Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Name: Anthony Barr
Position: Outside Linebacker
College: UCLA Bruins
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 248 pounds
Year: Senior
Calling Bruins linebacker Anthony Barr a freak athlete would be a gross understatement of this kid’s abilities. He is still learning the linebacker position because Barr was a running back for his first two years in college for UCLA. However, he’s seemed to pick up playing linebacker naturally as he had 13.5 sacks which was the second most last season in the nation (behind Jarvis Jones) and 21.5 tackles for loss, and also was named first team Pac-12 by the coaches in 2012.
Barr has an extremely athletic pedigree as well as his dad Tony Brooks played fullback for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and was ultimately drafted in the fourth round by the Philadelphia Eagles. Also his uncles Reggie Brooks and Cedric Figaro also played in the NFL, so saying Barr has a nice lineage to the pros might be putting it lightly.
It was kind of shocking despite only one year at the linebacker position, Barr was considered by most as a first-round pick. That being said, he came back for more seasoning as a Senior and if he has a season like he did last year or even better, there won’t be much debate in putting him early in the first round, maybe even a top-10 draft pick.
All in all, it should be fun to watch Barr develop in front of our eyes on Saturdays in 2013 and to see if he becomes a megastar on Sundays in 2014 and beyond.
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