Raising the Barr

By Rob Fernas

Dec. 27, 2002 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

IOWA CITY, Iowa —

Outside, a winter chill sweeps over the sprawling University of Iowa campus. But inside the football team’s bubble-domed practice facility, senior linebacker Fred Barr is generating plenty of hot air.

Surrounded by a dozen reporters, Barr lives up to his reputation as the blowhard of the Big Ten by questioning the toughness of USC, Iowa’s opponent in the Orange Bowl on Thursday, and saying Hawkeye quarterback Brad Banks should have won the Heisman Trophy instead of USC’s Carson Palmer.

Nothing personal, mind you. That’s just the way Barr sees things, and if you don’t agree, that’s fine. Teammates say he doesn’t care what others think of him.

Barr figures he can back up his comments on the field. The four-year starter leads Iowa with 109 tackles this season and ranks fourth on the school’s all-time list with 371.

He’s also the unofficial leader of the 12 Florida natives on the Hawkeye roster, a position he earned by being the first Floridian to buy Coach Kirk Ferentz’s pitch that the Midwest has much to offer young men from the sunshine state. Barr signed with Iowa in December 1998, only weeks after Ferentz replaced retiring Hayden Fry.

“I just saw an opportunity to take a program that was going down and build it back up,” said Barr, who was not recruited by his home state’s big three -- Florida, Florida State and Miami.

Barr was an undersized linebacker at South Plantation High in Fort Lauderdale, but he has grown into a 6 foot 2, 240-pound anchor for a defense that ranks second nationally in rushing yards given up, 68.2 a game.

Soon after Barr signed with Iowa, the Hawkeyes received commitments from his South Plantation teammate, defensive tackle Colin Cole, and receiver Maurice Brown of Fort Lauderdale’s St. Thomas Aquinas High.

Considering that Barr and Cole are All-Big Ten selections, and that Brown has tied an Iowa record with 10 touchdown receptions this season, it’s safe to say Ferentz fared well with his first recruiting class from Florida.

“The fact that our first two recruits, Colin Cole and Fred Barr, have been All-Big Ten performers, I think that’s given us good ammo down there with recruiting,” Ferentz said. “Both are getting their degrees. It’s been a win-win story for everybody.”

Other Floridians who have flourished at Iowa include Heisman runner-up Banks and starting receiver C.J. Jones, cousins who signed with the Hawkeyes after playing at out-of-state junior colleges. Five Iowa starters are from Florida. Brown, who doesn’t start but plays a lot as the No. 3 receiver, leads the team in catches.

“Naturally, we’re going to keep going down there to keep that pipeline going,” Ferentz said.

Barr appreciates the good times because he has been through the bad. As a freshman, Iowa was 1-10 overall and 0-8 in the Big Ten. Three years later, the Hawkeyes are 11-1 and 8-0.

“It has definitely been a fun ride,” Barr said.

And it keeps getting better. One of the most joyous -- and improbable -- holiday homecomings occurred Thursday, when the Florida-bred Hawkeyes arrived in Miami with their teammates to begin final preparations for the Orange Bowl.

“Never in my wildest dreams,” Barr said. “The Rose Bowl, yes, but never the Orange Bowl. I’m very excited.”

Judging by his comments, Barr doesn’t intend to end his college career with a defeat. Of USC, he said: “They’ve got very talented people, but they’re missing the physical aspect that we bring to the game.

“Playing in the Big Ten, we’re pounding every week. I don’t think they play that kind of football out there in the Pac-10.”

If the Trojans are offended by that observation, they’ll have to get in line. Barr has been speaking his mind about opponents for some time.

Of Michigan’s hallowed tradition, Barr said: “It doesn’t mean anything.”

Before playing cross-state rival Iowa State, Barr said: “I hate those guys. I can’t stand them.”

The comments have provided plenty of bulletin-board material, but Ferentz avoids playing the role of team censor.

“If you say you don’t like the opposition, well, why would you?” Ferentz said. “That’s stating the obvious there.”

For a while, Barr even hated Iowa, particularly the frigid winters. He considered transferring.

“But every kid goes through that, especially being so far from home,” he said. “The weather is so cold. I’m not used to wearing a jacket every day [before] summer. It’s a change, but you get used to it.”

Cole, Barr’s former high school teammate, also came close to bolting from Iowa. During his freshman season, he talked to another school about transferring.

“It came down to the fact that I made a decision to come here,” said Cole, who leads Iowa with 16 tackles for losses. “I felt if I turned back, I’d be missing out on something eventually.”

Another Fort Lauderdale native is missing out. Starting cornerback Benny Sapp was kicked off the team by Ferentz after he was arrested Aug. 4 and charged with disorderly conduct and public intoxication. That was a month after Sapp had been involved in an incident in which he was stabbed at a bar, suffering a minor injury.

Ferentz said Sapp “probably crossed the line one too many times,” but the player’s dismissal threatened to upset the chemistry of Iowa’s tight-knit group of Floridians. Sapp, a cousin of Tampa Bay Buccaneer defensive lineman Warren Sapp, had played with Barr and Brown in the highly regarded Lauderdale Lakes youth football program.

At the time of Sapp’s dismissal, Barr said: “I don’t want to disagree because it’s Coach Ferentz’s decision. If it was me, I feel I would need him.”

Barr still acknowledges that the incident was painful, but it helped that Sapp was able to stay close after transferring and playing for Northern Iowa this season. “He’s right down the road,” Barr said. “He still comes around to hang out.”

Despite the incident, Iowa’s Florida connection appears strong. Abdul Hodge, a redshirt freshman from Fort Lauderdale, probably will replace Barr next season. Among the Hawkeyes’ 14 high school commitments is one from Florida, and Iowa is recruiting four other Florida preps, Ferentz said.

If things had worked out different, Iowa would have one of USC’s top players. But receiver Mike Williams, a freshman from Tampa, Fla., turned down the Hawkeyes.

The number of Florida players on Iowa’s roster has created a potentially difficult situation in Miami.

“Those are the guys I have to watch,” Ferentz said. “They have all the friends down there.”

Barr, who has disagreed with his coaches before, says there’s no need to be concerned.

“I think [Ferentz] will have to worry more about the Iowa guys,” Barr said. “Not coming from [Florida], they don’t know the real atmosphere, how to react in certain situations.”

And what should the Iowans expect?

“A lot of beautiful girls,” Barr said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Talent search

For Iowa and USC, recruiting starts at home. However, the Hawkeyes have found fertile ground in Illinois and Florida, where standouts such as Fred Barr and Colin Cole played high school ball.

Football rosters by state

IOWA

Iowa 38.1% (40)

Other 30.1% (32)

Illinois 12.4% (13)

Florida 11.4% (12)

Texas 7.6% (8)

USC

California 88.3% (91)

Other 8.7% (9)

Florida 1.9% (2)

Texas 1.0% (1)