it all – the grid of adjacent athletic fields, the medical facilities, the weight room, the sand pits. It was everything he wanted and Shaw made it even more appealing. Barkley knew then this was the setting at which he’d prepare for the NFL Combine. After announcing that he was foregoing his senior year at Penn State, despite receiving offers from other all over the country, Barkley didn't second guess that he was heading to Orlando to work alongside Shaw.

“He’s a pioneer,” Barkley said. “He started this. He’s a reason why everyone else is doing what they’re doing. He started them all. I love him. He’s a great guy and he’s a great person. He’s helping me become a better person and definitely a better athlete.”

Shaw thinks likewise about his newest star pupil. He has worked with 145 players in his career who went on to be drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft. That includes 10 No. 1-overall picks and 11 Super Bowl MVPs.

He recognizes Barkley’s athletic ability among the other 40 draft-eligible collegiate participants on his campus this winter, including Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett. But it’s other traits that Shaw mentions first when talking about Barkley.

“Every young person should try to be like Saquon,” Shaw said, “because of his work ethic (and) his desire.”

Barkley’s humility has caught Shaw's attention. In a recent in-house interview, Shaw referenced an interaction between Barkley and a child after a recent workout on his site.

Barkley had already removed the cleats from his feet following a day’s work when he spotted a youngster on a field two or three hundred yards away.

“We were finished and he thought this little twelve year old kid was getting better than him,” Shaw recalled. “He put his cleats back on and ran three fields over there and started working out with the little kids.

"This is a guy who wants to be the best, but doesn’t only want to be it. He shows it by just going out there and doing it.”

Barkley will continue his training at Disney until the Combine begins in Indianapolis (Feb. 27-March 5) and he actively awaits the draft on April 26.

Shaw and his staff of assistants, which includes former NFL star Ike Taylor, work with more than 40 draft-eligible participants on techniques geared toward identical drills and the strength and conditioning workouts that they’ll encounter later this month in front of professional coaches and scouts.

“Our natural athletic ability can only do so much,” Barkley said. “When it comes to combines, its technique and the little things. It’s like form technique when you’re running the 40, or form while you’re doing the shuttle, where to place your hands on bench (press). It’s just the little stuff that makes the difference for the Combine.”