Tag: Chris Barnett

2011 Countdown: #82 Chris Barnett

Chris Barnett

Name: 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 tight end defensive end tight end Steve Watson gives the team a fully developed, fifth year senior who’s 270 lbs. and ought to be able to come in and at least block someone on short yardage situations.  Barnett has the skills to play as a freshman, but he wouldn’t offer much as a freshman that the coaches can’t get from somewhere else.

Prediction: Redshirt

Suspected Position Changes Confirmed

Tight end-turned defensive end-turned tight end Steve Watson

A couple position changes have been confirmed by a paywalled article on Rivals:

1. William Campbell has moved back to defense.  Rich Rodriguez toyed with him on offense, which seemed silly in light of the considerable depth at the offensive guard position.  But unlike Rodriguez and his clunky defensive staff, Campbell will actually be playing the 3-tech defensive tackle position.  I can’t imagine the conversations in the former defensive staff’s meeting rooms.  “Well, we’ve got this 6’5” behemoth with loads of talent, but his one problem is that he can’t stay low and get leverage.  We just can’t figure out what to do with him.  What to do, what to do.  Oh.  My.  God.  I have an awesome idea!  Let’s put him at nose tackle, the defensive line position where leverage is most important.  Surely our 6’2″ center won’t make him look like a fool on a daily basis!”  Perhaps that’s reason #238 why Rich Rodriguez forcing a 3-3-5 on a bewildered defensive coordinator was a bad idea.

2. Steve Watson has once again become a tight end.  This is a good move for Watson and for the team.  He was buried on the depth chart as an outside linebacker and defensive end the past couple seasons, notching a total of 6 tackles in that span.  He’ll probably still be sitting behind starter Kevin Koger and redshirt junior Brandon Moore, but this will allow Michigan to run some sets with three tight ends in short yardage and near the goalline.  The Wolverines pulled in a talented tight end, Chris Barnett, in the 2011 class.  However, Barnett is coming off a serious knee injury, needs to work on his body, and won’t arrive on campus until this summer.  This move may allow the freshman to redshirt.

Chris Barnett, Wolverine

Boise State, eat your heart out.

Chris Barnett, a tight end from Hurst, TX, committed to the Wolverines on Wednesday.  Barnett was a bit of a surprise commitment on National Signing Day, because originally, he had planned to announce his commitment and sign his NLI this coming Saturday.

The 6’6″, 245 pounder is a 4-star to Rivals and a 3-star recruit to both Scout and ESPN.  He reported offers from the likes of Arkansas, Clemson, Florida State, Miami, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Tennessee, USC, and various others.  In addition, he had been previously committed to both Oklahoma and Arkansas.  The NSD switch from Arkansas to Michigan provides a small amount of consolation for defensive tackle Dequinta Jones, who switched from the Wolverines to the Razorbacks on NSD 2009.

I have my reservations about Barnett, despite his impressive offer list.  He seems to be a boom-or-bust type of player.  He has good speed and good size, catches the ball well with his hands instead of his body, shows decent agility, etc.  If and when he gives 100%, he should be a real threat.

But there’s a good amount of film on him out there on the internet, and I see a general theme: he seems to be a guy who doesn’t go hard all the time.  He jogs through camp drills at times.  He has some bad body weight around his middle.  He doesn’t move his feet extremely well as a blocker.

He also doesn’t seem to realize that he’s six-foot-six and 245 lbs.!  Someone who’s that big and that fast should be running people over, but instead, he tries to dance around defensive backs once he catches the ball.  He’s athletic enough that it works sometimes, but he’s got to learn to lower his shoulder and punish smaller players for trying to tackle him.  He shows flashes of a willingness to punish opponents, but it’s just not consistent.  Hopefully, tight ends coach Dan Ferrigno can convince him how special he can be.

Barnett is Michigan’s 20th commitment in the Class of 2011.  Brady Hoke hinted that the class might grow by “a few” when the number was at 19, so perhaps there’s a lower level recruit out there who might decide for Michigan.  But the class is most likely finalized.  Barnett was an important recruit in particular because of the low numbers and lack of depth at tight end.  With Martell Webb running out of eligibility after 2010, that left only senior-to-be Kevin Koger and redshirt junior-to-be Brandon Moore as scholarship tight ends on the roster; there are also rumors that Ricardo Miller moved to tight end late in the season, but that has been unconfirmed. 

Barnett probably needs a year to redshirt and work on his body, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him on the field this fall.  Even a slight injury to either of the top two guys would likely necessitate an appearance by Barnett for the multiple tight end sets that Brady Hoke and Al Borges like to use at times.

TTB Rating: 82