A cat jumped out of the bag Friday night during the Sweet 16 of the NCAA men's tournament. He was 6 feet 9 inches tall and weighed 275 pounds.
Jim Nagy, Reese's Senior Bowl executive director, was sitting on his couch watching No. 11 seed North Carolina State defeat No. 2 Marquette when Wolfpack forward DJ Burns told him: I couldn't take my eyes off her. In that moment, Nagy, like most of the audience who has watched North Carolina State's Cinderella advance to the Final Four, turned Burns into one of the most entertaining social media conversations of the tournament with him. I was captivated by her energy, skills, and contagious smile. The only difference? Nagy envisioned Barnes in football pads, pulling the ends of NFL offensive lines and blasting linebackers, or sliding into pass protection on the quarterback's blind side.
This is the curse of soccer evaluators. When they experience unusual size, length, and agility away from the soccer field, their brains begin to wonder.
“That's exactly where the heads of football people are going,” Nagy said this week. “Usually it's the frame and skill set. It's just the intrigue element. So I tweeted that I'm having a hard time seeing him kick-sliding or pulling run plays.”Last Friday That night, I was sitting there watching the game and I saw this big guy, he's got nimble feet. He can move a little bit, he's got coordination and body control. He moves like a grown-up child.”
My eyebrows rose high at those words. Not only because Nagy has a long career as a football talent evaluator, having played for multiple NFL teams and currently leading the draft's mainstay, the Senior Bowl, but so do others in the pro football field. It's also because I was thinking about it. Within hours, Nagy received text messages from multiple NFL personnel executives. His tweet was liked more than 3,000 times and received many responses, including a “100” emoji from Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin. Oakland Raiders.
And just like that, the NFL's off-the-radar interest in Barnes, a Wolfpack senior, entered the public consciousness. As it turns out, this wasn't ideal for some evaluators who kept a silent eye on his tournaments.
“[A high-ranking personnel man] They sent me emails like, 'Hey, you're just trying to kill me with this tweet,''' Nagy said. “I sent an apologetic email saying, 'I'm sorry.' And he was like, 'No, I'm messing with you.' But I really wanted them to be eliminated from the tournament the first weekend, and I was going to slide in and try to train the kid. ”
Of course, the NFL's plans don't necessarily align with the athletes the league is interested in pursuing. Meanwhile, Barnes said Thursday that his sights are on pursuing a career in professional basketball. But his interactions with reporters regarding his interest in the NFL were not without at least some minor problems with his answers.
“So you're not interested in soccer?'' the reporter asked.
“Zero, yes,” Barnes replied. “In other words … “
He paused for a moment, then nodded again.
“Yes, zero.”
That's a smart answer for a player who hasn't worn football pads since eighth grade, when he was a tight end and defensive end. After all, Burns was one of only a handful of players to pull off an improbable nine-game winning streak, including an ACC Tournament crown and then four NCAA Tournament wins en route to this weekend's Final Four. It was. Along the way, Burns used his huge size, quick feet and soft hands in the lane to provide a fit for the team, averaging 18.3 points in the tournament and captivating television viewers and social media. All of that was punctuated by a spectacular, season-high 29-point effort against Duke in the Elite Eight that added to the buzz in NFL circles.
“His competitiveness is fun to watch,” said one AFC executive. “It's exciting when you see an athlete who loves to play and puts heart and emotion into it. Especially big men in basketball, you see their foot speed and you start mentally checking the boxes. He definitely I think we have enough checks in place that if he were to do a public training, quite a few teams would send someone over to see what's out there.”
This was echoed by several other personnel executives and scouts who spoke to Yahoo Sports, most of whom pointed to the difficulty of making the projection from basketball to football. The pinnacle success story remains Kent State basketball star Antonio Gates. He signed with the San Diego Chargers as a tight end and made eight Pro Bowls and six All-Pro teams during his career, and is expected to eventually be inducted into the Hall of Fame. But Gates was also an extremely rare two-sport athlete who originally enrolled at Michigan State University and was scheduled to play on Nick Saban's football team and Tom Izzo's basketball team. Gates, who primarily wanted to pursue basketball, eventually moved around several schools before arriving at Kent State University, where he led the Golden Flashes to the Elite Eight. The performance in this tournament, like Barnes' performance at North Carolina State over the past few weeks, put Gates on the radar of the NFL.
Other college basketball players include longtime Seattle Seahawks offensive tackle George Fant (who joined the team when Nagy was in charge of personnel) and Indianapolis Colts tight end Mo Ally. There are few successful examples of players who go on to play professional football. Cox, tight end Marcus Pollard, who played for several teams, and former Dallas Cowboys tight end Rico Gathers. The success stories are noteworthy. Players who caught the NFL's attention but never fit the bill? They are blown away and forgotten.
“It's definitely a tough prediction, and for every Mo Ale-Cox, there's a wasteland of players who aren't suited for it,” said one NFC scout. “But first we need to have the necessary frames.” [and] He has the same size as an NFL tight end or offensive tackle. …then assess their basic movement tools. Allie Cox and Rico Gathers were strong athletes with explosive power and toughness to their game. ”
If Barnes changes his mind and decides to go the NFL route, that kind of recognition would be in store. It's a basic readout of his athleticism, ability, and strength, then a projection into the position, and then an evaluation of whether those traits translate into results. Making the necessary soccer moves and decisions in that position. All of this is layered with a simple question that always pops up in the background of the transition from basketball to football. Is this basketball player physically and mentally tough enough to handle the serious violence that occurs in the NFL?
Those questions seem irrelevant when it comes to the basketball path Barnes is carving out. But what if he changes his mind?
“If basketball doesn't work out, working out for some NFL team isn't a bad option,” the longtime evaluator said of Barnes. “He might not be thinking about it right now, but you never know what's going to happen in his future. Either way, watching him, it's just fun to think about it. .”
Despite all the chatter and musings on social media, that might be enough for now.
