The Philadelphia Eagles running-back room cleared when special teams meetings began on a day this past summer, leaving only position coach Jemal Singleton and newly signed star Saquon Barkley.

Singleton had poured his focus into moment. As an Air Force Academy graduate, he knows leadership opportunities when they arise, and he had given deep thought to his approach to elevating the most talented running back he had ever evaluated.

“I just put myself in his shoes and thought, well how would I feel right now?” Singleton told The Gazette from New Orleans, where the Eagles will face the Kansas City Chiefs at 4:30 p.m. Sunday in Super Bowl LIX.

Barkley had just come off a painfully public contract impasse with the New York Giants. A phone call with Giants’ general manager Joe Schoen that Barkley didn’t know was recorded was featured on HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”

His on-field production had also included just one 1,000-yard rushing season over the past four years.

“Part of me said, you know, I don’t care how confident, how strong he is, that’s probably something that has taken a toll on him,” Singleton said. “And really, at the end of the day, I felt the biggest thing I could do was to basically let him know exactly the type of player he is and express the confidence I have in him as a coach.

“It goes back to that old saying, ‘They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.’”

So Singleton bombarded Barkley with praise simply by being honest. He said Barkley was the highest-rated running back he had ever evaluated. He reminded Barkley of his abilities and assured him his best football could still be ahead of him.

The results? Barkley exploded for 2,005 rushing yards, the most in the NFL in 12 years, and needs 30 yards Sunday to break the record for most combined regular-season and playoff rushing yards (2,476), set by Hall of Famer Terrell Davis with the Denver Broncos in 1998.

“I’ll never forget it, to be honest. … Perfect timing” Barkley told NBC Sports Philadelphia of the conversation with Singleton that helped set all this into motion.

“At that moment, he had more confidence in me than I had in my own self, to be honest. … He kind of just helped me to have faith, ‘Don’t worry and just be you.’ I’ve been kind of sticking with that.”

The conversations have continued to take place throughout the season each time the room empties at the Eagles’ NovaCare Complex.

Singleton and Barkley talk football, faith, fatherhood and being a good teammate.

Singleton, of course, marvels at the season Barkley has posted. But he also loved it when Barkley approached him on the sideline and asked if it would be OK if he ran onto the field after teammate Will Shipley rushed for his first-career touchdown in the NFC championship game.

“Just put your helmet on,” Singleton said before Barkley sprinted onto the field and lifted Shipley out of the pile to celebrate.

“Just his mindset, the way he is in the locker room, it’s awesome,” said Singleton, who has been peppered with questions about the MVP finalist this week. “I will never get tired of answering questions about Saquon Barkley because, just in the one year I’ve been with him, it’s been unbelievable.

“I hate to say it, but he would have been a great Air Force Academy Falcon.”

While Singleton has done all he can to help Barkley improve by applying his leadership training and breaking down the physical elements of his play, he also knows there are some aspects of Barkley’s game that are simply uncoachable.

The best example came this season against Jacksonville. Barkley caught a pass in the flat, broke a tackle, spun away from another defender then, while facing the line of scrimmage, made a backward, no-look leap over rookie cornerback Jarrian Jones.

That certainly didn’t come from Singleton, who discourages his backs from jumping, as it cedes control to gravity and the defense.

But even Singleton thought the play was pretty cool.

“You have this amazing athlete that can do almost anything,” Singleton said. “But you also have this deep thinker, creative mind that if I make this cut, this spin move, if I get him set up this way. … There’s no doubt in my mind he’s probably done that in his head.”

Singleton is finishing his fourth year in Philadelphia, where he also serves as the assistant head coach under Nick Sirianni. This matches his stay at Oklahoma State as his longest stint since leaving Air Force (where he spent one year at the prep school and four as a cadet and later nine years as an assistant).

“I’ve been blessed here,” Singleton said. “We’ve won a lot of football games, been to playoffs the past four years, been to the Super Bowl twice. It’s just been a really good run.”

As for what comes next for the 49-year-old coach, he said he’ll leave that in God’s hands.

He remains open to a coordinator or head coaching position but has no interest in chasing it. His philosophy has always been to excel in the role he has and let opportunities arise from that.

If it’s results that are needed, it’s hard to argue with the results Singleton has had in Philadelphia. The Eagles led the NFL in rushing yards in 2021, in rushing touchdowns in 2022 and were second in both categories this year. Now on that is added one of the best individual seasons for a running back in the game’s history.

Behind Singleton’s leadership, Barkley has set career highs in yards per game (125.3), yards per carry (5.8) and yards from scrimmage (2,283). And this player who had begun to have feelings of self-doubt is so comfortable and confident in his situation that he’s blindly hurdling defenders.

“Never forget how a few words can change a person’s mindset and really help someone,” Singleton said, thinking back to that initial one-on-one talk with Barkley. “It was kind of an innocent moment of us having a conversation, and it struck a chord with him that he knows that I care for him and want him to be the best version of himself if can be. Just two men talking about life.”