Football: Erie's Barnett is the Longmont Times-Call player of the year
Dec. 22—Blake Barnett set out for a future unbound but unknown Wednesday, officially signing his letter of intent to Kansas State early in the morning before embarking on the seven-hour road trip to visit Manhattan. The fainting images in his rearview mirror are all that can diminish a heralded preps career now.
The Erie senior had been a star and a three-time Class 4A first team selection since taking over at quarterback his sophomore season. But after two seasons of heartbreak in the playoffs, the Times-Call offensive football player of the year for a third straight year is finally at peace with his high school career. He can call himself a state champ.
"The past two years all I could think about was the couple plays that lost us those games. Like the turnovers" in the 2021 state title game and 2022 semifinals, Barnett recalled. "Every night I'd be thinking about when's my next opportunity. What could I do to make a play or make something happen?"
Barnett came through in a 20-6 win over Palmer Ridge in the 4A championship game earlier this month, even after Erie's Superman had his strength stripped away on a bad-looking leg injury late in the third quarter. He was later diagnosed with a high-ankle sprain with a spiral fracture to his fibula.
A setup for one final legendary moment in a career full of them — on a single leg, he led one final scoring drive in the fourth quarter to seal things.
On the decisive 67-yard TD march, it'd have been comical, if it didn't look so painful, as he hopped away from one pass rusher to complete the first of two consecutive passes to move the chains. He was immobile but more than able to raise his arms in triumph as backup running back Braylon Toliver finished it with a 32-yard score.
"I needed to be in there to fuel the boys up and rally around them because, I mean, I wasn't much of a threat," Barnett chuckled looking back. "There wasn't much I could do with my legs anymore. So just trying to take the short game, hand it to Braylon, and he made an amazing play. He won us the game right then and there."
Before it, Barnett garnered wider attention in the state and around the country when he broke current NFL offensive player of the year-favorite Christian McCaffrey's Colorado's 11-man touchdown record.
Most of his now-159 career scores were the result of a cannon for an arm and wheels that'd also won him a state track sprinting title. The best of which came from a big-play propensity that could have been seen as reckless — if it didn't usually work.
As coach Jeff Giger said Oct. 20, the night Barnett set the record when he scored three times through the air, twice on the ground and once with his first-career pick-six, "You got to let him be him and you just expect (greatness). And I feel like the bigger the game, the more it comes out."
And that's not even the best part, he went on this past week. "He's a heck of a leader. He put a lot on his shoulders from that Broomfield (semifinals loss) last year. He really wanted to make sure that this season went the way it ended up going. His leadership and just the person he is, I don't know if I could describe what he meant to the program. And that's just as a person. Not even the player. The person."
Barnett, elevated to a four-star recruit by Rivals.com less than a week after the state title game, stayed loyal to K-State on Wednesday's Signing Day. His flick of the pen came even after offensive coordinator Collin Klein, who was the face of Barnett's recruitment, took the same job at Texas A&M.
Barnett said he is excited for his first season. Will Howard, the Wildcats' 2023 starting QB, transferred. As did other QBs Jake Rubley and Adryan Lara. So for now many believe Barnett is projected to compete for the backup role behind current-freshman Avery Johnson, who is favored to start in 2024.
"Manhattan is kind of like Erie, a smaller town kind of vibe," Barnett said. "Everybody shows up. There isn't an NFL or NBA team or NHL team or MLB team. It's all about college football and K-State football out there."
As for any remaining chance he could wind up in Boulder?
"Yeah, we come back to Boulder next season," he said. The Wildcats travel to Folsom Field in 2024. Date and time is TBD.
