Former Belvidere running quarterback soon to be Hall of Fame passer at Western Illinois

Illinois State was one of only a few colleges that offered former Belvidere star Matt Barr a full scholarship in 2005. Yet he carried a grudge against the Redbirds, who wanted him as a receiver.

“They essentially told me I was not a good enough quarterback to even try to play for them,” Barr said, remembering the day he set Western Illinois University records by completing 22 of 25 passes for six touchdowns, and running for a seventh to rout Illinois State.

“To have my best ever statistical game against that school, which is also our top rival, is the sweetest on-field memory I have.”

Barr is getting a new off-field memory that will rank with his being runner-up for the Walter Payton Award, given to the best FCS-level football player in the nation, as a senior in 2010: He is being inducted into the Leatherneck Hall of Fame for WIU on Oct. 27.

“I am incredibly honored,” said Barr, who now works as the vice president of finance for a contracting company in Bettendorf, Iowa. “I spent five years on campus. I tried to do everything i could to maximize my athletic experience, and I think I did that. It went about as good as it could have gone for me. This is icing on the cake to have the university induct me into their hall of fame and recognize I meant something to the university as well. I was able to reciprocate what the university did for me.”

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Barr was a four-year starting quarterback at Western and three-year All-Academic All-Conference pick. He also quarterbacked the last great Belvidere team, leading them to their last NIC-10 title and going undefeated until the Class 7A state semifinals in 2005.

Those Belvidere teams ran the wishbone, and Barr led the Bucs in rushing with 1,066 yards, averaging 9.4 yards per carry as a senior, but he passed less than eight times per game. That's why some schools saw him more as an athlete than as a quarterback.

But Barr knew he could throw. And he also knew that playing quarterback for Belvidere involved a lot of the same know-how he would need in college.

“The most important principle I remember at Belvidere is: You do what’s best for the team,” Barr said. “As the quarterback, I was tasked with making the right decision every play. We ran the option, so on any given play the fullback may be the ball carrier, I may be the ball carrier or one of the two halfbacks may be the ball carrier. My job was to give the ball to whoever the defense wasn’t able to defend.

“The physical tools required to run the ball in an option offense and being a good pocket passer are completely different, but being able to read a defense as a passer is similar to running the option.”

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As a senior, he not only threw for 452 yards against Illinois State, still the second-highest total in WIU history, he also set Leatherneck single-season records that still stand: 3,410 yards passing, 27 touchdown passes, 3,859 total yards, 449 yards rushing by a quarterback and an average of 296.8 total yards per game.

“You are talking about my senior year,” Barr said. “There were 30-some games I started as a freshman, sophomore and a junior where I was not an All-American, I was not an all-conference player, I was just getting by learning how to be a college quarterback.”

Barr passes out credit to his coaches and former teammates. He said he leaned heavily in his early years on legendary running back Herb Donaldson, who ran for 100 yards 23 times in his career and won the Walter Payton Award in both 2007 and 2008. Then he exploded as a passer as a senior, in part, because he threw to Lito Senatus and Terriun Crump. Senatus, a senior, caught a school-record 14 TD passes that year. Senatus and Crump, a junior in 2010, still rank fourth and sixth on the Leathernecks’ all-time career receiving list.

“Because I was able to run, I ran the ball a lot early,” Barr said. “I knew that world. As I got older and more mature, the game slowed down for me and that coincided with bringing some really talented receivers on campus. We also had a new offensive coordinator (Doug Ruse) my senior year and we bonded immediately. We saw the game similarly. That’s when I really started to have success throwing the ball.”

Just as he knew he could all along.

“There were other Division I schools that recruited me to play wide receiver or defensive back,” Barr said. “I chose Western because they were going to give me the opportunity to play quarterback. From there, I developed into a quarterback who could both run the ball and pass the ball. I don’t think anything changed other than i got better at it.

“I always believed in myself. I never second guessed my abilities or if I belonged. I knew I could be successful throwing the football.”

A Hall of Fame success.

Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Matt Barr to enter Western Illinois football hall of fame