I've been reflecting on this story a bit more this evening, and I must admit I can't muster up very much indignation for AJ Barker for the past month's treatment. Jerry Kill comes across as insensitive - amoral though not necessarily immoral. Barker felt irreparably slighted, so he has every right to leave on his own terms.
On the one hand, he worked his way up from nothing to become one of the few team stars. As a walk-on, that requires immense effort, enraptured dedication, and a humility bordering on dissonance. Barker waited two full years before getting his shot.
On the other hand, Barker amassed no stats prior to this breakout junior season. He would rightly expect a scholarship next season, but I can't imagine it's standard practice to go handing those things out in the middle of the schedule. He enrolled at Minnesota under a different coaching regime; while the new staff has surely appreciated his performance, perhaps he does not appreciate their motivational tactics.
My personal opinion: the real story is that an "upside" white skill-position player chose to pay-to-play at a power conference school (rather than his only alternative, D3) and proved himself more impacting than the litany of blacks recruited in his wake. Some will nitpick at his angry letter, but the hoopla raises the profile of the process behind his next landing spot. How many Big Ten schools would turn down a retroactive year of eligibility from Jordy Nelson, Wes Welker, Brian Hartline, or Erik Decker at the mere expense of a deferred scholarship?
Barker's plight began three years ago out of high school (or the day he was born to white parents, in the semantic sense). He deserves the chance to re-open(/open) his recruiting to school teams that would value his proven skill set. However, his tell-all confessional does not serve modesty or strategy. I will root for Barker's success going forward - I hope he settles within a strong network of concerned cohorts.
That all said, here are some ridiculous DWF comments about this story I couldn't help myself from aggregating.
How do we know that this kid isn't someone that had grown up being told he was God's gift to earth and this is how he reacts when things don't completely go his way. I'm not saying this is what's happening but I'm not going to just bilndly believe this either.
That's textbook generation Y.
I don't mean that in a derogatory way.
Balls of brass in the face of authority, demanding a quality life experience, but at the same time way too emo and "entitled" for my taste.
I stopped reading at " thank you for not giving me a scholarship." All I needed to know. This kid is a big wuss.
This is just like Marcus Dupree vs. Barry Switzer, if Marcus Dupree had the internet.
Oh, and if Dupree was an over entitled walk-on and Switzer was a middling coach at a bottom feeder school.
I remember when the Mike Leach story came out about Craig James's kid and everyone condemed Leach...until more of the story came out and then the James family started to look more and more like whiny douches. It would not surprise me if this story had a similar arc.
Sounds like a self important d-bag. He managed to slam his teammates and coaches in that note. I like how he said that he loved beating the players he was better than. Nice work.
He's the product of this generation which has little respect for authority and thinks they are the most important thing in the world. I feel for coaches that have to try and break this mentality all these"good parents" instilled in their kids.
Shut up you cry baby and support your team.
lol might change my CF handle to "over-entitled walk-on"
