Emerging Force : Barrett Proving Himself at Burroughs as Leader, Highly Rated Area Quarterback

One hour after most of his teammates have showered and headed for home, Jeff Barrett is still on the practice field, dropping back, rolling out and throwing passes to anyone willing to catch them.

“Just one more,” Barrett says for the fifth time, crouching under an imaginary center. Barrett drops back and unleashes a long spiral to his tight end, Jason Teitel. Then he kicks the ground and mutters when the pass is underthrown.

“One more,” Barrett says, grabbing the ball.

Split end Kevin Strasser streaks deep. This time Barrett lands a pass right over Strasser’s shoulder and into his arms, a 50-yard strike. But unless Strasser keeps running with the football into the locker room, there will be another “one more.”

“He’s a workaholic,” Strasser says.

Barrett, a left-handed senior quarterback at Burroughs High, won’t argue with that assessment. He has worked hard to become perhaps the best quarterback in the Valley area.

While leading the Indians last season to their first playoff berth since 1983, Barrett set school passing records for most yards in a game (363), a season (2,766) and a career (3,918). Burroughs, which was 2-8 in 1985 and finished in the Foothill League cellar, improved to 10-2-1 and finished second behind Hart, the Northwestern Conference champion. Burroughs reached the semifinal round of the playoffs before losing to Temple City, 35-28.

With the help of receivers Brian Kaloustian and Pat Lynch, who teamed to catch 107 passes, Barrett completed 60.7% (165 of 272) of his attempts. Barrett threw for 20 touchdowns and twice passed for more than 300 yards in a game, setting school records both times.

But Barrett’s record-breaking season was overshadowed by the performance of Hart quarterback Jim Bonds. Bonds, now a freshman at UCLA, threw for 3,153 yards and 39 touchdowns. Barrett was a second-team all-league selection behind Bonds, who dominated the headlines last season along with Canyon’s Ken Sollom.

“I would throw three touchdown passes and then look in the paper and Bonds would throw three touchdown passes,” Barrett said laughing. “It was really kind of funny. It didn’t really bother me. He was a senior.”

With Bonds moving on, there is little doubt that Barrett is the league’s top quarterback. He has drawn interest from about 35 colleges, including USC, UCLA and Stanford. Along with Jeremy Leach of Granada Hills, Barrett, who says he’s leaning toward USC, quite likely could be the most highly recruited quarterback in the Valley area.

“He’s the best quarterback in the league,” said Dave Carson, coach at Burroughs’ cross-town rival, Burbank. “He’s a proven commodity.”

Barrett (6-1, 180) has gained 10 pounds since last season. He also spent a week in June at Stanford’s John Elway quarterback camp and returned with an arm he says is “stronger than it’s ever been.” He throws before and after practice on a regular basis.

“He was out here throwing to his receivers before we started the two-a-day workouts,” first-year Burroughs Coach Butch McElwee said. “He’s always been a hard worker.”

Barrett, whose shy and soft-spoken manner contradicts the image of a fiery quarterback barking signals, is single-minded in his effort. “I just want to get better and better,” he said.

Barrett will throw to a new group of receivers. Kaloustian is now at Glendale College and Lynch is at Valley College. Can Barrett match last season’s statistics without those two sets of hands?

“He’s a good quarterback,” Hart Coach Rick Scott said. “But without his two great receivers, I don’t think he’ll be as good.”

Scott is underestimating Burroughs’ new receivers and Barrett, McElwee believes.

“What he doesn’t know is that we have talented receivers this year and Jeff has improved,” he said. “He doesn’t throw the bad ball anymore like he used to do sometimes.”

Barrett’s barrels will be aimed this season at Teitel, a returning starter who caught 25 passes last season, and seniors Scott Hartman, Bruce Luizzi and Strasser, who backed up Kaloustian and Lynch last season. Barrett also can dump the ball off to running backs Jason Applegate and Doug Dragomer.

“Strasser is better than Kaloustian or Lynch,” McElwee said. “And Luizzi’s got great speed. And Dragomer runs a 4.4 40, so if Jeff gets the ball to him, he’s gone.”

Barrett is impatient to silence skeptics.

“People say things like that and I just want to go out and practice,” he said. “It doesn’t bother me. We have good receivers and a good offensive line and there’s always going to be someone open. If I have a good touch on my throws, we’ll be able to beat any defense.”

Barrett didn’t always possess such confidence. Two years ago he was a disgruntled sophomore, unhappy with his teammates and his own performance. He passed for a respectable 1,152 yards but was constantly upset.

“When I was a sophomore, the seniors couldn’t stand me,” he said. “We were losing all the time and they were blaming me. They didn’t like that I was only a sophomore and playing quarterback. I didn’t know if I could be a leader with those guys. It broke me down emotionally.”

Teitel, Barrett’s friend since elementary school, watched his teammate struggle.

“He’d make an overthrow and then come off the field mad and go off by himself,” Teitel said.

Watching the Indians’ troubled 1985 season from the stands was former Coach Bob Dunivant, who led the Indians to five straight league championships from 1977-81. When George Rosales resigned after the 1985 season and his replacement, Rick Reddy, abruptly resigned before even taking command, Dunivant came out of retirement to coach the team last season.

“I did see the program starting to deteriorate and I didn’t want to stand by and watch it go down the tubes,” said Dunivant, now an assistant to McElwee. “It was just a matter of getting the right coaching staff.”

Dunivant’s staff included McElwee, who also sensed team spirit deteriorating.

“A lot of players didn’t like one another,” McElwee said. “The seniors had their little groups and attitudes were starting to develop. We knew something had to be done.”

Hoping to promote unity, McElwee and Dunivant had the players sleep at school during the first week of practice. The experiment, players agreed, was a major factor in the team’s turnaround last season.

“It brought us together,” Barrett said. “And it got us thinking football.”

Barrett, however, was still having leadership problems. “I’d always feel bad telling guys to shut up in the huddle,” he said.

Dunivant discovered that his young quarterback responded best to a constant stream of encouragement.

“He just had too much pressure on him the year before,” Dunivant said. “Playing quarterback is a lot of pressure in itself. Being a sophomore just compounded things. He needed positive reinforcement. Everything was very negative the year before and we had to develop confidence in the guys.”

Barrett’s father, Mario, who regularly attends practice and videotapes Burroughs’ home games, saw the difference in his son.

“Dunivant teaches him,” he said. “Like how to control his anger. And not to let it ruin his game.”

Dunivant convinced his young quarterback to stop fighting himself.

“When I look back and see how I got angry, I see how it ruined my whole game,” he said. “Now if I get mad at myself, I just try and do better. There’s another play. But I still hate when a receiver is open and my pass is overthrown.”

As Barrett gained control of his emotions, his teammates gained confidence in him.

“We saw what he could do and it gave us confidence in him,” Teitel said. “A lot had to do with Dunivant coming in and his new staff. It was just an attitude he brought.”

Said McElwee: “Jeff’s not a verbal leader. He gets intense in the ballgame and it motivates his teammates.”

Dunivant decided to remain with the Indians as an assistant this season because of “an obligation” to Burroughs football. As offensive coordinator, Dunivant will keep Barrett under a watchful eye.

“This year, we’ll give Jeff a lot more responsibility,” Dunivant said. “He’ll have a chance to select plays and call audibles. He should be a better quarterback.”