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First, positives:
And the negative:
Oh, BTW--the Pats didn't do too badly with another criminal justice major from Cincinnati.
Barwin's stock has a chance to go through the roof at next month's NFL Scouting Combine. While training in the UC weight room, Barwin is also working with Clif Marshall at Ignition Sports, a Cincinnati suburban gym where Marshall preps prospects for combine testing. He believes he's dealing with an athletic freak.
"Out of the 15 guys I've got, he's the biggest and he's got the lowest body fat. He's got just 10," Marshall said when he called in to check in on Barwin's day. "And in front of all these receivers and DBs, he did a vertical leap of about 34 inches."
Plus, Marshall is convinced that Barwin's frame is big enough to put on another 20 pounds or so and be a Justin Smith-like 275 pounds.
And the negative:
The switch to end wasn't the first time Barwin had to adapt himself. He was born mostly deaf in both ears. He learned to read lips as a child and still looks at a person's mouth during a conversation. To correct his hearing, he underwent five or six surgeries, the last one when he was in fifth or sixth grade, he said. Despite the surgeries, he had complications in his left ear, including tumors and infections.
Now, he can only hear a little bit out of his left ear, which has an extraordinarily deep canal. His hearing deficiency was a problem last season when he lined up on the right side of the quarterback, because he couldn't hear the snap count and was sometimes late getting off the line.
It's not an issue on defense, because he just moves when the tackle across from him moves. Other things, though, haven't changed.
Oh, BTW--the Pats didn't do too badly with another criminal justice major from Cincinnati.
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