Rising not starting?

I’ll give a little insight about the Extra Point podcast coming up with Bryson Barnes.

Steggy got me to come to Ed’s and we had some extra time before the video session because of a scheduling mixup, so I got a chance to banter with Cal Beck & Barnes.

Bryson Barnes is a solid, solid kid with a head on his shoulders. Probably apparent to everyone who has their senses intact, but in terms of being who he is, he kind of reminds me of Whit: the exact same guy you see on TV.

He was the all-everything athlete from Milford, a place where everyone knows everyone else. Football, baseball, wrestling, track and there might have been hoops involved. He’s right about 6-2, maybe a shade under, and as we all saw, can deliver some punishment as well as run a lot faster than you’d think… similar deceptive speed as Rising. Ran everything from the 100M to 800M in track in HS, so unless Guidry is lurking here, pretty sure Bryson could smoke all of us, at any distance up to 800M… in our peak years.

My take on how he did on Thursday is he was a little off early, but threw the ball where it wasn’t going to be picked, but settled down nicely, with the passes to Money Parks and Dixon being very impressive, and the on-the-dime pass to Vele at the sideline being a key play to victory.

The run up the middle suggests he’s got some of Rising’s feel for when to take the yardage. That would only get better with more snaps.

Bottom line: It’s money in the bank to have your QB2 having experience carrying the load in a place where wins are tough to find.

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I worked as the heavy equipment operator/storekeeper at the RMP geothermal plant in Milford for 2 years. I must say, I was so thrilled when BB chose to attend the U. A town of hard working folks.

Now that the pig farms are closing, let’s get this kid a scholarship. I don’t mean to suggest we flood Whitt with requests, but JFC, BB has earned it. Let’s use a crowbar and open up the wallet to get him what he has earned.

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Couldn’t agree more.
How does that work?

I am under the impression that he was initially a walk-on but has been on scholarship for the last two years, if not longer.

He’s an acquired taste, like swallowing a Sea Urchin whole is an acquired taste.

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I thought so too and I could swear I’ve heard him referred to by the media as “former walk-on”, but according to this article, he was still a walk-on at the start of this season.

As for Barnes’ scholarship status, that’s still to be determined — maybe his 12,000 pigs back home in Milford can be used to spell out “on scholarship” for a viral moment.

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He’s not on scholarship. This is offensive on so many levels.

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He said this morning he’s still a walk-on. I’m sure that will change, perhaps at the break. I don’t know anything about the scholarship situation and what talent they’re trying to get from where, but the “risk” the U took in offering a scholie to a non-obvious P5 recruit from Milford has paid off over & over again. (In this way he’s kind of like Steve Smith, who was overlooked as a JuCo WR because he was only 5-9.)

Hope it makes the edit, but Bryson said the most important thing is to have confidence in yourself. He passed up scholarship opportunities to be at the U, so I’m thinking / hoping he’s in a good enough financial position to have got this far without too much financial trauma. Kid’s a business major, pretty sure he has this part under control.

NIL has bent a lot of things - or in USC’s case, made the open secret no longer a secret - but if Barnes can find a way to come out ahead on his financial situation when he gets his Bachelors in Business, he deserves every bit, and more.

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I think you would be hard pressed to find another P5 team that started the year with their QB2 as a non-scholarship athlete.

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Agreed

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