Barrington on a restrictive-contact program

Posted Aug 13, 2010 by Scott Carter

Updated Aug 13, 2010 at 11:36 AM

At one point late last season, former USF coach Jim Leavitt called Sam Barrington the best freshman linebacker in USF history.

Barrington showed improvement as the season wore on and in the regular-season finale at Connecticut, he filled in nicely for an injured Kion Wilson by registering a career-high seven tackles.

However, so far in fall camp Barrington has done little tackling due to a lingering shoulder injury that forced him to miss a week of spring practice.

Barrington, at the top of the depth chart at MLB coming out of spring practice, is working behind fellow sophomore Michael Lanaris currently.

He is on a restrictive-contact program to make sure he doesn’t re-injure the shoulder.

“I’m going through the motions, making sure I can help coach up the other guys and anything I see on the sidelines that I can help with,’’ Barrington said after Wednesday night’s practice. “You’ve gotta be a teammate all the time. You’ve gotta be your brother’s keeper, and just because I am hurt, that doesn’t mean I can’t help the other guys.’’

As for the shoulder, here is what Barrington had to say: “I’ll be 100 percent by the start of the season. Coach Snyder has given me a selective role – no contact. He is very supportive of it. He wants to keep me in the motions. Teammates are helping me out with it.’’

When will the limited-contact ban be lifted? “No idea,’’ he said.

While Barrington has been limited in live drills, Lanaris has shown he is ready for more playing time. As a true freshman last season, Barrington played in all 13 games, recording 41 tackles. Lanaris, a redshirt freshman a year ago, played in 12 games primarily on special teams, recording just one tackle.

“He’s showing us that he can do some good things out there,’’ defensive coordinator Mark Snyder said.