Barber has mix to make it in NFL
Dave Campbell, The Associated Press
Published Monday, April 14, 2008
For all those stopwatch-obsessed scouts who helped shape the order of selections that will unfold in two weeks at the NFL draft, we offer this Troy Williamson reminder.
There are countless examples, across the league and over the years, of players whose value to a professional football team was overinflated by a high-percentile workout at the Indianapolis meat market otherwise called the combine.
Sweet vertical jump? Sign him up.
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Bone-crushing bench press? He’s a blue chipper.
Fast 40 time? First round it is.
This is a total-body, extreme-explosion sport where a split second of closing speed can mean the difference between a game-ending tackle to win the Super Bowl and a goat-style whiff at the goal line to give up the game-clinching touchdown. So sure, stats like that matter.
Far too often, however, they cloud the judgment of the teams making these picks and send a guy like Williamson who never stood out on a run-first offense at South Carolina and left college a year early surging up the draft board.
When he joined the Vikings, he was just as fast at sprinting down the field on a go route as all the analysts touted. If only that tiny flaw, not being able to catch the ball, hadn’t been in the way. Then he might still be in Minnesota, entering his fourth season with a handful of touchdown catches and 100-yard games to his credit.
Good players are good players, though, and those without the proper instinct, tenacity and composure almost always fade away once their raw physical skills are exposed as only that.
Dominique Barber is not in that category.
The ex-Gophers strong safety has been training in Florida with a handful of NFL veterans, including his older brother Marion III, to get ready for his pro career. He has signed on with superagent Drew Rosenhaus, but he expects to be taken between the fourth and sixth rounds on the nonglamorous second day of the draft.
That’s because, of course, he ran a 4.7-second 40-yard dash at the combine. Never mind that he produced a 4.58, a time number much more attractive for his position, at the on-campus workout Minnesota held for interested teams earlier this year.
“I know that was my speed,” Barber says confidently and not anxiously.
If you watched even a quarter or two of Gophers football last season, you can be sure that this guy will not only be drafted but stick around in the league for at least a few years. There will undoubtedly be numerous players picked ahead of him, and given much-bigger signing bonuses, who will flame out much faster despite faster 40 times.
Barber held together one of the worst defenses in the history of major college football, making a team-high 100 tackles — the next-closest player had 70 — and breaking up eight passes. He had a sack and three fumble recoveries and took one of them back for a touchdown. As opponent after opponent sliced through the Minnesota front seven and reached the secondary, Barber was usually there to make a saving stop.
To be fair, there were other individual players worthy of performance in Big Ten competition. The preseason dismissal of Dominic Jones and his Animal House friends was a big loss and the new system installed by defensive coordinator Everett Withers didn’t click with the incumbents.
But Barber was the standout. In an interview this week, he sounded eager for his next challenge.
“I’m a complete player,” he says.
Father Marion II carved out a seven-year career with the New York Jets. Older brother Marion was a mere fourth-round pick, and it didn’t take him long to become the featured back with the Dallas Cowboys. The game is in his blood.
“I look at the numbers. It’s just a big emphasis in the draft, the 40 time,” Barber says, “but it all comes down to what you do on the field. There’s a difference between game speed and straight-line speed. My speed in the 40 is a lot different than the way I play football.”
