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Football: Pleasanton hitting machine
Web Posted: 08/22/2004 12:00 AM CDT

Dan McCarney
Express-News Staff Writer

South San coach John Torres has clear recollections of last year's game with Pleasanton, and not because the Bobcats won by 14 points.

The contest marked a career first for Torres. In shifting his best defensive player from tackle to end, he was forced to alter his strategy to account for an offensive lineman.

"Any time you have to make adjustments for an offensive lineman, (he's) pretty dominating," Torres said. "We had to put our big boy on him just so we could control him."

At least Torres had an option. For most teams, matching up with 6-foot-3, 325-pound Eagles senior Barret McCraw is a virtual impossibility.

A two-year starter at tackle, McCraw was the primary blocker on a unit that averaged 232.6 rushing yards per game last year. He was successful on 95 percent of his assignments.

Pleasanton coach Tab Dumont said the Eagles again will rely heavily on McCraw, who helped lead Pleasanton to a District 29-4A co-championship last year. This season, McCraw and the Eagles will attempt to duplicate their success despite the graduation of star quarterback Curtis Clader.

"I don't know if (McCraw's) the best player we've ever had," Dumont said, "but he ranks right up there with a handful."

Football is a deep-seated tradition in the McCraw household. Barret's older brother, Hayden, was an all-district linebacker for Pleasanton, and his father, Roger, was a starting linebacker on the Odessa Permian team that beat Lee 11-6 for the 1965 Class 4A championship.

For the most part, McCraw is a quiet country kid who keeps his superior power — he benches a team-high 375 pounds — in check.

"He's never been a bully, even when we were little," said teammate Nick Bazan, who grew up with McCraw. "In practice, he's not going to take it easy, but he won't embarrass you, either. He doesn't want to hurt anybody."

Come game time, however, McCraw turns into a remorseless bulldozer who delights in manhandling his adversaries.

"Everybody has something that gets them going," McCraw said. "I just save it all up for Friday night."

When asked to recount his best blocks, McCraw chose two from last season.

One came against Southside, in which he "took care" of a linebacker, then flew up field to level a safety and spring Clader for an 84-yard run.

The other was against Beeville, when he hit an unsuspecting opponent so hard that bits of padding flew out of his helmet.

"It's the greatest feeling in the world when you dominate someone," McCraw said. "You control them. You just hit them, and they know you just hit them."

Dumont's favorite McCraw moment isn't a specific play but an entire game. With McCraw pulverizing defenders throughout, the Eagles rushed for 339 yards in last season's 36-17 victory over Floresville.

"He totally dominated any man they put in front of him," Dumont said.

Not just a big body, McCraw also has enough athletic ability to have drawn the attention of several Division I colleges. While Texas A&M and TCU have expressed interest, McCraw said he anticipates playing for either SMU or UTEP.

Regardless where he ends up, he'll be doing something he loves — knocking opponents silly on the football field.

"Football's a fun game," McCraw said. "You go out there and hit people all day long. What can be better than that?"

Damn - that's a big dude! Rivals says he runs a 5.6 (hmmmmm) -- Coach Bennett likes linemen who can move, as we know. Rivals also says his schools of interest are Arkansas, A&M and TCU.

If UTEP and those other schools are after him, I bet he can play. That might sound weird, but Coach Price can identify talent. Let's get this big guy!

Um .... BUS? Got a vote on this one?

This guy sounds like he could be a member of the HERD. The THUNDERING herd of SMU recruits.

I would venture to say that after a red-shirt year he would be stronger and faster.

Go Coaches!!!

Let Coach Faucette get ahold of him. "Slim" him down to 310 or so and drop a few tenths off that 40 time.

Get a commitment from this guy and suddenly Enright becomes "the little guy" in the class.

Not to sound like a BUS disciple, but we need 3 or 4 guys like this.

you can go out and find 100-hell maybe 200 kids in Texas who are 6-4+ and 270+ and received all conference mention but all you're going to get is a bunch of fat guys sitting their asses on the bench for 4 years. The thing about Enright that is intriquing is that he's got nice speed and quickness and sufficient size for the Center position . Size the by far the most overrated quality in a lineman recruit if the kid isn't agile and mobile too. You are going to get your QB killed in a spread offensive if you recruit guys that run 5.6.

That is correct Stallion. But I think he is worth a try given his softness and I think Coach Faucette can change this guys performance.

(I've seen him on tape - not in person)

McCraw is more big than he is fat. He's one of those big, thick guys who might look a little soft, but has incredible strength and power. The best example I can think of is a guy who signed a few years ago with SMU: Tommy Miller. He didn't look like your prototypical offensive lineman who's 6-6, 300 and looks lean, but he was an extremely powerful blocker who moved better than you'd think at first glance. Same with this guy. At first glance, you'd think he's not much of an athlete. And it also should be pointed out that because of his sheer size, he often can make his blocks just by shoving a guy straight back with raw power. But he moves better than you'd expect. He probably needs to drop a few pounds, but that will happen naturally as he enters a college strength and conditioning program. Or even if he doesn't drop any weight, he'll certainly re-package it a little as his body gets more mature. In short, this is a guy that a lot of college coaches are going to see before his senior season is over. He probably projects as a guard at the college level.

That's a pretty appealing comparison, actually. Miller didn't pan out at SMU, but he was a very solid, powerful guy. If this guy is really similar, I hope we can get him to Dallas.

I agree with Stallion to a point. But size is not to be underrated either. When you play BCS teams, you're going to be facing some big linemen. If you have an undersized line, no matter how quick they are, they will get beaten at the point of the attack as the game plays on. We saw that over and over again for the past 15 years. By the fourth quarter our line just couldn't open holes anymore, they were worn down by the size of their opponants. If we get some tubby 6'4" guy in here, that is a frame that can be sculpted by strength coaches, or the kid sits. Speed comes with conditioning. We are not UT and will have to take a few work-in-progress guys to get a line big enough to compete. I personally don't mind us doing that. Linemen get hurt, you need lots of big linemen ready to step in. I'm sorry, but I'm from the Bus school. Bigger, uglier, the better.

I don't really care how fast a lineman runs the 40, if he is quick for 2 to 10 yards. I'm sure the two are generally somewhat correlated, but I think it's a bit premature to knock him based on 40 time alone. Any shuttle stats on this guy?

Good point. Nebraska, which has produced a lineman or two, only lists 40 times when a kid is recruited, and that's for the media and fans. They evaluate with shuttle drills and 10-yard sprints, not 40s.

Any update on this guy?

I don't have a recent update on this guy, so I can't tell you much about where he's leaning. But I am hearing that several colleges are finding their way to Pleasanton to check him out (this isn't a Kenard Burley deal, where playing at a 2A school helped Burley stay below the radar for a while). Pleasanton is a 4A school that has produced good players before). Everything about the guy is big: his arms, chest, butt, legs -- big. And this is without major training in a weightroom. He's just naturally enormous. He's not fat, but he needs to improve his strength and conditioning, which will improve his quickness. He projects as a guard (or maybe a center) at the college level. He relies on his size and strength to dominate. He maintains a good base with his feet, and he's very hard to move. At the moment, he's a better run blocker than he is a pass blocker, dropping his pads and simply driving through overmatched defensive linemen. As his conditioning improves, his pass blocking will improve. Offensive line is one of those positions where it's hard to predict which recruits will pan out, and there are some every year who don't. But in my opinion, McCarw is worth pursuing. You can't teach size like he has, and he seems to have good instincts and the demeanor to play OL. Reminds me of Justin Boren when he was at Colleyville Heritage, but not quite as quick.