WBN Roundtable‏: The Drew Barker Effect

Jan 1, 2013; Tampa, FL, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Steve Spurrier reacts against the Michigan Wolverines in the Outback Bowl at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Griffith-USA TODAY Sports

Jason Marcum

It’s not just big that UK was able to get a commitment from a 4-star quarterback from a state that doesn’t typically produce a lot of quality Division I prospects, let alone SEC-caliber QBs.
While UK was able to get that in Barker, they were also able to stave off other SEC programs like Tennessee and South Carolina for his services. That tells you how highly he’s regarded. But the reality is Barker may never become a starting QB in the SEC. That’s just how it goes. He wouldn’t be the first or last highly-touted player to fail to live up to the hype.
Even if that happened, this is still a monumental win for Mark Stoops, who is in Year 1 as far as his SEC tenure goes, especially since he beat Steve Spurrier, who’s in like Year 500 in the league.
Barker may never play a snap for UK as the starting QB, but this will go down as a statement win regardless for Stoops’ tenure at UK.

Paul Jordan

It’s pretty big as Stoops is making a statement that he is going to keep the top players in state.  I think we will see that impact of Barker all across this class as apparently he was the first domino of several to fall in the 2014 class.  Apparently Barker is influential with a lot of other top recruits and he could be as influential in the recruiting department as he will be on the field.  At any point, Stoops has to keep the top players in state and Barker is important on that level as well.