Colorado recently appeared in a Top 9 of Riverside, Calif. OT Austin Barry, a three-star prospect out of J.W. North High School.
The Buffs appeared in his tops list along with Boise State, Utah State, Hawaii, Utah, UCLA, Cal, Wazzu and San Diego State.
Barry initially was offered by Mitch Rodrigue in early March and since then has gotten to know his prospective collegiate position coach.
"We hit it right off as soon as we started talking," Barry said. "Right from there, we started talking about recruiting and offenses, and a few days after that he decided to offer me. I was super excited about that because I’d been looking at Colorado for (their) engineering (program.)”
“I definitely have gotten to know him pretty well. We’re just trying to find out about each other and I just think he’s a really good coach. I’ve done some research on him, seeing what he’s done. I think he’s legit.”
Barry was recently able to conduct a virtual visit with Colorado, where the visuals of CU's campus left him impressed.
“It was beautiful," he said. "I hadn’t looked at the campus beforehand — some pictures — but not a lot. Seeing it — it’s really a nice campus. The facilities even have the stone patterns that the buildings have around campus. I thought that was really cool, too. After my virtual visit, Colorado moved pretty high up on me, in terms of seeing the campus and all the facilities."
The way Barry put it, Rodrigue leveled with him about Colorado's situation at hand with respect to bringing in offensive linemen in the 2021 class.
"(CU) is not taking as many linemen that a lot of other programs are taking," Barry said. "It’s a selective process and (coach Rodrigue) thinks it’d be really cool if I was that one or two (offensive linemen) that they get.”
As Barry alluded to, he's interested in engineering on the academic side of things, and CU's College of Engineering & Applied Science stood out to him. Notable schools to offer him but didn't crack his Top 9 were a number of Ivy League institutions: Penn, Cornell and Yale.
While conducting his virtual visit, Barry made introductions with Karl Dorrell, and said that Darrin Chiaverini, who went to Corona High School, just down the road from J.W. North, has been in communication.
"(Chiaverini) was giving me some insight about what (CU) is about and since he’s from relatively the same area as me, he was able to give me some insight about what the transition was like for him," Barry said.
All in all, while getting to do an in-person OV remains a priority for him, Barry said that if he ultimately is unable to do so due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns, he'd feel comfortable pulling the trigger and committing anyways.
“I think I’ve gathered enough information from the schools who are recruiting me right now," he said. "I’d be able to compare apples to apples and get a sense of who I really think I’ll fit in with.
Whenever he does make that decision, the Buffs look like they're making a serious showing with the 6-foot-6, 280-pounder.
“I was one of the first linemen that (CU) did a virtual visit with, so that was really neat," he said. "It really gave me insight about what their program is. (Coach Rodrigue) has definitely treated me like I’m one of the big ones for them and I greatly appreciate that.”
https://www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/10145981/5dd606d9dfd8950ddc3ebca6
FIN
I think Barry is almost the exact kind of prototype in terms of frame that you want coming into college. By the time he finishes up senior year, he'll probably be right at the 300-pound mark. He told me that he used to weigh around 260 a few months ago but has been adding some mass. Good, long looking OT.
The Buffs appeared in his tops list along with Boise State, Utah State, Hawaii, Utah, UCLA, Cal, Wazzu and San Diego State.
Barry initially was offered by Mitch Rodrigue in early March and since then has gotten to know his prospective collegiate position coach.
"We hit it right off as soon as we started talking," Barry said. "Right from there, we started talking about recruiting and offenses, and a few days after that he decided to offer me. I was super excited about that because I’d been looking at Colorado for (their) engineering (program.)”
“I definitely have gotten to know him pretty well. We’re just trying to find out about each other and I just think he’s a really good coach. I’ve done some research on him, seeing what he’s done. I think he’s legit.”
Barry was recently able to conduct a virtual visit with Colorado, where the visuals of CU's campus left him impressed.
“It was beautiful," he said. "I hadn’t looked at the campus beforehand — some pictures — but not a lot. Seeing it — it’s really a nice campus. The facilities even have the stone patterns that the buildings have around campus. I thought that was really cool, too. After my virtual visit, Colorado moved pretty high up on me, in terms of seeing the campus and all the facilities."
The way Barry put it, Rodrigue leveled with him about Colorado's situation at hand with respect to bringing in offensive linemen in the 2021 class.
"(CU) is not taking as many linemen that a lot of other programs are taking," Barry said. "It’s a selective process and (coach Rodrigue) thinks it’d be really cool if I was that one or two (offensive linemen) that they get.”
As Barry alluded to, he's interested in engineering on the academic side of things, and CU's College of Engineering & Applied Science stood out to him. Notable schools to offer him but didn't crack his Top 9 were a number of Ivy League institutions: Penn, Cornell and Yale.
While conducting his virtual visit, Barry made introductions with Karl Dorrell, and said that Darrin Chiaverini, who went to Corona High School, just down the road from J.W. North, has been in communication.
"(Chiaverini) was giving me some insight about what (CU) is about and since he’s from relatively the same area as me, he was able to give me some insight about what the transition was like for him," Barry said.
All in all, while getting to do an in-person OV remains a priority for him, Barry said that if he ultimately is unable to do so due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns, he'd feel comfortable pulling the trigger and committing anyways.
“I think I’ve gathered enough information from the schools who are recruiting me right now," he said. "I’d be able to compare apples to apples and get a sense of who I really think I’ll fit in with.
Whenever he does make that decision, the Buffs look like they're making a serious showing with the 6-foot-6, 280-pounder.
“I was one of the first linemen that (CU) did a virtual visit with, so that was really neat," he said. "It really gave me insight about what their program is. (Coach Rodrigue) has definitely treated me like I’m one of the big ones for them and I greatly appreciate that.”
https://www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/10145981/5dd606d9dfd8950ddc3ebca6
FIN
I think Barry is almost the exact kind of prototype in terms of frame that you want coming into college. By the time he finishes up senior year, he'll probably be right at the 300-pound mark. He told me that he used to weigh around 260 a few months ago but has been adding some mass. Good, long looking OT.
