Welcome to the #Auburn Family, Woody Barrett! Can't wait to have you on The Plains. #WarEagle #AUNSD16 pic.twitter.com/ZUMAUy31UT
— Auburn Football (@FootballAU) February 3, 2016
Gus Malzahn like to tab at least one elite high school quarterback prospect with every class. Over the summer he found his man for 2016 in the form of Winter Garden, FL's Woody Barrett.
Barrett is another prospect who committed shortly after Big Cat Weekend, pledging his services to the Tigers on June 3rd of last season. While others pushed for him - notably Ohio State late in the process - he never took any other visits and stuck with the Tigers throughout the recruiting process. Check out our original article on his commitment here.
At 6'2, 215-225 (depending on the service listing him), Barrett isn't small. He's not as tall as Jeremy Johnson, but he would immediately be the tallest QB other than Johnson on the roster. While he needs some work in the passing game, his skills running the football and managing an offense like Gus Malzahn's are clearly something that should get Tigers fans excited for the future.
Where will he fit into next season's depth chart? Given that he won't arrive until the summer, I definitely foresee a redshirt for Barrett. On top of that, there's some talk that he may need to do a little work in the academic department. With Jeremy Johnson returning (at least as of now; I don't see him leaving unless things change dramatically in the spring) along with Sean White, Tyler Queen, and John Franklin III arriving as an early enrollee, it looks like Barrett will spend the next year learning the offense and getting ready to fight for the starting job in 2017.
It's clear with the signing of Franklin and Barrett that Auburn is leaning towards the zone-read/dual-threat QB style of offense that was so successful under Marshall and Cam Newton. Barrett fits that mold nicely.
Welcome to Auburn, Woody!