College career of former Alabama and current USF QB Blake Barnett could be over
Is Blake Barnett’s college football career over?
The South Florida QB and two-time transfer is set to have season-ending ankle surgery per multiple reports. Barnett injured his ankle against SMU on Sept. 28 and hasn’t played since. A senior at USF, Barnett transferred to the school after stints at Alabama and Arizona State.
He opened the season as the Bulls’ starter but the start of 2019 was a slog for both Barnett and USF. The Bulls’ only win in the first four games of the season came against FCS South Carolina State as USF had lost eight-straight games dating back to the midpoint of the 2018 season before that win.
Barnett was even benched in the second half of USF’s loss to Georgia Tech in Week 2. In parts of four games in 2019, Barnett was 40-of-77 passing for 434 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions.
The QB is a fifth-year senior and graduate transfer at South Florida. Unless he applies for and is granted a medical redshirt, he won’t be eligible to play college football in 2020.
Signed with Alabama in 2015
A four-star recruit in the class of 2015, Barnett signed with Alabama out of high school. He redshirted the 2015 season and appeared in three games in 2016 while throwing 19 passes.
One of those games was a start. Barnett started Alabama’s season-opener that season but was replaced by Jalen Hurts at halftime and never started since. His transfer came before the current redshirt rule that allows players to play in up to four games and still redshirt and he was set to miss Arizona State’s first four games of 2017 because of the transfer. But Barnett appealed that and was immediately eligible in 2017.
He played in just two games and threw five passes for the Sun Devils before leaving Arizona State after that one season to transfer to South Florida with two years of eligibility remaining.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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