BYU's newest addition

A little over a month ago I wrote a post about the quandy at both punt and kick returner positions. With the loss of Meikle and Brown, both positions need a new face (or not so new if Mahuika "returns" to his old duties.)

BYU has recently added a new face (and some nice hair: #3 kneeling) in Cortny Barton (5'9 200), a walk-on from LA Harbor Junior College. At LA Harbor he played running back, wide receiver (H-back), defensive back and returned kicks and punts.

Barton reportedly runs at 4.5 and should be a welcome addition to the 2007 special teams squad.

Check out his highlights here.

My 3 Cents: Another non-traditional recruit. Barton is wrapping up his JC schooling and will be at BYU for fall camp. In watching his video, I noticed a couple things things:

1. Pretty bad blocking by his team. He was forced to dance around a lot because noone on defense is being slowed down. With the solid special teams play BYU had last year, he should get the blocks to break a couple open.

2. He likes to reverse field. I'm not sure if this skill will translate to D1 with faster players. He seemed to get caught from behind a lot, but this could be the fact he played 4 different positions (tired?) and had terrible blocking.

3. He runs bigger than he is. The kid is only 5'9 and often is knocking defenders backwards when he hits them. Not shying away from a hit and explosiveness are the signs of a good returner.