COLLEGE FOOTBALL / THE BOWL GAMES : Learning Process : Alabama’s Barker Often Shows Inexperience, but Has Become a Master of Winning Games

Jay Barker knows what it’s like to be criticized and cursed by strangers. His ancestry has been questioned in the crassest terms by fans sitting in the stands within earshot of his parents.

Too often, the young Alabama quarterback has underthrown or overthrown passes, misread defenses or thrown into double coverage. This season, he has thrown nine interceptions and only seven touchdown passes in 12 games. In four of those games, he passed for fewer than 100 yards.

But hundreds of better quarterbacks never played for a national championship, as Barker, only a sophomore, will be doing for No. 2 Alabama against No. 1 Miami in the Sugar Bowl on Friday at New Orleans.

Alabama fans can recall the glories of Joe Namath and Ken Stabler, but Barker is 16-0 as a starter and neither Namath nor Stabler did that. Even Miami’s Gino Torretta has been beaten once in 27 games, the defeat inflicted by Florida State. As one Heisman Trophy voter joked, if Torretta was chosen for the award partly because of Miami’s record, why not the undefeated Barker instead?

Nobody, though--least of all Barker or the Alabama coaching staff--attributes the Crimson Tide’s record to its quarterback.

“That 16 in a row is not myself,” Barker said. “It’s 10 other guys on offense and 11 on defense.”

Alabama is a team built on defense. The Crimson Tide has given up only 194.2 yards per game, the fewest of any team in the nation. And the offense is conservative. The Tide runs the ball. Derrick Lassic is 85 yards shy of 1,000 this season, and there are half a dozen other ballcarriers who have been successful.

The approach Coach Gene Stallings and his staff take is designed to maximize the running game and minimize the shortcomings of Barker, who didn’t begin playing quarterback until his senior year in high school.

“We try to do things that give him as many high-percentage-type throws as you can give him,” said Alabama assistant Mal Moore, who coaches the quarterbacks. “We are a running football team.”

Some of Barker’s numbers aren’t bad. His completion percentage is 54.3% and he has passed for 1,614 yards. He had a 285-yard game against Mississippi this season, completing 25 of 39 passes.

Barker has come through, sometimes in the most critical moments.

“The Auburn game, he threw a couple of first-half interceptions, then he made a couple of clutch throws,” Moore said. “He has a knack for coming up with a big play or two.”

There were very big plays against Auburn, helping Alabama to a 17-0 victory in one of the nation’s most deep-seated rivalries.

Those are the types of things opposing scouts note.

“If you notice the games they’ve won, they’ve always had one or two big pass plays,” Miami defensive coordinator Sonny Lubick said. “They run, so sometimes you creep up on the line and try to help (guard against the run).”

That can create an opening for Barker.

“I think in their scheme, he’s a great player,” Lubick said. “He’s probably not like Gino (Torretta, who is expected to be able to win a game with his ability). In their offensive scheme, it’s tailback, fullback. They’re going to hand the ball off.”

Barker was used to taking the handoff at Trussville High in his hometown in the Birmingham suburbs. He played running back, free safety and receiver until his senior year, when Trussville was suddenly without a quarterback. Barker said he would try it.

“I’d thrown some from a halfback position, and I’d messed around some,” he said.

The Trussville coaches tried not to ask too much of their raw quarterback.

“I’d just line up, take the snap and take off running,” Barker said. Most colleges recruited him as a free safety. His best opportunity wasn’t one he was very keen on. It would rile an Alabama fan even to know he considered it.

“I really was on my way to Auburn,” Barker said. “I didn’t want to go (to Alabama) at all.”

But Stallings replaced Bill Curry during Barker’s senior year at Trussville, and the new staff liked Barker as a quarterback. Barker soon was headed for Tuscaloosa instead of Auburn.

After spending his freshman season as a redshirt, Barker came off the bench last season and rallied the Crimson Tide to three fourth-quarter touchdowns for a 24-19 victory over Tennessee, then ranked eighth in the nation.

He became the starter for the final four games of the season, beginning his 16-game winning streak.

In the Blockbuster Bowl against Colorado, the Crimson Tide mounted three long scoring drives during the second half of a 30-25 victory. Barker threw three touchdown passes, all on third down.

Those were the highlights. The lowlights were the times Barker misread defenses and forced passes, the inconsistency, the missed receivers. The coaches tried to be patient. They also tried to take away his opportunities to make mistakes, and worked to help him learn to recognize defenses.

“Playing quarterback, so much of it is having game experience,” Moore said. “He missed having all the high school experience other quarterbacks have. He truly is young and inexperienced at that position. He’s only played it 2 1/2 years.”

Opponents try to disguise their defenses, and Barker has been easier to fool than more veteran quarterbacks. He hasn’t always picked up on the subtleties, and even when he does, it is sometimes hard to trust himself.

“(Reading defenses is) so much of success (in) throwing the football. That can take the edge off your effectiveness,” Moore said. “He’s made progress . . . I’m pleased with Jay. We’ve got two more years. He’ll get better.”

Barker the quarterback has his shortcomings. There is higher regard, though, for the man.

“There’s nothing about his work habits or his attitude you could knock,” Moore said. “You would like him to be effective a higher percentage of the time.”

So would the fans and the local media. It took Barker some time to adjust to that.

“That’s Alabama for you,” he said. “You’re expected not only to win, you’re expected to be perfect.”

Last season was a jolt.

“It was, in a sense, ‘Why are all these people criticizing me?’ ” Barker said. “I’m out there giving everything I’ve got. It was only my second year playing the position.

“You feel if you’re the starting quarterback, everybody will love you. A lot of times that’s not the case. Especially here in Alabama.”

Barker has learned to cope, he says, by turning to his faith. In a conversation with a Birmingham Post-Herald reporter before the season began, Barker talked about turning to the Bible for guidance.

Barker’s Alabama teammates were at first somewhat cautious of a quarterback who had played the position only one year in high school. Doubtless some worried about his religious conviction, too. Did they really need a leader who would turn the other cheek?

“So many people think Christians are supposed to sit back and take everything,” Barker said in the Birmingham Post-Herald interview. “But the Lord wants us to win. The Lord wants us to take charge.”

The criticism stings less now.

“That’s something that comes with the territory,” Barker said. “There are fair-weather fans who are right with you, but when things are bad, they come down on your back. The ones who live and die with Alabama are with you all year.

“Then there are those who say they’re die-hards, and they probably go to one game a year. They’re there to criticize.

“You’ll always have people for you and people against you. That’s just life.”

Said Moore: “He needs to have an outstanding game against Miami.”

Barker knows that if he doesn’t, he will be hearing about it.

“As a quarterback, you get too much criticism and too much glory,” he said.