See what I did there???

Weird development in the Garrett Barnas Saga (oh yes, it's reached Saga-status).  Turns out that Barnas was being recruited to Syracuse as a safety and not a quarterback, which.....makes things even weirder.  Donnie Webb...do things:

Barnas was recruited by the previous staff as a safety. He was told he might have the opportunity to play quarterback, but the offer was to come to Syracuse and play on defense. How did that get lost in the story? Did SU assistant Derrick Jackson fail to communicate that information to Marrone or to Harper College coach Dragan Teonic?

Donnie then mentions that Coach Marrone, Coach Spence and secondary coach John Anselmo all sat down and evaluated Barnas' film as a quarterback and safety and all shot him down. I have a feeling Derrick Jackson isn't going to be trusted to buy chips and dip for the Super Bowl party, let alone recruit on his own for a while.

Looks like Barnas had once been promised a shot at QB when it was assumed that Cam Dantley would be gone after this year.  But since Dantley's classification changed and he was staying, the Orange were pretty much all set with five QBs on the roster. 

Donnie goes on to paint the picture that Barnas was a desperate dreamer who latched on to Syracuse because there were no other offers to be had.  Sounds a little spinny to me.  My feeling is that the kid heard that there was a shot to play QB at Syracuse and it was never explained to him how that opportunity was no longer fully available, which is bound to happen when you're doing whatever you can to get a two-time All-American JUCO player to come to your school.  To lay all the blame on Barnas' feet is a little much...if anything, someone should have told Jackson to back off.

I think Donnie is right about one thing...Marrone and Spence want their quarterback.  They want to find him, they want to recruit him, they want to nurture him and they want to insert him into their system.  Young Garrett just wasn't that guy and he's the victim of the college recruiting game just as much as he was slightly overzealous about coming to SU.

Justly or not, the onus is now on the new coaching staff to get a star QB sooner than later.  Fingers crossed on that one...