How Trae Barry Fits into the BC Offense

This week, Boston College got a big boost at the tight end position from the transfer portal. What does Trae Barry bring to the Eagles’ tight end room in 2021?

Going into the 2021 season, the tight end position was one of the few question marks for the Boston College offense. Hunter Long elected to declare for the NFL Draft a year early after a breakout season and earning All-ACC honors. This left the Eagles with unproven young players like Spencer Witter, Brendan Smith, Joey Luchetti, and Charlie Gordinier. Witter played a good bit last season, but his role was limited due to playing behind Long. Smith only played four offensive snaps, while Luchetti missed the season with a shoulder injury, and Gordinier redshirted.

However, on May 18th, the Eagles received some excellent news:

Trae Barry, a tight end from FCS program Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama, elected to play his final year of college football in Chestnut Hill. Barry did not appear on 247 Sports’ Transfer Portal tracker, but he is an under-the-radar addition that could elevate Boston College’s offense to another level.

Trae Barry hails from Spanish Fort, Alabama. In high school, he split time at quarterback, tight end, and wide receiver. He led his team to a 10-3 record and two playoff wins as a senior and was elected to the All-County Team. Barry also lettered in basketball and track. According to most services, he was a two-star recruit; he earned offers from Troy, Arkansas State, and several FCS programs. Barry elected to stay in the Yellowhammer State and traveled a few hours up the road to Jacksonville State University.

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Barry played immediately as a true freshman in 2017, making appearances in 11 games with three starts. He earned Freshman All-American and All-Conference honors after recording ten catches for 243 yards with three touchdowns. In 2018, Barry played in 12 games with six starts and earned All-Conference First-Team honors with 32 catches, 503 yards, and one touchdown. He started the Gamecocks’ first five contests before sustaining a season-ending injury; he made 25 catches for 330 yards with one touchdown.

Due to COVID-19, JSU played only four games in the fall, but they also played seven in the spring plus two playoff games. Barry missed three games in the spring but still earned First-Team All-OVC and FCS All-American honors. He played in 10 of JSU’s total 13 games with eight starts. He garnered 49 targets with 33 catches, 534 yards, and one TD. According to Pro Football Focus, among the 129 graded FCS programs, Barry earned the fifth-highest Offensive grade among tight ends with at least ten targets with a grade of 75.6 (81.9 Receiving, 66.4 Drops, 72.1 Fumbling, 57.3 Pass Blocking, 60.4 Run Blocking).

Games to Watch

Florida State:

North Alabama: 

Delaware 

Scouting Report

Strengths

• Exceptionally smooth releases off the line of scrimmage; one of the smoothest releases I’ve seen from a receiver stance, very good from 2-point stance, and good from 3-point.
• Good movement skills as a route runner in space; best on continuous routes across and/or up the field, as he navigates through zone defenders very well.
• Very good hands: consistently catches the ball with extension and brings it into his body quickly; catches ball outside his frame well, both high, low, and outside.
• Rarely put into contested-catch/jump ball situations, but able to make catches through contact and use his frame to box out defenders.
• Transitions fluidly from catching to running; large frame and long legs allow him to eat up yards quickly after the catch
• Solid run-blocker: good when used as a lead blocker on outside runs and jet sweeps, especially when asked to climb to the second level; consistently able to execute reach blocks, solid when asked to seal the edge; has the competitive toughness, aggressiveness, and size to not be a liability.
• Able to get the job done in very limited reps as a pass blocker; can generate a stalemate using his length and has the movement skills to mirror linebackers and defensive backs.

Weaknesses

• Struggles to get in and out of breaks on very sharp routes. Does not look fluid on intermediate in-breaking routes; needs to develop more nuance to his route-running.
• Lacks zone awareness and where to settle down between defenders to present an open target to the quarterback.
• Struggles to create yards after contact; does not break multiple tackles and does not have lateral agility to make multiple defenders miss in space. 
• Not a dominant run blocker at the point of attack; lacks play strength as a blocker and thus struggles to generate lots of push on Base and Drive blocks and finish blocks against defensive linemen; unrefined from a technical (hands, leverage, feet) standpoint.
• Rarely used as a pass blocker and will need significant coaching/development to be frequently used in this role; needs to gain strength as a blocker overall.

Projection

For Boston College, Trae Barry projects as an “F” tight end. The letter designation is somewhat subjective, especially because BC’s offense designates their third wide receiver as the F. Under the previous administration, the main tight end was the Y and the second was the U. The letters U, F, and H are generally interchangeable as the designation for the second tight end on the field. But I digress. Barry will most likely fill a role very similar to that which Hunter Long played last year. However, Barry will be used as a big wide receiver even more than Long was. Of Barry’s 465 snaps last year, 292 were in-line (62.8%) and 159 came from the slot (34.2%). By comparison, Long played 779 snaps, 559 came in-line (71.8%) and 165 came from the slot (21.2%). Long took 48 as a wide receiver and Barry only took 12, but I think Barry will get up to those numbers.

Like Long, I expect Barry to take a sizable portion of his snaps from the slot and be put in pre-snap or at the snap motion very frequently. Even though Barry is a solid blocker overall, I expect Hafley and Cignetti to be more comfortable using the returning players like Spencer Witter, Brendan Smith, and Joey Luchetti as the “Y” tight ends that align attached to the offensive line on the line of scrimmage and are used primarily as blockers and run short simple routes. This will free up Barry to attack the intermediate and deep areas of the field, which he is what he excels at.

I am very excited about how Barry will perform in this offense. Even though he is jumping up a level from the FCS, he acquitted himself well in games against FBS programs like Florida State and Florida International. Put simply, Boston College has never had a player like Barry. Even though Hunter Long was one of BC’s best players last year, and performed well enough to be selected in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft, Long was recruited to primarily serve as a blocking tight end. The new coaching staff was able to unlock his potential, but think about Boston College's tight ends over the past few years: Chris Pantale, CJ Parsons, Mike Giacone, Tommy Sweeney, and Jake Burt. All those tight ends were big dudes who were asked to block almost every play and maybe catch a few passes here and there. Barry is an exceptional athlete that can truly be used as a massive wide receiver. I’m not saying he’s going to be Travis Kelce or Darren Waller, but expect him to be used in similar ways.