. . . wonder no more!
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I can see him and Devwah in a lot of 2 back sets with his ability to go in motion into the slot. Devwah and Rakeem Boyd could be the rotation at power back and Hayden, TJ and Barkley as backs that can go in motion.
From what I understand, Lake Travis kept many of Chad Morris’ offensive concepts in place after he left for Tulsa. Hank Carter, the head coach there, played for Morris in high school and assisted him for several years. I’m interested to see whether Barkley in an early standout in the spring based on him potentially knowing some elements of this offense.
I went back and found Carter’s analysis on Barkley from our recruiting magazine last year. It is interesting in retrospect.
“He was primarily a running back but we did motion him out of the backfield quite a bit. He just as easily could have been a receiver for us and done great. We used him some as a Wildcat quarterback and he’s done a nice job of that. We used him a variety of ways and he was a versatile weapon for us. We were a hurry-up, no-huddle spread with four wide for the most part. He played awesome in the state championship game. His burst was just a huge difference for us and his speed compared to those guys who were trying to get him on the ground. He had a couple of huge catches, one out of the backfield when we thought we had a good matchup, and he scored on about a 55-yard touchdown pass. He also had a run for a touchdown. He had a great game, but that was kind of typical; it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary because we’re used to seeing that out of him. In the semifinal game, he played great against Humble Atascocita. He’s a dynamic player. I think they could use him as a running back or a wide receiver, or as a receiver out of the run game. He has such a smooth running style that you don’t really think he’s a burner until you see him run away from everybody. He’s just a natural, really gifted runner. I think he knows that if he plays running back he needs to put on some weight, but if you look at the way football is going, his catching ability is going to be an asset. I think that’s where he has separated himself from other players who play running back. He’s a willing blocker, but the pass protection is something that’s got to get better, especially in a more complicated system than he ran in high school. If he’s going to play receiver, he needs to expand his route tree. Because he played a limited amount of receiver, he ran a lot of go routes, stop routes, slip screens, things like that. He also throws the football well. We’ve used him in Wildcat situations and reverse pass situations, and he can really sling it. I’m very excited for him and the University of Arkansas. He’s dynamic with the ball in his hands and is a great teammate, a fun guy to be around, so I think his coaches and teammates will love him. Maleek wants to be a great football player, so I think he’ll work at it.”
That is great information on Barkley. What is his height and weight?
He was listed as 5-10 175 on last year’s roster, which gives you some idea why he redshirted. Hopefully they will have put a little muscle on him since last August. TJ Hammonds, who played what would be a similar role last year, was listed at 5-10 195.
He had sub-4.5 speed coming out of high school. I suspect he is going to add some much needed speed to this offense and that we will see him catching the ball out of the backfield a lot.
going to hard for him to ever see the field with Boyd,Hayden Whaley still here not to mention TJ so not real sure why we are making the move.
I think we will see a lot of 2 back with them loading up RB. Devwah and Boyd will be the main RB with a 2nd back that can go in motion into the slot. We could very easily use all of these guys. I would not be surprised to see some WR’s transfer.
I think that it kind of tells you a bit about how they view the RBs in their system, with quite a few two back looks. They want guys who are pounders, guys who are slashers, and guys who are going to make plays catching passes out of the backfield. If you’ve got one “regular” back and one pass catcher back there it just puts more pressure on the defense. They also can put a fullback/H-back in at one of those spots and pound the opposition.
Right now we’ve got four “regular” backs if you include M. Williams, and two swiss army knife speedsters in Barkley and Hammond. They can also split those guys out as wide receivers in this offense. Then you’ve got fullbacks and H-backs to change up the look to true power. We’ve got a nice group here, even if somebody leaves after spring.
I believe the move was made because CCM has more players at the receiver position than he likes to have there.