Barrick Quits SDSU Football Team : Sophomore Quarterback Says Sport No Longer a Priority
San Diego State’s Scott Barrick, who started four games at quarterback last season and was expected to contend for the starting role this season, announced Monday he was quitting the football team hours before spring practice began.
Barrick, a sophomore, said football is not the priority it once was in his life and he does not intend to transfer to another school.
“My heart just doesn’t seem to be in football anymore,” Barrick said in a press release, “and I don’t want to hurt myself and the team. This isn’t a quick decision. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time.
“I like to give 100% to whatever I’m doing and I just haven’t found myself giving my all to football. It really has nothing to do with the program here. It has to do with me. I don’t plan to transfer anywhere.”
Jim Jennings, Barrick’s roommate and a sophomore offensive lineman, said Barrick is getting married at the end of May and he plans to return to SDSU in the fall to pursue his degree in public administration.
“His priorities are changing,” Jennings said. “He’s getting married and he wants to get on with graduating from school. I think he’s put enough thought into this decision.”
SDSU Coach Al Luginbill said Barrick first approached him last week and the two discussed his leaving the team. “Scott and I have discussed this matter and I know it’s a decision he has agonized about,” Luginbill said. “I gave him time off from the football program last week to allow him an opportunity to thoroughly consider his decision.”
Barrick’s decision came Monday morning, just before Luginbill was to direct his first practice as an NCAA Division I head coach.
“He’s just not into football right now,” Luginbill said. “I respect him for his honesty. In order to compete at the level we expect, you have to be prepared to give it 100% effort.”
Barrick, 20, graduated from Fallbrook High School, where he set state passing records for most passes (432), completions (255) and passing yardage (3,503) in the 1986 season.
Barrick led Fallbrook to the 1986 San Diego Section 3-A championship and was shared the section’s offensive player of the year honors with Vista’s Tommy Booker. In the championship game, a 28-14 victory over Vista, Barrick completed 27 of 33 passes.
He redshirted his first year at SDSU and was the backup quarterback to Brad Platt at the beginning of last season. He ended up starting four games, with the Aztecs winning two of them, including a 27-15 upset of No. 20 Brigham Young. In that game, he completed 14 of 25 passes for 159 yards.
For the season, Barrick completed 79 of 143 passes (55.2%) for 850 yards and two touchdowns with seven interceptions.
This season, he was expected to compete for the starting quarterback with Platt, a senior, and Dan McGwire, a junior who sat out last season after transferring from Iowa, where he was a starter his freshman season.
“I’m going to miss the guy,” Platt said. “It was a real surprise. I had no inclination.”
Said McGwire: “I hate to see him go. He’s one of my better friends on the team. I wish him well. He’s doing what he thinks is right. I’m behind him.”
Aztec Notes
Without Scott Barrick and Jack Skoog, who is also a pitcher for SDSU’s baseball team, the Aztecs opened spring practice with just two quarterbacks: Brad Platt and Dan McGwire. Incoming freshman quarterback Cree Morris, from Orange Glen High, attended the practice but is not permitted to practice with the team under NCAA restrictions. That much was indicated when Morris wrote his name on a visitor sign-up sheet. In the affiliation column, Morris wrote “Future Aztec.” . . . Also attending the session were future Aztecs Andy Trakas, a kicker from Patrick Henry High, and Jake Nyberg from Orange Glen. . . . Coach Al Luginbill, terming his first practice a success, said it did not feel any different than when he was the head coach at Pasadena City College or the defensive coordinator at Arizona State. “I felt it went in the direction we wanted it to go,” he said. “I was pleased with our effort.”