To put it mildly, Tampa Catholic’s Devan Barrett is a busy young man. The past two seasons have been a whirlwind to say the least since his recruitment began with offers and daily communication coming from a who’s-who in the power five conference landscape. But the 6-1/190-pounder is taking it all in-stride with one of the better perspectives on the recruiting process you’ll find.

Last season for the Crusaders, Barrett was an absolute monster paired with Nate Craig-Myers on the offensive side of the ball. If Craig-Myers was the thunder as a receiver, then Barrett was comprehensively the lightning as a running back. Barrett averaged better than a first down in yardage every time he carries the ball finishing the season with 1,891 yards rushing to go with twenty-one touchdowns. He also added two more touchdowns via the pass to put himself over 2,000 yards in-total. He wasn’t done there, Barrett added 31 tackles–20 solo–along with a sack and two passes defensed as a safety for TC.

Barrett’s also our top-rated player overall in the Fire79 rankings. With that kind of production on the field and incessant daily attention from college coaches, national recruiting media and the like outside of the field comes responsibility and stress. Without a perspective like Barrett’s however, that responsibility and stress can lead to bad decisions, so with that understanding–Barrett has turned what could be a killjoy into just a joy.

“At first it was super-exciting, I mean, it still is but—it’s a lot to handle and right now I’m just enjoying the process.” said Barrett. When asked if it’s almost–well, not almost–but IS a chore at times, he’s not bashful in agreeing. “Oh, for sure. Yes sir.”

But understand this, Barrett qualifies that agreement by stipulating the recruiting process only becomes a “chore” if you let it. With that in mind, Barrett offers his own advice and solutions to younger prospects that might be on the verge of making this process more difficult than it needs to be.

Barrett goes on to say what his advice would be to the younger guys just behind him in years. “What I would say to the younger crew is take the process slow and definitely enjoy being recruited,” said Barrett. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. When it comes to that day–the day you commit–you just have to thank God because you’re truly blessed, but like I said, just take it slow and enjoy what you have coming to you.”

Maryland, Rutgers, Notre Dame all have offered within the last ten days and UNC, Florida, South Carolina, Auburn, Notre Dame, West Virginia, Tennessee and Arkansas are in communication virtually everyday. That’s not exactly the ho-hum normal day for a teenager. Even as a mature adults it’s a little difficult to put into words what’s happening. Most of us really have no clue what it’s like to have those aforementioned programs downright fawning for your attention and services. Even for Barrett, a young man that’s clearly on top of his approach–that’s a hard concept to verbalize as evidenced by his two-word answer of “for sure” regarding his everyday routine.

Part of this process is having an acute understanding of the “investment” it takes in terms of time spent away from home, plus majors offered, resources and so on. That’s something that Barrett is planning on discussing with his family and support group in due time when it comes to how they’ll decide his future school. “That’s just a thing that I have to sit down and talk about with my parents in terms of narrowing down what I want to do outside of football once it’s all-said-and-done–I just want to take a look at the campuses and get a good real for the environment and get a good realization for where I ‘m going to spending the next four years of my life.”

Something that has become the norm, is that a ton of players are committing earlier and earlier–with the emphasis on the principle of committing to a staff–not a program or school–which is a bit of a double-edged sword. On one hand, the madness of the process is “done”–but what happens if a coach gets fired or takes another gig? Barrett answers how important relationships with staffs are, but with a little bit of nuance in how he will apply the relationship to his final decision.

“They’re (the coaches) are going to play a huge role where I commit. I’m not going to necessarily commit to a school BECAUSE of the coaches, but building the relationships with the coaches is very important and all the ones I’ve talked to so far have been great.” said Barrett. “I’ve watched 2018’s and 2019’s committing because all these coaches are in their ears, but they have to sit down and realize what they’re committing to. They’ll commit to the coaches and not realize what’s going on or not even been up to the campus yet. Like I said, take the time to visit those schools and see what they’re like and take the process slow.”

As you can tell by now, it’s been about a few major things in his world–but most importantly, it’s been the people that Barrett has surrounded himself with in terms of guidance and support. Without those folks in his life, he may have fallen victim to some of the nonsense in this process, but they’ve prepped him for the wild-and-wooly world of recruiting as best as they possibly could. “It’s all been really hectic, but at the same time I kind of expected a lot of this. Knowing I have the people behind me that I have and knowing the experience they bringing to the table, they’ve given me all of the wise words I’ve needed and I just have great people behind me–so I’ve kind of expected this all along.”

Last but not least, it appears we will all benefit from Barrett’s time in college at some point down the road–and not from his playing career directly, but what comes of the knowledge he acquires from the adults coaching him. You see, the young man has apparently caught a fever–an incurable fever for football–and we all hope he comes back after a successful playing career to show us what he’s got.

“At first I wanted to be an athletic trainer, but now that I think about it–I want to be around football when it’s all-said-and-done. I want to coach. I want to recruit. I have a love for the game and I don’t ever want to NOT be around it.”