What do we know about Drew Barker?

[JABJRS]

So, now that we appear to be moving on to the Drew Barker era I was wondering.....does anyone have any *valid* opinion of his talents/weaknesses? By "valid" I mean more than what little we have seen in games this season. I am talking about someone who watched him in High School, all-star games or perhaps gets to attend practices?

From the little we have seen these are my initial impressions:

1) Appears more decisive that Towles and the ball certainly comes out of his hand much faster.
2) Shorter than PT and not as fast. Although he is not slow either....can buy time and/or get some yards with is feet. He also appears "thicker" than PT which may help him absorb some hits.
3) Good arm strength, not sure if it is as good as PT.
4) Has some leadership skills as he basically recruited half the 2014 class by himself.
5) ACCURACY. This is where I would really like some informed opinions. Patrick Towles biggest downfall as a QB, in my opinion, is that he simply is not an accurate passer, particularly on the short and mid-range passes that are essential to an "air raid" type offense. I am hoping beyond hope this is not the case for Drew Barker. On the TD drive I was more impressed by the TD pass to Timmons than I was by the bomb to Badet. The TD was on the numbers and most importantly hit the receiver in stride thereby allowing him to score.....hitting receivers in stride is something that PT was really bad at, and it hurt the offense.

Since we are basically pinning what amount of hope we have for this season (and beyond) on Drew Barker I wanted to know if anybody actually knew what we could expect?

 

[wbryant316]

We know he can't take a punch for sure! Dude went down like a sack of taters in that EKU dorm.

 

[Blueathletics]

Did you see his pass to Tmmons for TD?

Led him perfectly..outside the reach of the defender

 

[Mozes-Prince22]

We know he isn't afraid. Went back to the EKU dorms after the bar fight knowing there was a possibility of some stuff going down. Takes balls to do that. Most people would've went on home. (Kidding, obviously. Im a big Barker fan. Just want to clarify that before some of you get bent out of shape.)

 

[Mozes-Prince22]

In all seriousness though, I believe he has the confidence and skills to be successful. He will have his ups and downs just like any young and inexperienced player. Cant wait to see him out on the field.

 

[RACdad]

It's my opinion that if the bar, dorm and pellett gun incidents hadn't occured he would have played a long time ago maybe even started the season as the QB. Sounded to me Towles won the job based on experience and maturity.

 

[JABJRS]

We know he can't take a punch for sure! Dude went down like a sack of taters in that EKU dorm.

I beg to differ. I dare say if any one of us took a sucker punch from a 6-4 300lb defensive lineman we would have gone down hard as well......only difference is that we would not have gotten back up for quite some time (as opposed to the minute or so it took DB to gather himself and walk out).

Frankly, I thought the whole thing was rather embarrassing for Gafree. I am nearing 40 and would like to think if I got an unimpeded/unseen shot on a guy standing flat-footed that he would stay down for more than a minute and have perhaps a broken bone or two. My first thought upon seeing the video was "wow, Gafree punches like a sissy."

 

[theoledog]

Well I sure hate it for PT. The staff gave him opportunity and it didn't work out... And it might not work out any better for DB....
In a perfect world PT would have had a good season this and next year and DB followed him up.... But __it happens

 

[JasonS.]

We know he isn't afraid. Went back to the EKU dorms after the bar fight knowing there was a possibility of some stuff going down.

We're going to the dorms!

 

[DACats86]

That punch would have killed me, easy. True story. Tough son of a gun to stand back up after that.

 

[kyboy1998_rivals34276]

He will have happy feet and take off too much. Will make some ill advised throws but will look more decisive and that's a good thing.

I saw him play in high school and thought he kind of sucked really given his hype. Especially the one time I saw him lose, while throwing multiple picks, to a pitiful South Oldham team.

Going back to a dorm with 300 pound guys when you don't have the numbers says two things. He has a set of balls and can be pretty stupid. Those could be good atributes for us right now.

 

[Mr Schwump]

He's the next in line to not be as good as his back up.

 

[Bluetick2100]

I am more concerned about his decision making than arm strength or accurate passing.
Hartline had a weenie arm but between the ears was a damn good QB.

 

[SanAntonioCat_rivals376502]

Well I sure hate it for PT. The staff gave him opportunity and it didn't work out... And it might not work out any better for DB....
In a perfect world PT would have had a good season this and next year and DB followed him up.... But __it happens

You seem to forget Mr. Spurrier did everything possible to recruit Drew.

 

[TeoJ]

We know he can't take a punch for sure! Dude went down like a sack of taters in that EKU dorm.

Most would not have got up,i'm sure you would have jumped up and took on the whole team

 

[nkyblueblood_rivals377553]

So, now that we appear to be moving on to the Drew Barker era I was wondering.....does anyone have any *valid* opinion of his talents/weaknesses? By "valid" I mean more than what little we have seen in games this season. I am talking about someone who watched him in High School, all-star games or perhaps gets to attend practices?

From the little we have seen these are my initial impressions:

1) Appears more decisive that Towles and the ball certainly comes out of his hand much faster.
2) Shorter than PT and not as fast. Although he is not slow either....can buy time and/or get some yards with is feet. He also appears "thicker" than PT which may help him absorb some hits.
3) Good arm strength, not sure if it is as good as PT.
4) Has some leadership skills as he basically recruited half the 2014 class by himself.
5) ACCURACY. This is where I would really like some informed opinions. Patrick Towles biggest downfall as a QB, in my opinion, is that he simply is not an accurate passer, particularly on the short and mid-range passes that are essential to an "air raid" type offense. I am hoping beyond hope this is not the case for Drew Barker. On the TD drive I was more impressed by the TD pass to Timmons than I was by the bomb to Badet. The TD was on the numbers and most importantly hit the receiver in stride thereby allowing him to score.....hitting receivers in stride is something that PT was really bad at, and it hurt the offense.

Since we are basically pinning what amount of hope we have for this season (and beyond) on Drew Barker I wanted to know if anybody actually knew what we could expect?

Saw him play a number of times as a Junior and Senior in High School. My son played against him twice. Here is my take:

- very confident
- strong arm
- accurate
- underrated runner
- puts bad plays behind him
- can take a football hit and get back up
- strong leader
- surveys the field well and gets it to the right receiver
- more accurate than Towles on screens, slants, and short routes and puts receivers in position to catch and run immediately
- catchable ball

Just one man's observation.

 

[WildCard]

We know that he has played in 3 games this year, going 13/19 (68.4%) for 107 yards and 1 TD and 2 INTs. He averages 5.6 YPA and has a QB rating of 112.0. I think he will have a "career day" against a Charlotte pass defense allowing 276 YPG (112th) and rated 98th in pass defense efficiency thus igniting cries of "he should have been playing all along". [winking]

Peace

 

[HalHR2500]

Decision making is huge question., arm and accuracy is ok, but prone to INT

 

[SanAntonioCat_rivals376502]

Decision making is huge question., arm and accuracy is ok, but prone to INT

What QB isn't prone to interceptions?

 

[Jon(-24)]

What QB isn't prone to interceptions?

Georgia Tech's

 

[cathouse_rivals216755]

There is no way he can be worse at making decisions than what we have been watching all year. NO WAY!!!!

 

[ThatManJBeezyDoe4UK]

He's the next in line to not be as good as his back up.

Not true because towles legitimately sucked there's no arguing that. No way can he perform worse than towles has performed so you're wrong. You sound like a pt lover with a statement like that. The fans had a gripe with him because he played like poop every game.

 

[ThatManJBeezyDoe4UK]

We know that he has played in 3 games this year, going 13/19 (68.4%) for 107 yards and 1 TD and 2 INTs. He averages 5.6 YPA and has a QB rating of 112.0. I think he will have a "career day" against a Charlotte pass defense allowing 276 YPG (112th) and rated 98th in pass defense efficiency thus igniting cries of "he should have been playing all along". [winking]

Peace

If we don't need overtime to beat Charlotte like we did EKU. Then yes I'm going to be saying he should've been playing all along. Charlotte and EKU are equally as bad.

 

[ukgrad2004]

I would be surprised if Stoops lets him pass it much on Saturday. My money is on tons of runs. Barker might not throw it ten times.

 

[Catlanta98]

I would be surprised if Stoops lets him pass it much on Saturday. My money is on tons of runs. Barker might not throw it ten times.

I hope not, that would be a huge mistake. We need to throw it all over the field early and get him going. If for whatever reason the game is close, obviously just make sure you get the win. But we need to try and build Barker's confidence and get him some more experience throwing the ball. I know we looked awful against Vandy but we should be able to beat Charlotte with ease.

 

[JABJRS]

I hope not, that would be a huge mistake. We need to throw it all over the field early and get him going. If for whatever reason the game is close, obviously just make sure you get the win. But we need to try and build Barker's confidence and get him some more experience throwing the ball. I know we looked awful against Vandy but we should be able to beat Charlotte with ease.

^Agree.

 

[theoledog]

You seem to forget Mr. Spurrier did everything possible to recruit Drew.

well no... i didn't forget.