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PHOENIX, Ariz. — Blake Barnett wasn’t the biggest fan of getting pounded by Alabama’s first-team defense, but the redshirt freshman appreciated being part of a national championship team during his first season in Tuscaloosa.
That’s about all the 6-foot-5 quarterback revealed during a media day interview Saturday.
Alabama freshmen normally are not available to the media — assistant coaches aren’t either — but College Football Playoff rules dictate that everyone must talk.
From the outside, his priorities during this season were as follows:
- Add weight to his 200-pound frame. Don’t follow the Will Grier plan to do so.
- Learn the Alabama offense.
- Transform from an 18-year-old with a big arm into a leader of grown men. (Yes, grown.)
- Snare a few practice repetitions against the nation’s best defense to speed up his reads.
Let’s compare notes.
So, Blake, what were your priorities of development in your first year?
“Nothing really too specific,” Barnett said. “I just tried to develop as best as I can as a quarterback. Prepare myself for the future and hopefully for a competition coming up this year.”
Fair enough. He’s already learned how to talk without giving away any pertinent details. They teach them early at Alabama. Let’s try another approach.
Blake, you were a touted quarterback coming out of high school What’s been the biggest transition, skill-wise, to the college level? Which things have you found are the biggest adjustments?
“Nothing too specific,” Barnett said. “Like I said, I’m just preparing myself as best as I can. I’m looking forward to the competition next year.”
While the former five-star recruit didn’t quite reach Marshawn Lynch levels (“I’m just here so I don’t get fined.”), he wasn’t much for chatter. While players like Reggie Ragland and Jake Coker got podiums and constant swarms of media, Barnett stood or sat in the middle of the room by himself for most of the hour-long session, surrounded by quiet lesser-known teammates taking in the scene.
To be fair to him, there’s not much to say or report at this time.
Alabama fans want to anoint Barnett the next starting quarterback, possibly for three or four years. But we’ve learned in each of the last two Tide seasons that we’re unlikely to predict the starter in January, much less July.
Barnett kept referencing that competition. He’ll have to beat out Cooper Bateman, who completed 37 of 52 passes in 2015 and started against Ole Miss — the fourth-best pocket passer in ’13, according to the 247Sports composite, behind Christian Hackenberg.
He’ll have to beat out David Cornwell, who also is 6-foot-5, started the season 20 pounds heavier than Barnett — the fourth-best pocket passer in ’14, according to the 247Sports composite, behind Kyle Allen and Grier.
And he’ll have to beat out Jalen Hurts, an early enrollee who practiced as Deshaun Watson for Alabama’s scout team just like Barnett did and may be the best runner of the group.
All four of those players were rated at least four stars out of high school.
“It’s another set of challenges,” offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin said, according to ESPN. “It helps you grow as a coach because you’ve got a gap at quarterback and they have a different set of things they do.”
Here’s what we know about Barnett.
- He dominated in high school, earning the MVP of the 2014 Elite 11 Quarterback Competition.
- He completed 6 of 9 passes for 28 yards and 2 interceptions during the A-Day game.
- He’s got a pro surfer girlfriend who is the next incarnation of Katherine Webb in Alabama quarterback lore.
Missing this gorgeous girl. See you soon good lookin! pic.twitter.com/jCsv5ByLZX
— B² (@Blake8Barnett) January 7, 2016
- He can crush a golf ball.
- He’s got his own hairstyle, and it isn’t quite “Bama bangs.”
Touchdown ✈️ ? in Phoenix.#RollTide #CFBPlayoff pic.twitter.com/gA6H8ggPjf
— Lance Barnett (@LanceBarnett) January 9, 2016
- He likes sneakers.
Yay pic.twitter.com/4g3CrHTN69
— B² (@Blake8Barnett) January 1, 2016
In other words, most of what we know about him isn’t football-related.
Coach Nick Saban did comment on Barnett during SEC Media Days, but that was back in July.
“(He) has great promise. He can run, is athletic, has a good arm,” Saban said. “But it’s just a matter of how quickly is he going to mature to be able to take the responsibility to be able to do it on a consistent basis.”
Assuming Kiffin remains at The Capstone through the 2016 season, Alabama need not worry about the quarterback position. Blake Sims and Jake Coker both were three-star career backups before leading the team to the College Football Playoff as seniors.
Kiffin’s track record with USC quarterbacks was impeccable. He turned Tennessee’s Jonathan Crompton into a draftable quarterback — the same Crompton who once threw 4 interceptions in 10 passes during a 7-on-7 practice with the San Diego Chargers.
Every single player in the upcoming quarterback competition was rated higher than Sims and Coker out of high school. Assuming some NFL team doesn’t entice Kiffin, he’ll be able to mold another 3,000-yard passer in 2016, especially with a target like Calvin Ridley coming back.
It’s easy to root for Barnett to be that guy if you’re an Alabama fan.
Barnett holds as much eligibility remaining as any of the quarterbacks on campus. He arguably has the most raw ability as a passer. There’s a good chance the Tide always had him ticketed for a redshirt in 2015, so it can be at least theorized that he and Hurts are the only two players who didn’t outright lose a competition to Coker this year.
It’s much easier to pencil in Bo Scarbrough and Damien Harris as running backs one and two for next season than it is to crown Barnett. Solving the quarterback position also is not the team’s No. 1 concern looking ahead to spring practice. Not with such drastic turnover on defense, both with personnel and coaching.
Still, there is one other thing we learned about Barnett: It only took him standing on the sideline for one national championship season to understand the football culture.
“We all want to keep the legacy going,” Barnett said Monday night, according to CBS Sports. “[Winning titles] is the standard here. It’s what we strive for every year.”
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
