WATCH: "I am going in with a little chip on my shoulder, but also blessed at the same time for this opportunity to keep on playing football."
Over the weekend, @DU_Football player @TheSyBarnett became the first Panther to EVER sign with an NFL team as an undrafted free agent. pic.twitter.com/Ec1PT7i54y
— Mark Skol, Jr. (@markskoljrTV) May 2, 2023
Here’s a great story to follow over the summer: New Orleans Saints wide receiver Sy Barnett is determined to make the most of his opportunity as Davenport University’s first-ever player to sign with an NFL team, having joined the black and gold as an undrafted free agent.
Two alumni have earned rookie minicamp invitations in the past, but Barnett is the first player in school history to sign an NFL contract.
Davenport is a small private university in Grand Rapids, Mich., and they’ve only had a football program since 2016, initially starting out at the NAIA level. They’ve since risen up the NCAA Division II level of competition under head coach Sparky McEwen, who led them to a school-record 8-2 finish and Division II playoff appearance last season.
“He’s going to go out there and give them everything he has. If I were a betting person I’m betting on Sy. He’s the real deal,” McEwen told WZZM sports anchor Mark Skol, Jr. McEwen recruited Barnett when he was an assistant coach at Ferris State and brought the versatile player with him to Davenport once he became head coach.
Barnett himself isn’t lacking for confidence, though he admits he’s embracing the underdog role: “I mean that’s really I can ask for at this point. I’m super pumped, I am going in with a little chip on my shoulder, but also blessed at the same time for this opportunity to keep on playing football.”
So what does he bring to the table? Barnett is listed at 6-foot-flat and 190 pounds, but he timed the 40-yard dash in just 4.38 seconds and posted impressive times in the agility drills with rare numbers in his jumps (leaping 40 inches vertically and 10-foot-11 broad), so he’s nimble and explosive with plenty lower-body strength. That helped him lead the team in receptions (53) and receiving yards (694) last season, also catching 4 touchdown passes. But he can punt, too, having averaged 42 yards per try on 19 punts across the season while placing 7 tries inside the opposing 20-yard line and sending 4 of them 50 or more yards. He also returned 9 punts at a respectable average of 6.6 yards per attempt.
We’ll see if the Saints add Barnett to their burgeoning punter competition with Blake Gillikin and Australian legend Lou Hedley or if his focus remains on the crowded battle at wide receiver, where New Orleans has brought in a number of new faces to fight for the two or three roster spots available behind Chris Olave, Michael Thomas, and Rashid Shaheed. Either way, Barnett is eager to prove his alma mater proud.
