I was fortunate to attend several spring and pre-season scrimmages during Blake Barnett's time in Tuscaloosa. I saw his progress, such as it was, enough times that it couldn't be dismissed as a couple of off days.
He consistently made poor decisions with ball security. At first, I wrote it off to being a true freshman in college early. But he never improved. Other QBs progressed, but he didn't.
Quite literally, I saw him make several passes that looked like Mrs. Basket Case had thrown them. I'm not kidding or exaggerating. And trust me: MBC is my one great love. But she is not now, nor has she ever been, an athlete.
I have never played the game. I have watched a lot. Barnett was consistently either 3rd or 4th in my estimation of the order of preformance. Either he had better non-scrimmage practices, or he got the start against USCw based the fact that Hurts was a true freshman, and maybe a bit of his high school hype.
My personal guess is that the coaches knew Barnett didn't have the mental makeup to be the starter, but couldn't bring themselves to throw a true freshman into the breach.
Blake Barnett is a show horse. He looks great in workouts, and throwing against air with no rush. He has all the measureables, and a ton of physical talent. So long as he's the best player on the field, by a long shot, he looks unbeatable. But let him be challenged by athletes of similar caliber, and he tucks and runs like a schoolyard bully.
And now, he's publicly saying, in effect, "Coach didn't like me."
It's a mental shortcoming, not a physical one, and I do not expect Barnett to be any better in Arizona.
