From pig farms to roses, Bryson Barnes recalls backing up Cameron Rising in Pasadena

After super star quarterback Cameron Rising went down with injury late in the Rose Bowl, walk-on freshman quarterback Bryson Barnes stepped up to the plate without skipping a beat.

Last season, in the midst of the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day, freshman quarterback and walk-on (now sophomore) Bryson Barnes was presented with an unlikely opportunity to command the offense from under center. With starting quarterback Cameron Rising suffering an injury late in the game, Barnes was thrown onto the field with a heavy task. Drive Utah’s offense down the field for a touchdown while trailing Ohio State 45-38 with less than five minutes to go.

But despite his inexperience, Barnes was up to the task. Having had a feeling his name would be called at some point, Barnes was both physically and mentally prepared for the task at hand.

“For some odd reason, ever since we won the championship and knew we were going to the Rose Bowl, I had a feeling I was going in,” Barnes said. “Not that it changed my preparation for the game, because as a back-up you have to be prepared for that exact moment to come up at any given moment. So I felt like I was prepared and when that moment came it wasn’t a shock, it was just like go do it, get it done.”

That's exactly what Barnes did. Entering the game down seven to the Buckeyes, Barnes orchestrated an impressive drive, going 57 yards on six plays in 2:28, capped off with a 15-yard touchdown pass to the corner of the end zone to Dalton Kincaid for the game-tying touchdown.

“On the sideline we are talking with Coach [Andy] Ludwig about what plays we were thinking about running on this drive, because, ya know, it's a big drive. We did have three timeouts so even if we didn’t score I don't know, that's the what if but, we just started chipping our way down the field. On third down, I pulled a read option, was able to continue that drive in the first place and we just kept marching down the field,” Barnes explained.

Once inside the red-zone, Barnes was able to connect with Kincaid on a perfectly floated pass to the back corner of the end-zone, just out of reach of the defender, but just enough in-bounds for Kincaid to keep his feet.

“Its a good thing we got Dalton Kincaid man, he’s a baller. You got a guy like that, one on one matchup, you just throw that ball up to him and he’s gonna get that sucker,” Barnes said.

“It was crazy,” Barnes continued. “I couldn’t believe, I mean we got in and I was like oh man ‘it's a tight ball game, lets go,’ so we were just hoping, I was just hoping to get thirty seconds back out there but unfortunately, it didn’t go that way.”

Despite the unfortunate outcome and Barnes being unable to get another crack at a potential winning-drive, the now sophomore put his name on the map and is in the running for QB2 behind QB1 Rising. However, with some formidable competition in Ja’Quinden Jackson who held the spot for the majority of last season, Barnes will have a tough task ahead of him.

“I’m just gonna do my thing. I’m not gonna overthink anything, just gotta play ball you know. Prepare the same way you would regardless, that’s always been my philosophy coming here is, just keep preparing, just go do your thing. Don't overthink just go out there, do the work off the field and it’ll pay off on the field,” Barnes said.

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