Bartle’s weekly interview with Riley

[ProudUte]

Just got back from golf in time to hear his weekly interview.

Mertz is trying to do a reboot of his career. He has had 31 TDs and 26 interceptions.

Bartle thinks that Mertz will fit in with what Napier is trying to do. He feels that Napier will be a run-first guy. How well FL performs will depend on how the retooled offensive line does. (Riley said that Florida has to be able to run the ball to be successful.) They only have one WR with more than ten catches.

If Cam doesn’t play, Jackson and Bernard will be running a lot. There will be some read-option type of plays. Barnes can run the ball and is faster than Cam.

The coaches have a lot of confidence in the offensive line. Bartle is hearing good things about Mokofisi. He has become more physical and nastier.

Spencer Fano is doing everything that is being asked of him. Bartle feels Fano will start, but regardless he will get some playing time. (Riley points out how significant it is to have a true freshman start at left tackle.) Fano has added weight and muscle. There are a handful of other new guys who have impressed in fall camp. So, we should have some depth.

Utah would be the top-rated team (talent-wise) in the new Big 12 according to a national ranking. Bartle is very impressed with how the coaches have put this team together.

He felt that Isaac Wilson performed very well against Bishop Gorman last Friday night. He also felt that Garcia did great At offensive tackle. Kash Dillon was hurt and did not play.

No new timelines on possible recruits.

[The Miami Ute]

Many thanks for the update.

[22Ute22]

Barnes is faster than Cam? A fully healthy Cam? Really? Maybe in a track race, but Barnes doesn’t seem to have the escapability factor that Cam has. Hopefully he has improved more during the offseason.

[Ma’ake Kava]

Barnes is a really good athlete – 11.5 / 100M

Cam’s a nice athlete, too, but he has that knack for knowing when to take off, reads blocks, etc. With the quantity of reps BB is getting with the 1s, hopefully he’s getting a better sense of that part of the game, but there’s no substitute for game snaps to get that feel.

[Milton Vanderslice]

I think we’ve seen Barnes with some very specific constraints put around him in the past. It will be interesting to see what he can do as temporary QB1 with some of those constraints lifted.

[Ghost of the HEB]

Barnes can run faster north and south, but Cam’s lateral quickness and vision is certainly better.

[UtesRule]

We really haven’t seen Barnes (IMHO) is enough real game situations where, most importantly, he has actually had real prep and game planning as the QB1 to judge his true abilities or athleticism.

In fact, he has NEVER played a down as the QB1 where he got the practice / prep time as the QB1. In both Rose Bowl appearances he was thrown into the fire in a moments notice and in last years Wazzu game he didn’t find out he was the starter until AT MOST 1-hour before game time. He did NOT get the full week or even 1 day of practice / prep / game planning as QB1 for that game.

IF he is QB1 for Florida and IF he is QB1 for the remainder of the practice / prep time leading up to that game, I have a feeling we’ll see a VASTLY different Barnes.

[Tony (admin)]

Yes there’s a difference between fast and quick. Covey had ’em both.

[ProudUte]

I think some of us (including me) have under estimated Barnes athletic ability. Apparently, Barnes is as fast as Jackson. I don’t believe that Barnes has the field vision and moves that Cam has and Cam had proved to be a great runner. I don’t think Bartles was suggesting that Barnes is a better runner than Cam. I think he was saying that Barnes can run and when given the practice time he may be pretty good.

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