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Blake Barnett during practice at Under Armour All-America Game. (Wesley Sinor/wsinor@al.com)
TAMPA, Florida - Blake Barnett isn't recruiting other top players to Alabama because he wants to.
He's doing it because he feels he needs to.
The five-star quarterback is set to enroll at Alabama next week, but first he is using his last week as a high school student to recruit more top talent to Tuscaloosa. At the Under Armour All-America Game practices this week in Orlando, Barnett has been actively pursuing multiple highly-regarded recruits to join him at Alabama.
He's encouraged the 10 other Alabama commits in Orlando to do the same.
"All of the commits have to take responsibility for that being the fact we want to build a strong class and prepare for the future," Barnett said. "We are the best way to help recruit and help get the top guys."
Barnett's top targets this week have been five-star cornerback Iman Marshall and five-star running back Damien Harris. Marshall, a fellow West Coast native, roomed with Barnett this week in Orlando, giving the five-star quarterback ample time to work his pitch. Most expect Marshall to go to a West Coast college, but he is strongly considering taking his last official visit to Alabama.
"Blake has been on me real well," Marshall said. "He's been talking about Alabama (saying) 'Come to Alabama, it's the place to be.'"
Barnett feels good about the likelihood of Harris joining him at Alabama. Harris is expected to make his decision on Jan. 9 and is primarily considering Alabama, Kentucky and Ohio State. Barnett and Harris have essentially been joined at the hip this week at Under Armour, and the five-star from Kentucky sat at the Alabama commits today during a media luncheon on Wednesday.
Barnett, who finished as the top quarterback in the skills challenge, is able to pitch that he'd take care of Harris on the field if they both land in Tuscaloosa. He's made sure to mention all of the program's recent success, too.
"With Alabama there's obviously a possible chance of national championships, and hopefully the NFL for all of us," he said. "We all aspire to become NFL players and Alabama does a great job of doing that."
After performing in today's Under Armour All-America Game, Barnett will fly to Alabama and officially enroll at the school. If Alabama had won the Sugar Bowl, he would have had an opportunity to practice and workout with the team in the lead up to the national championship. Barnett is eager to get on campus and get better as a player.
"I've been throwing a lot, working out and talking to the players," he said. "I've been getting (my) communication skills up with future teammates."