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Winning Hand : College football: Former Burroughs quarterback Jeff Barrett left Reno and reversed his luck at Santa Monica.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

The prodigal son has turned into one prodigious son of a gun.

Jeff Barrett, a prodigy at Burroughs High who spent an unfulfilling freshman year at the University of Nevada Reno, has led Santa Monica City College to an 8-2 record and a berth in the Western State bowl game opposite Moorpark at Moorpark College. Game time is 7:30 tonight.

Along the way he has done a Kilroy job on the school record book--his name pops up everywhere.

Barrett, a 5-foot-11, 185-pound sophomore, has set six school career records and five single-season marks. He has 165 completions in 266 attempts and has set school records for consecutive 200-plus-yard games (10), passing yards in a season (2,648) and touchdown passes in a season (26). He led state quarterbacks in passing efficiency with a 168.1 rating, ranked fourth in total offense and tied for third in touchdown passes.

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His high school career was similarly remarkable. With 6,083 career passing yards, he ranks behind only Todd Marinovich, Pat Haden, Bret Johnson and Dan McGwire on the all-time Southern Section yardage list.

Yet when Marinovich and Johnson headed off to USC and UCLA, Barrett, who was in the same year in school, decided to try his luck at Nevada Reno. And, like many people who go to Reno, he lost.

In football, he redshirted. As a native Southern Californian, he was out of his environment off the field. The “Biggest Little City in the World” seemed like just a little city to Barrett.

“I guess I went through a culture shock,” Barrett said. “I wasn’t used to seeing guys wearing cowboy boots all the time and having gun racks in their truck.”

Barrett tried to make the best of a bad situation. Sneaking into casinos--”there’s no way we looked 21,” Barrett said--Barrett and his roommate learned that if the dealer knocked twice on the table it was time to outrun house security.

During one snowstorm, Barrett and his roommate went to a grocery store at 4 a.m., bought a sled and proceeded to careen around the middle of campus in the dark.

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“We had to make ourselves be happy, have fun,” Barrett said.

Ultimately, though, Barrett realized he would have to fold his hand. The summer after his freshman year he called the school to say he would not return.

“Once I got off that phone, my whole body was shaking,” Barrett said. “It felt like this huge weight was lifted off my back, and I could start my life over again.”

After considering Valley and Glendale, Barrett followed the lead of Todd Deeds, a Reno teammate Barrett described as “my security blanket.” Deeds had gone to Santa Monica and he steered Barrett in the same direction.

It took Barrett a while to thaw from his time in Reno. He watched tapes of his high school games in an attempt to regain his confidence and “prove to myself that I could play quarterback again.” He alternated quarters last season with Ernie Soto but still managed to throw for 1,510 yards.

This season, Barrett was named Western State Conference offensive player of the week three times and was chosen WSC Southern Division offensive player of the year as well as an honorable mention All-American.

“He’s our bread and butter,” wide receiver Jason Lucky said. “He’s our offense. Without him we wouldn’t be anywhere.”

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It has been a year of living dangerously for Barrett. He has been sacked 15 times, but the number is deceptive because his release allows him to unload the ball a wink before he can be tackled.

He has never missed a game because of injury, but late in the season Barrett went to his backup and told him to get ready to play.

“I thought I was getting too worn out,” Barrett said. He had slacked off in his weight training, and a team can be a heavy burden to carry.

Barrett persevered and finished the season cum laude.

An Ivy League aspirant, he already has his Associate of Arts degree. He reads pass defenses like other people read comic strips. He describes himself as not the most physically talented “but a little smarter than most.”

The Santa Monica coaching staff places an enormous amount of responsibility on Barrett; he is able to call an audible for virtually every play the team runs.

“It’s not apparent when you’re watching the game, but he gets you out of a lot of bad plays,” Santa Monica co-Coach Owen Hahn said. “We have a very nice audible system, which can be as complex as the guy running it. He plays the whole piano, all 88 keys.”

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Barrett left the Moorpark defense feeling like a player piano after Moorpark eked out a 44-38 victory two months ago. He threw for a career-high 376 yards, completing 19 of 35 passes for four touchdowns. The game, which had seven lead changes, turned into a series of can-you-top-this gambits between Barrett and Moorpark tailback Freddie Bradley.

Moorpark’s basic pass defense is the cover-three, a zone designed to give ground grudgingly through short gains. Barrett, however, turned Moorpark’s cover-three into more of a duck and cover.

“I thought we won the game,” Barrett said. “Of course, I hope they play cover-three. . . . There’s a lot things I didn’t do in that game which I’ll probably do this game.”

The game will be his last for Santa Monica but probably not his last as a college quarterback. Barrett hopes to go back east, and the University of Pennsylvania is showing interest.

Barrett is ready to go. He and his wife of five months, Kim, plan to be at his new school by January.

This time when he goes it may not be for good, but it should be better.

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