Nate Oats addresses walk-ons Tyler Barnes, Britton Johnson starting for Alabama vs. South Carolina
When Alabama took the court on Saturday against South Carolina, two relatively unfamiliar faces were in the starting lineup. Alabama head coach opted to start walk-ons Tyler Barnes and Britton Johnson. Saturday was senior night for Alabama, and Oats wanted to give Barnes and Johnson an opportunity for a special moment for all of their hard work throughout their careers.
Oats also gave Johnson and Barnes credit for being a big part of Alabama’s turnaround. And when the two were taken out of the game early on, Alabama held a lead over South Carolina.
“They talk. We’ve been on our guys to take some charges. We know if BJ’s in a position, he’s going to take a charge 100 percent of the time. Tyler got that deflection on the drive. They rebounded, they’re kind of glue guys that are about the right stuff,” Oats said of Barnes and Johnson for Alabama against South Carolina. “Those three guys that we honored tonight have been a big part of this turnaround. But those two guys have been a big part too. And we talk about it a lot.
“Those two guys, even though they don’t play a lot of minutes, what they bring to our scout team, the leadership they bring within the team, what their talk is, I mean they’re a big part of what we did.”
Oats on Barnes, Johnson’s value to Alabama: ‘Those are the kinds of kids you want as walk-ons’
Johnson has played in 30 games in his career, averaging 1.6 minutes per game. Barnes has played in 32 games with two starts, also averaging 1.6 minutes per game. Both walk-ons were honored last year on Senior night. But both opted to return for one more season. Oats said that bringing them back for another year at Alabama was a no-brainer, and also called Barnes and Johnson the kind of players you want as a walk-on.
“So when both of them called me after they’ve been honored on senior night, you know in the next couple weeks, ‘Coach, like we feel like we’ve got unfinished business. We want to come back.’ Like come on. We’re more than welcome to get them back for another year. I mean they’re just great kids,” Oats said. “Those are the kinds of kids you want as walk-ons.
“They’re gonna be super successful in whatever they do in life just because of their character traits they’ve got. So I was happy to see – you know BJ told me we were gonna be up after the first four minutes. It would’ve been nice if he would’ve hit a shot, the crowd would’ve gone crazy I think. But they were up. Played hard and got us a lead. So I was happy for them.”
The crowd certainly enjoyed Barnes and Johnson being in Alabama’s lineup, too.