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| Chris Barnett |
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 245 lbs.
High school: L.D. Bell High School in Hurst, TX
Position: Tight end
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: #82
Last year: Barnett was a high school senior (commitment post here)
TTB Rating: 82
Barnett has all kinds of physical talent. He can run, jump, catch, and block when he wants. "When he wants" is the key term. He seems like kind of a quirky kid and I'm not 100% sold on his work ethic. Of course, it's possible that the issues I've seen (not running hard, bad body weight, etc.) are benign problems and symptomatic of an injury or something, but those are things I intend to watch with him. And speaking of injuries, he tore his ACL last year.
There are various readers who will surely disagree with me, but I think Barnett should be headed for a season of sitting on the bench. Coming off a knee injury that limited his off-season work, he might not be ready physically. But to top all that off, Michigan has enough depth at the tight end positions to make it through the upcoming season, barring injury. Senior starter Kevin Koger offers many of the same qualities as Barnett, and redshirt junior Brandon Moore was known as a receiving threat when he came out of high school. I still think Moore is raw and might not ever "get it" but there's potential. Redshirt freshman Ricardo Miller has been playing U-back (which is a hybrid TE/FB position) after playing receiver as a freshman. And
Prediction: Redshirt
Magnus, you're asking for trouble. I predict at least 6 comments to the effect of "OMG HOW COULD BARNETT NOT WIN THE HEISMAN AS A FRESHMAN I WANT TO HAVE HIS BABIEZ!"
ReplyDeleteOMG HOW COULD BARNETT NOT WIN THE HEISMAN AS A FRESHMAN I WANT TO HAVE HIS BABIEZ
ReplyDelete-Lankownia
Also, Miller is small, Watson lacks talent, and Moore lacks...whatever it takes to be good at playing tight end on this level. Opportunity is there for Barnett. Talent is there. If he can pick up the plays and motivate himself to work hard (he seems to be fired up based on comments I've read) then he has an excellent shot of playing his freshman year. Plus, with two TE in the 2012 class and none in the previous two classes (not counting Miller, who is an H-back exclusively) there's a lot less incentive to red-shirt him.
I agree with Lank that Barnett plays this season. Koger is the only starter-quality TE on the current roster, so Barnett needs to be groomed for 2012. I guess the injury may be a factor, though.
ReplyDelete