LITTLETON — Like any talented high school football player, Steven Barber dreams of experiencing all the pomp and pageantry of playing at the next level. That crowd, which he hopes will be screaming for him, is something he will never hear.
Born with profound hearing loss, the 6-foot-2, 215-pound Barber is a home-schooled senior who starred last season for Class 4A Dakota Ridge as a defensive end, fullback and quarterback in the “wildcat” formation and was The Denver Post’s All-Colorado long snapper. He has the kind of skills to be a shoo-in college player at some level.
Barber, who was a national semi-finalist for the prestigious Rudy Award, named for Notre Dame’s iconic alum Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, has one standing offer — from Division III Gallaudet University, a school in Washington, D.C., for the deaf and hard of hearing.
“I just want to play as long as I can,” Barber wrote in an e-mail.
So goes the elusive dream for thousands of prep athletes who are weighing their options or looking for more after the balloons sag and the sheet cakes that come with national signing day are gone.
At Gallaudet, coaches assured Barber’s mother, Leslie McCutcheon, that her oldest child will have ample opportunity to play as a freshman, especially as a long snapper, a duty the Broncos paid Lonie Paxton $1 million to perform in the 2009 season.
“It would be a good fit for Steven because he hasn’t had that all-deaf contact,” McCutcheon said. “But it is really far from home.”
While the Bison’s offer is special, Barber wouldn’t mind being a Buffalo.
To be closer to his family, Barber is mulling the idea of enrolling at the University of Colorado and trying to be a walk-on with the Buffs. It’s not far-fetched when you consider that a former Buffs coach told Dakota Ridge coach Ron Woitalewicz during a summer camp that Barber was downright amazing as a long snapper.
Barber, a fun-loving kid with distinct eyes and an easy smile, shrugs at that praise. Sort of like he did after being named the Dakota Ridge homecoming king last October. He’s kind of a natural, whether it be making friends or playing football.
“One day my little league coach, Jeff Long, was trying new people in different positions on the punt team,” Barber wrote. “He asked me to snap, so I did.”
From there, Barber began watching closely what the snappers on TV did, and he practiced in the backyard by snapping the ball through a tire hanging from a tree.
On Barber’s phone is video of him snapping a 16-pound bowling ball down the lane for a strike. Barber reckons he can knock down all the pins about 60 percent of the time.
“He even has the curve on it like a bowler,” McCutcheon said. “It’s crazy. And he does get strikes.”
While the Jeffco school district provided Barber with a translator for every practice and game, not all colleges have that kind of help for athletics. She knows Barber’s deafness might be intimidating to the uninitiated, but she hopes he will get the opportunity to show off his unique skill.
And that could get people talking. Even if Barber won’t hear it.
