Anthony Barr burst onto the national scene during the 2012 college football season. In his first season as head coach of the UCLA Bruins, Jim Mora, Jr. and staff noticed a deficiency at the outside linebacker position and collectively came to the realization that Barr had the tools to fill the need. The young defensive player is now headed to the 2014 NFL Combine.
A native of Los Angeles, Barr was a four-star recruit and All-State running back at Loyola High School. Loyola of Los Angeles is the region’s oldest educational institution, pre-dating the University of California system and the Los Angeles public schools. The school was founded in 1865 as St. Vincent’s College at the behest of Archdiocese of Los Angeles Bishop Thaddeus Amat, a member of the Vincentian Order.
During his first two years at UCLA, Barr played running back, wide receiver and tight end. He made a seamless transition from underutilized running back to starting outside linebacker and teamed with Erik Kendricks, Jordan Zumwalt and Jeremy Castro to form one of the best linebacker corps in the Pac 12 conference. The addition of the above mentioned players to an already stout defensive line gave the Bruins one of the most formidable front seven in college football.
UCLA ended up playing in back-to-back Pac 12 Championship games and Barr, the son of former NFL player Tony Brooks, is intriguing… due to both his pedigree and the path he traveled to stardom. He will enter the 2014 NFL Draft as one of the top players as well as an offensive players’ worst nightmare and an outside linebacker with the closing speed of a running back.
Bio
Position: Outside Linebacker
School: UCLA
Class: Senior
Measurables
Height: 6’ 4”
Weight: 248 lbs.
40-yard dash: 4.49 (via ESPN.com)
Career Stats
Year GP/GS TKL TFL SACKS QB Hits Forced Fum Fum Rec Pass BU
2013 14/14 65 20 10 2 5 4 1
2012 14/14 83 21.5 13 4 4 0 5
Totals 28 Gms. 148 41.5 23 6 9 4 6
Awards
2013
- LOTT Impact Award
- Walter Camp All-American
- First Team All Pac 12
- AFCA All-American
- AP All-American
- Lombardi Award Finalist
2012
- AP second-team All-American
- Fist team All-Pac 12
- Collegefootballnews.com’s Pac 12 Defensive Player of the Year
- CBS Sports All-American team
- Team Defensive MVP
National Prospect Ranking
Scouts Inc. – #16 Overall/ #2 Outside Linebacker
Mel Kiper -ESPN #2 Overall
Todd McShay – ESPN #6
NFL.com Analyst Bucky Brooks #4 Overall
OptimumScouting.com #3 Overall
Draftcountdown.com #2 Overall
Ourlads.com #1 Outside Linebacker
Bleacherreport.com #7 Overall
Lindy’sSports.com #10 Overall
NFLDraftScout.com #10
Most Desirable Traits for Outside Linebackers
Instincts – Has the ability to find the ball, read play-action, cause misdirection and quickly recognize whether to play the run or drop into coverage.
Read & React – Can read the play immediately, trust the keys, react and keep the action in front.
Athletic Ability – Able to tackle in the open field, blitz, rush the passer and drop into coverage.
Range – Outside linebackers work in space so it is imperative that they are able to get depth in their drops, cover offensive backs, wide receivers in the slot and tight ends. They must cover a lot of ground and have enough speed and range to flow to the ball as well as chase down RBs from sideline to sideline.
Anthony Barr possesses the four most desirable traits NFL teams seek in an outside linebacker prospect. The former UCLA Bruin is one of the nations’ most dynamic and potential difference-makers in the 2014 NFL draft. He is a premier edge-defender that merged coaching and hunger with his God-given athletic talent to develop into a major disruptive force. A terrific pass rusher, he used the 2013 season to add more weapons to his pass-rushing arsenal. This player has enough talent to hear his name called among the first ten NFL draft selections.
Barr will attend the 2014 NFL Scouting Combine this February 22 – 25 and have one last opportunity to improve his draft status.