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Barker shows array of skills on field and paper
By Leora Tanjuatco, Athletics Media Relations
As an offensive tackle, 6-foot-8, 315-pound Will Barker ironically is used to being out of the spotlight. That just comes with playing the position. His size alone gives away Barker’s status as a member of the Cavalier football team.
But there is much more to this broad-shouldered UVa standout than his athletic abilities.
An accomplished lacrosse player, Barker picked up football in high school and soon found the game to be more exciting and fun. College coaches also took notice and soon he was receiving more recruiting letters for football than lacrosse.
Look deeper, though, and there is another side to the broad-shouldered redhead than simply his dual-sport athletic ability. Barker is one of those unique people who can put a pen to paper and immediately create images from a blank page. The same hands that can bully defensive linemen on the field also can fill notebooks with
sketches.
Everyone who has seen his work tells him that he should pursue it, but for now, Barker only draws for fun. He is a very skilled artist, and when asked about his drawings, he answers with a smile and more modesty than anything else.
“To tell you the truth, I doodle a lot, but it is something I enjoy.” Barker said. “When I was little, I always had a knack for drawing. I just do it whenever I’m bored. It just comes naturally to me.”
He will pick up a pen whenever inspiration strikes, effortlessly rendering his thoughts in ink.
“Things will just come to my mind and I’ll just put them on paper,” Barker said. “Sometimes I’ll just start making shapes or other times I’ll draw random figures. That’s fun, but I just draw whatever comes to mind.”
In addition to this hidden talent, this third-year student-athlete is very interested in the field of anthropology. When he first came to Virginia, he tried out different classes, including sociology, psychology, and anthropology. But the anthropology major caught his attention.
“For some reason, that just kind of got my interest learning about different cultures and different people,” Barker said. “It has all those different fields mixed into one, which is cool. And you can do all kinds of things with anthropology.”
When he is not trying to decide what exactly to do with an anthropology degree, Barker spends his free time hanging out with his teammates and friends.
“The best thing about life right now is just going home and hanging out with all of them,” Barker said. “Really, that’s the most important thing about college friends.”
The relationships with his friends and teammates are evident on the field, especially among those on Barker’s offensive line. Despite having a young nucleus, the line has quickly bonded.
“The good thing about the (offensive) line is that, no matter what good, old, junior, sophomore, freshman, senior there are going to be people who are going to pick you up,” Barker said. “We have a lot of chemistry and we really get along well. So I think things are really going to start clicking.”
Barker, who has started every game in his Virginia career, now is one of two upperclassmen along with senior Eugene Monroe on the offensive line, but he is quick to downplay his role as a leader and instead promote his team as a whole.
“Eugene and I have obviously been around the longest, but there are other guys that have been here awhile too,” Barker said. “We have guys that can step up on certain days when other guys are down.”
Outside of the college bubble otherwise known as the real world family comes first. Barker is the first-born child, with two younger sisters. Lexie is the older of the two, having just started her second year at Princeton. Lila is only nine years old, but already a Virginia football fan who attends many of her brother’s games.
His family is tightly knit, as his sisters and parents try to make it to all of his games from Pennsylvania. Appropriately enough, the first game he started was at the start of the 2006 season at Pittsburgh, just outside his hometown of Bryn Mawr, where he was a three-year starter on the offensive and defensive lines at The Haverford School. He cites the Pitt-UVa contest at Heinz Field as the most intense experience in his athletic career and remembers it vivdly.
“I was scared,” Barker said. “It was a night game on the road. The fans were really loud and it was a really exciting atmosphere, and we did not play our best. But since then, everything has worked out. In terms of my confidence and my experience, everything is building up. Every game, I feel better.”
After three years as a starter, Barker has certainly solidified his role as a leader and performer on the Virginia football team. But beyond the field, he is making his mark as a brother, teammate, friend and maybe someday artist.