Barker

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GophersInIowa

GophersInIowa

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Did the announcers ever say for sure what happened to him? I'm assuming it was a twisted ankle but not sure.

What a surprise he has been. One career reception coming into the year. He's now on pace (12-game pace) for 45 receptions, 865 yards, and 10 TD. Compare that to Da'Jon McKnight's best year of 48-750-10. Barker's been more of a deep threat than I thought he would be, over 19 yards a reception.
 

His ankle was heavily taped when he came out for the second half. I'm assuming that was the problem. He tried to field a few punts during warm-ups, but he was obviously limping.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Did the announcers ever say for sure what happened to him? I'm assuming it was a twisted ankle but not sure.

What a surprise he has been. One career reception coming into the year. He's now on pace (12-game pace) for 45 receptions, 865 yards, and 10 TD. Compare that to Da'Jon McKnight's best year of 48-750-10. Barker's been more of a deep threat than I thought he would be, over 19 yards a reception.
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What made you question his deep threat capability?
 

Said he's "cautiously optimistic" that he'll play next week. Hoping he can get healthy, but I think it would be a stretch to expect him to be able to go 100% next week.
 

FanSinceTheFifties said:
What made you question his deep threat capability?
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I just didn't think he was that fast of a WR, compared to guys like Crawford-Tufts. That's it. But honestly, it was hard to know what kind of a player he was since he had one career reception before this season.
 


He's had hamstring issues since he's been at the U. His hs coach has had a few DI guys and said he's got the best body control in a player he's ever coached (for what that's worth).

I'm surprised @ how elusive he is on punt returns.
 

I hope he is ready for next week as well. If he isn't will Crawford-Tufts be back? How about Jones? It's nice that we have ~5-or 6 receivers that have all shown they can catch the ball and get open this year. Now that we have a QB that can deliver the ball it makes a big difference.
 

FanSinceTheFifties said:
What made you question his deep threat capability?
Click to expand...

I have also been really pleasantly surprised by him being a deep threat.

For me, it's because I knew of how proficient he was as a HS WR. So I figured he'd have good hands, run good routes and be a natural receiver. I also knew that he had decent size, he was big enough to play WR in the Big 10. However, I also knew he wasn't realy highley recruited. So I figured (incorrectly), that he didn't have very good speed and/or ability to stretch the field.

I generally carry that idea with most walk ons. I assume they are probably good football players in some way, but I figure that they might be missing something athletically that made some coaches shy away. I was wrong on Barker.
 

I think there is a natural ability to create separation. I think we have faster receivers than Barker but he seems to create the separation that other faster receivers can't.
 



OddStack said:
He's had hamstring issues since he's been at the U. His hs coach has had a few DI guys and said he's got the best body control in a player he's ever coached (for what that's worth).

I'm surprised @ how elusive he is on punt returns.
Click to expand...

His first TD was a thing of beauty. He adjusted his route and his body position and made it look so easy.
 

What is the difference between a 4.4 and 4.7 let's say in terms of speed? Compare that to athletic abiltiy and smarts to fake out the defender and get separation. Throw in the ability to actually catch the ball. To me those are the most important traits for a WR.
 

Atl Gopher said:
What is the difference between a 4.4 and 4.7 let's say in terms of speed? Compare that to athletic abiltiy and smarts to fake out the defender and get separation. Throw in the ability to actually catch the ball. To me those are the most important traits for a WR.
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Yes, speed is only one of the tools a receiver can use.
 

Atl Gopher said:
What is the difference between a 4.4 and 4.7 let's say in terms of speed? Compare that to athletic abiltiy and smarts to fake out the defender and get separation. Throw in the ability to actually catch the ball. To me those are the most important traits for a WR.
Click to expand...

Well, the difference is quite a bit in the grand scheme of things. It isn't going the only factor in determining whether a receiver is good or not, but a legit 4.4 guy with some skill is incredibly dangerous.

That said, I agree with a lot of what you're saying. It's just that those things are often more nuanced and more difficult to determine during recruiting.
 



Great story about the family on the Journey. Hope you all saw it. I love when guys like Barker succeed.

Getting open is much more then speed. Agility, leverage, quickness, ability to read coverage, route running all can play into it.
 


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