This FIU Panthers football recruit has impressive skills and noteworthy connections
Wide receiver Jay Barry Jr., FIU’s newest football recruit, has a connection to a pair of national championship teams — the Colorado Buffaloes in 1990 and the Washington Huskies in 1991.
Barry’s coach at Boulder (Colorado) Fairview High is Tom McCartney, whose father, Bill, coached that Buffaloes team to an 11-1-1 record that included a 10-9 win over Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.
Barry’s father, Jay Sr., was a running back on the ’91 Huskies, scoring 11 touchdowns that season as Washington went 12-0 and was ranked No. 1 in the coaches’ poll. The Miami Hurricanes, also 12-0 that season, were ranked No. 1 by the Associated Press.
Jay Sr., who was a junior when Washington won that national title, played ahead of freshman Napoleon Kaufman on the depth chart that season. Four years later, Kaufman was a first-round pick.
But Barry, who never played in the NFL, had some big moments in 1991, including an 81-yard touchdown run against Nebraska.
In addition, Jay Jr.’s grandfather, Odell Barry, played 26 games in the NFL for the Denver Broncos from 1964 to ’65.
Jay Jr., who scored eight touchdowns this past season — including a 105-yard interception return and a 95-yard kickoff return — has seen his father’s video highlights.
“It reminds me of me,” Barry said of his father, “the way we move and the jukes we make.”
Jay Jr.’s uncle, Damon Barry, was also on that Huskies team as a wide receiver, and he has served as another role model.
The FIU recruit was a running back in youth-league ball. But he grew from 5-7 to his current height of 6-2 in a span of two years. Because of his growth spurt, he decided to switch to wide receiver as a freshman, and he has since used his uncle as a resource.
“He loves to train me in the offseason,” Barry said. “He knows all the drills needed to play receiver.”
The drills must have worked because Barry caught 39 passes for 523 yards (13.4 average) and five touchdowns in just seven games this past season, leading Fairview to a 6-1 record and a playoff berth. He said he “dropped” just one pass all season — on a pass that was a bit out of reach.
He also scored touchdowns in four different ways, including the receptions, a Wildcat run and the interception and kickoff returns.
He led the state’s Class 5A in kickoff return yardage (292) and interception return yardage (212).
“I’ve watched Jay make some really difficult catches,” Tom McCartney said of Barry, who has been used out of the slot the past four years. “He is a natural catcher, the way he snatches even low throws with his hands.
“He makes catches to keep drives alive, and then he sticks his foot in the ground, and he has another gear. He’s an effortless runner, and he makes people miss.”
Off the field, Barry, who has a 3.5 GPA, is interested in studying business or architecture. He has a twin sister, Jiselle, who wants to follow him to Miami and attend college at, perhaps, FIU or St. Thomas University. The twins have so far attended the same school every year of their lives.
As for football, Barry played just one year at Fairview, having transferred from Denver’s East High. Yet, at the end of the 2020 season, he was named one of Fairview’s captains, and that’s because of his work ethic, McCartney said.
FIU offered Barry a scholarship in May. But Barry didn’t commit to FIU until Dec. 8. Four days later, he got an offer from Colorado State, whose campus is just one hour from his home.
“It was tempting,” Barry said, “the chance to play close to home, where my family could see me.”
Barry was so tempted that he didn’t sign on Dec. 16, the first day of the early recruiting period.
The next day, however, he signed with FIU, and he expressed his desire to “explore” a different part of the country. He also said he has faith in Butch Davis and the rest of the coaching staff, including receivers coach D.J. McCarthy, a family friend. McCarthy was also on that Huskies team that won the 1991 national title, serving as a backup wide receiver.
“My son going to school so far away is nerve-wracking,” Barry Sr. said. “But it helps having [McCarthy] there. He’s an excellent coach. He will tell Jay the truth.
“I helped Jay with the pros and cons of his college choice. But I wanted him to make up his own mind. It is time for him to branch out and grow up.”