Friday, December 31
Barrett must forget bad plays
Associated Press
DALLAS -- A short memory is a must for David Barrett. He's a
cornerback at Arkansas and any mistake is in plain view of
everybody.
"It has to be a must," he said. "If you're really going to
let that get to you, you might as well go ahead and quit the game
because that's going to be on your mind every play of the game
..."
"I don't care who you are, anybody who has played out there is
going to get beat deep," said Louis Campbell, who was drafted to
coach Arkansas' secondary for Saturday's Cotton Bowl after
defensive coordinator Keith Burns was named head coach at Tulsa.
"He's going to get in some bad situations, odds are he's going
to get in a bad situation every game" Campbell said. "If you
dwell on it and start trying to get conservative, you're not near
as effective."
"For me, I can forget it until the end of the game," Barrett
said. "Then I can say, 'what did I do wrong here?' or `what did I
do wrong here?' and correct that."
Barrett is the Razorbacks' best at man-to-man coverage and he's
bound to see plenty of Texas' Kwame Cavil, who set a Big 12 record
with 100 receptions this year.
During Arkansas' practice Wednesday, Michael Snowden imitated
Cavil and wore a blue headgear snugly over his helmet so that the
defensive backs could spot him easily. Barrett laughed and said he
thought he would be able to find Cavil even without the blue
bonnet.
Cavil has caught 144 passes from Major Applewhite, a school
record for a receiver-quarterback.
"That's kind of how I see him, as being their big-time man that
they really want to try to get the ball to regardless," Barrett
said. "I'll lock in on him sometimes. Sometimes, it's just out of
my hands."
That all depends on the coverage.
Sometimes, Barrett will be all alone because of a blitz.
"I like that because it's between you and that man," he said.
"Either he's gonna win or you're gonna win. He can be physical at
times, but I'm a physical person, too, so it's going to be a battle
out there."
Barrett has a knack for the big play. In 1998, Arkansas was off
to a 3-0 start, but trailed Kentucky 20-13 in the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats were at the Arkansas 32 when Barrett intercepted a
pass and returned it 62 yards. That led to the tying touchdown and
Arkansas won 27-20 on its way to an 8-0 record.
This year, Arkansas was 5-3 and coming off a disaster at
Mississippi when No. 3 Tennessee rolled into Fayetteville. On the
Vols' second play, Barrett intercepted a deflected pass and
returned it 43 yards for a touchdown and a huge emotional boost.
Arkansas scored late to win 28-24.
He is comfortable with Campbell even though Burns was his coach
until a few weeks ago. Campbell was the secondary coach during
Barrett's first two years and then became director of football
operations when Houston Nutt was hired as head coach two years ago.
"The only thing I think that has changed is the enthusiasm that
coach Burns brought to the table," Barrett said. "We're gonna
miss that. We have new coaches, we have to move on."
Campbell says there is no way anyone could have predicted
Barrett's impact coming out of high school. Tennessee backed off of
Barrett and Arkansas beat Grambling for his signature.
"There have been a bunch of guys a lot more highly recruited
than him that haven't played a drop," Campbell said.
