Arizona Tight End Evolving at Remarkable Pace

Barmore transferred to Arizona from Mercyhurst University in December, an FCS school that competes in the Northeast Conference. The Lakers made the move to compete at the Division I level in 2024. They had been at the Division II level for three decades and went 4-7 in their inaugural season.

The FBS is a much bigger step up in terms of physicality and competition than the lower FCS, which Barmore had to get used to during training camp. As a former wide receiver for the Lakers, he knew how to compete for a reception, but blocking a defender was something he needed to learn.

"That dude has made an unbelievable leap from when you're talking about the end of spring until now," Offensive coordinator Seth Doege said. "Even up until fall, the end of fall camp until now, just because you trust the process and the process of developing a player and you trust your coaches."

Now that he has seen seven games worth of Division I FBS competition, he has made strides and has become a key piece of the Wildcats' offense. He credits going up against Tre Smith in the off-season for helping him become accustomed to the elevated level of competition the FBS offers.

From receiver to tight end

Barmore began his collegiate career with Mercyhurst in 2020 in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and had been there for four years as a wide receiver.

In his final season with the Lakers, Barmore had caught 72 receptions for 919 yards and 13 touchdowns. Through four years with Mercyhurst, he caught 165 receptions for 2319 yards and 29 touchdowns.

It is clear that Barmore brings the pass-catching skills that Doege and tight ends coach Josh Miller had been looking for, and all that was left was to get him to be more physical in the running game.

"We took him knowing that he was going to be a project," Doege said. "Well, the project hit a hit a wall just because the physicality part wasn't truly there. The athletic part, you've seen it when the ball's in Cam's hands, he's actually a little bit different and he's got really strong hands and he's got great catch radius."

"He's got great awareness of space too, obviously from playing receiver at Mercyhurst,but the one thing that he lacked up until game three is we really started showing it was the physicality part. And now you turn on the tape and you're like, 'Whoa, whoa,whoa, whoa. Who's that?'"

From the bottom to the top

Barmore struggled to be seen by the coaching staff as a difference maker in training camp as he faced a group of tight ends that are familiar with the physicality and work ethic that a tight end at the Power 4 level should have.

Barmore was seen as a fourth string tight end by the start of the season and would have most likely seen minimal action, had thing panned out differently.

Starting tight end Tyler Powell suffered a season ending leg injury on the very first game of the season, allowing him to see the field more often.

Keyan Burnett, who came back to the Arizona Wildcats after a brief stint with Kansas, elected to redshirt after battling a lingering hamstring problem, making Barmore the second-string tight end behind Olson.

"Injuries are part of the game, and that's the hard part of it, but the best thing that can happen when you have somebody get injured is for someone to step up," Head coach Brent Brennan said. "Someone to answer the call and go in there and play good football. And that's what Cam's done. You've seen him from spring until now, it just seemed like just this incredible arrow up development of him in terms of his run blocking, his physicality, and then how he's finishing on the football."

Learning how to be more physical

Barmore really began to show his talent as a tight end by week 3, when Arizona played Kansas State. He showed that he can make tough blocks and help the Wildcats move the ball downfield.

Barmore became a dominating blocker after taking advice from Kayden Luke and Tyler Mustain during camp. Olson was also a driving force for Barmore to become a much-improved tight end.

"I had lots of talks with them, and you have to seek the contact rather than let it come to you," Barmore said. "Then just built-in reps have helped with that."

More success to come

Barmore showcased his elevated level of play against Houston and judging by how he continued to progress throughout the season, it would not be surprising to see him become even better by the end of the season. In that game, Barmore caught four passes for 42 yards.

With five more games to go, it will be interesting to see where the talented wide receiver-turned-tight end ends up.