I checked out this Barnes kid earlier, and reached the same conclusion. He grew out of a safety into an LB. But he did start one game at safety this year, I’ve watched some Oklahoma and I’d call it a rover type position. Looks like Barnes had injuries, but was pretty good in 2018: 54 tackles, 1 INT, 3 PD, 95 yard two point conversion return to seal the game. Injuries since then?StevensTechU wrote:I wasn't sure who this was. Sounds like he grew into a linebacker and was just a backup on a middling defense. Does the staff think we need a middling linebacker? Was highly rated out of high school and hasn't done anything since. Really odd.HomeSickDuck wrote:Sounds like Oregon is interested in Oklahoma Safety transfer, Robert Barnes.
Probably not fast enough at 230+ to play safety, but I can’t imagine him being worse than Happle if we have a roster spot available.
I will say that Oklahoma’s defense was much improved this year. Grinch has had enough time to get his system operational and they’re tackling now. Allowed 23.9 PPG this season, in comparison Washington was at 25.0, Cal at 26.5, and Oregon at 28.3. Last year Oklahoma was at 28.3 and Oregon at 17.5. Oklahoma’s run defense improved from 39th to 14th. The passing defense also improved by .5 yards per attempt. Okies are far from an elite defense but they have a better one than in recent years.