ATLANTA — Few, if any, of the player representatives at this week’s SEC Media Days will appreciate the moment more than Missouri’s Barrett Banister.
The affable sixth-year senior receiver is a natural on camera. He has deep SEC ties — he grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and his grandfather and uncle both played for the Razorbacks. His journey to this point was longer and more difficult than most, having walked on to the team in 2017.
Yet making the rounds at the College Football Hall of Fame Monday won’t even be the highlight of Banister’s week. On Saturday, he’s getting married in Kansas City. Afterward, he’ll depart for a week-long honeymoon, then return to Columbia just in time to continue the dream summer during fall camp, which he will enter as both Missouri’s leading returning receiver in terms of career receptions and one of its most valuable leaders.
“Getting the opportunity to play for (the SEC) has been incredible,” Banister said. “Cody Schrader, who's one of our running backs, he asked me, he's like ‘Dude, what was that experience like?’ And it literally kind of sent me back to like this euphoric state. I thought about, I was still a walk-on at this point, and I caught a drag route at South Carolina (in 2018), like late in the third quarter. And it was just like, little did I know five years ago that my collegiate career would turn out like it has. It's been a dream.”
For so much of Banister’s football career, even dreaming of reaching this point would have seemed ridiculous. But he never seemed further away from the SEC than in 2015, his junior season at Fayetteville high school.
Prior to that year, Banister got beat out for the starting slot receiver spot. “The first thing I remember,” Banister said, “was just frustration.” He channeled that frustration into the work ethic that everyone who has ever coached him raves about. And he not only kept working in the slot, but learned all four of the team’s wide receiver positions, effectively becoming the No. 2 option for each spot.
The result: By the end of the season, Banister had become the leading receiver on a team that would win the Arkansas Class 7A state championship.
“He learned every position, he learned the ins and outs of every position, and so therefore at the end of the season, he ended up having played the most snaps at receiver, because he played four different spots,” said Daryl Patton, who coached Fayetteville that season. “And we had great confidence in him.”
The experience set the stage for Banister’s unlikely Missouri career. Banister only got a spot on the roster because former head coach Barry Odom and his staff were recruiting Taylor Powell, his quarterback at Fayetteville. Powell convinced the staff to give Banister a shot as a walk-on. He first emerged as an on-field contributor while still not on scholarship in 2018. He caught eight passes that season, all of which came against Power Five competition, four of which resulted in first downs. Every year since, other receivers seem to generate more buzz during the offseason, but Banister always manages to carve out a role. Across the past three seasons, he’s caught 85 passes for 724 yards and two touchdowns.
Banister has long used the lack of outside belief as fuel. More importantly, he believes that, whereas most SEC receivers were high school stars, the fact that he had to fight for playing time prior to arriving on Missouri’s campus has served him well.
“I think just knowing the process and what it takes and knowing the grind and what it’s going to be is something that really prepares you for that situation,” Banister said.
The other attribute that Patton believes has allowed Banister to scratch out a productive college career is his intelligence. Even in high school, Banister was rarely bigger or faster than the defensive backs who lined up opposite him. Yet he used his unique understanding of the game to create separation.
“He got open against some of the best defensive backs in the state of Arkansas, and you would just shake your head and go, how did he do that?” Patton recalled. “But it was just because he was very intelligent. He knew exactly what he was going to do to beat you before the snap ever happened.”
Banister called the decision to return to Missouri for a sixth year a “no-brainer.” As his final season approaches, Banister once again feels overshadowed in a wide receiver room that contains Tauskie Dove, Mookie Cooper, Dominic Lovett and of course star freshman Luther Burden III. Once again, he’ll have to compete for snaps.
“That’s the only way he knows to do it,” Patton said. “I don’t know if Barrett would even know what to do if he went into somewhere and they said, ‘Hey, you’re going to be the starter.’”
But this year, Banister’s focus is on more than just earning playing time and catching passes on the field. As the third-oldest player on the Tiger roster (offensive lineman Hyrin White and kicker Sean Koetting also arrived at Missouri in 2017, but Banister said he’s older by age), he’s committed to shouldering a larger leadership role. Eli Drinkwitz said he’s challenged Banister, typically more of a leader by example, to become more vocal.
“He attacks workouts, he has great energy, he has great body language,” Drinkwitz said. “He does those things. But you’ve got to bring other people with you. And so now you're seeing Barrett be more vocal, be more conscientious of asking other guys to come along with him, and making sure that the Luther Burdens, the Dominic Lovetts are there, the Chance Lupers are there in practice, and pushing those guys to be successful.”
Given the lofty expectations for the likes of Burden, Lovett and Cooper, all of whom are in their first or second season at Missouri, Banister’s mentorship might be more important than any stats he accumulates in his final season. And while the scrappy former walk-on isn’t about to stop competing now, he’s proven he belongs in the SEC. His presence in Atlanta validates that.
Now, his primary goal is to help the Tigers take a step forward after three consecutive .500 seasons.
“Obviously I would love to have 3,000 targets and catch every pass that's ever thrown,” Banister said. “But like the reality of the situation is that's just not, that's not football. And there's going to be times where it's going to be other people's times to be successful, and there's going to be times where it's my time. … Instead of one person who's catching a pass and you're going, ‘Oh my gosh, darn it,’ it’s, ‘Oh, heck yeah.’ Like, we're working together as a team for this goal.”
Talk about this story and more in The Tigers' Lair
Make sure you're caught up on all the Tiger news and headlines
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for video and live streaming coverage
