🏈 Barrett Jones Write Up

[bama alum]

Hey, @PhillyGirl!

http://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/alabama-football/best-sec-players-last-decade-22-barrett-jones/

Editor’s note: SDS is ranking the 25 best SEC players — at any position — of the last decade. Alabama OL Barrett Jones is the fourth member of a 25-part daily series.

• No. 25: South Carolina WR Alshon Jeffery
• No. 24: Texas A&M LT Luke Joeckel
• No. 23: Vanderbilt WR Jordan Matthews

22.) ALABAMA OL BARRETT JONES (2008-12)
It’s difficult to sum up Jones’ Alabama career in words. His leadership and precision were “you had to be there” qualities tough to quantify.

But he’ll go down as one of the most accomplished offensive linemen in Alabama history. He won three national championships: in 2009 as a Freshman All-American guard, in 2011 as a consensus All-American left tackle and in 2012 as a consensus All-American center.

He’s also the only offensive lineman ever to win the Outland and Rimington Trophy at two different positions or in two different years.

According to rolltide.com, Jones executed his assignment on 725 of 731 snaps in 2012, or an astounding 99.2 percent. That’s in addition to completing his accounting degree with a 4.0 gpa, taking graduate school classes and getting named the “Academic Heisman” winner.

The No. 1 center recruit in the nation in 2008, he redshirted his first year at Alabama. A freshman right guard on the ’09 championship team, he moved to left tackle in ’11 due to team needs and finally played his most natural position of center in ’12 on one of the best offensive lines in school history.

In addition to BCS championship wins over Texas, LSU and Notre Dame, Jones also helped the Tide whip Michigan State in the 2010 season Citrus Bowl.

Career numbers: Started 50 games at three different positions.
Individual superlatives: 2009 — Freshman All-American; 2011 — Outland Trophy, consensus All-American, first-team All-SEC; 2012 — Rimington Trophy, consensus All-American, first-team All-SEC, William V. Campbell Award, Academic All-America of the Year
NFL Draft: No. 113 overall (fourth round) to the St. Louis Rams in 2013.
Defining moment: Up 42-14 in the 2012 season national championship game midway through the fourth quarter, Jones and QB AJ McCarron were trying to overrule one another on a pre-snap call, forcing McCarron to call timeout.

The game was well out of hand, but McCarron got into Jones’ earhole and screamed at him, so Jones shoved him away. It was symbolic of the Jones era, buying into Nick Saban’s “Process” so fully that one fourth-quarter miscommunication led to an emotional eruption, even though the team was minutes away from a third national championship.

That sort of pursuit of perfection — and willingness to not back down from anyone — is what made Jones such a great leader at Alabama.

 

[BamaFan334]

Dude was a machine. My Tax teacher told me none of the faculty thought he was human the way he absorbed everything and just how intelligent he was. The guy never missed in the classroom they said.

 

[planomateo]

I'm curious where some of you would rate him against other Alabama lineman in the last 20 years.

 

[TerryP]

I'm curious where some of you would rate him against other Alabama lineman in the last 20 years.

Better than Closner.

 

[BamaFan334]

Maybe I'm being naive or just not looking deep enough, but how could he not be the best? All-American at each position, named tops at the positions he played in the country, anchored Championship teams, and if you add his classroom accomplishments he simply can't be touched. I'd want to believe he always graded out very highly.

 

[Bamabww]

While I'll bet there have many wanting to, he's the only center I ever saw push his QB in a way that I interpreted to mean, "kiss my ass AJ." For that alone, I'd vote him #1.

 

[TerryP]

Maybe I'm being naive or just not looking deep enough, but how could he not be the best?

Depending on who you are talking to, it's defined differently. Some look at NFL careers when judging the best for a college team. Others just look at college.

I certainly don't believe awards are the end all, be all. Just because Ingram won the Hypeman doesn't mean he's the best running back. With Barrett, I tend to think his selection as the Rimington winner had as much to do with his success at tackle and guard as it did with how well he did at center.

 

[planomateo]

Limit it to just college

 

[UAgrad93]

I'd definitely consider him on the Top 3 based on his versatility to excel at 3 spots. By the way, I have an autographed pic of Barrett shoving AJ in the Title Game. Both Barrett and AJ signed it. I got it at Christmas from my sister and brother in law. I burst out laughing when I pulled back the wrapping paper!

 

[BamaFan334]

Depending on who you are talking to, it's defined differently. Some look at NFL careers when judging the best for a college team. Others just look at college.

I certainly don't believe awards are the end all, be all. Just because Ingram won the Hypeman doesn't mean he's the best running back. With Barrett, I tend to think his selection as the Rimington winner had as much to do with his success at tackle and guard as it did with how well he did at center.

Well I'm not saying awards are the end all be all, but they definitely need to be brought up in the conversation because they were achievements based off of play and value at the position. Ingram won an award no other player in Alabama history had ever won, so that means a pretty good bit. It doesn't boost him to #1 at the position ever, but it means he had a hell of a year when being compared to every other athlete in the country, and that comparison should give him a boost in the Alabama Power Rankings. Jones excelled everywhere he played. The whole 99.2 or whatever on assignments met is a telling sign to the player he was because he knew where to be, and the awards show that when he was where he needed to be he excelled. He may not have gotten the notoriety that Fluker got (five star) or that Chance Warmack got (three star that was a Diamond in the rough), but statistics show he was every bit as efficient as those two. In a day and age when you have to be bigger, stronger, and faster to achieve the success he had, I think he is tops. Not taking anything away from other guys older or more recent, but in my opinion he performed above and beyond on the field and classroom than anyone I have ever seen, at any school.

 

[Crimson&WhiteGecko]

While at 'Bama, he is the best & it isn't close for me...

 

[psychojoe]

I would have to put his teammate Chance Warmack in the 'best in the last 20 years' conversation. Chris Samuel, D.J. Fluker. The great John Hannah remains my choice for our best ever.

 

[TerryP]

The great John Hannah remains my choice for our best ever.

There's the thing that catches me. Barrett did a good job at C, but to place him higher on a list than Dwight Stephenson? DS is a guy that's really before my time but I've seen enough of him on old game films that I know who dominant he was at the position when he was in Tuscaloosa.

Barrett's situation is unique in that he played three positions but that's certainly not enough to say he was the best at any of the three; he wasn't.

 

[Bamabww]

@TerryP, I agree. It's probably impossible to ever say "he's the best ever" talking about anyone. This thread reminded me of a Bum Phillips quote about Earl Campbell: "I don't know if he's in a class by himself, but I do know that when that class gets together, it sure don't take long to call the roll."

This would apply to BJ as well, imo.

 

[PhillyGirl]

:clap::clap::clap: can ya tell I'm a fan?