Yahoo Sports NFL analyst Nate Tice and former NFL head coach Mike Tice used Football 301 to break down Austin Barber’s NFL future, pointing to a prospect who has logged starts at both left tackle and right tackle and drew a late second-round grade from Nate Tice.
Barber was described as 6-foot-7 and 318 pounds, with a 5.12 time, nearly 34-inch arms and arms measured at 33 and three quarters inches. Nate Tice said he kept Barber in a middle second-round range, calling him “just a consistent player” and saying he had been on his radar for a while because of light feet. He added that Barber “does a lot of stuff well, but nothing overwhelming.”
That evaluation matters because the discussion centered on Barber’s NFL projection, not a game result or a transaction. His ability to handle both tackle spots was part of the appeal, and the analysts also folded in his injury history as part of the draft picture.
Mike Tice added a detail from Barber’s 2024 college season that stuck with him: the Ole Miss game, when Barber played with a big elbow brace or arm brace. “He had that big elbow brace on, that big arm brace, and it looked like- Yep he was in a lot of hurt,” he said, before adding that Barber played the game really well. The only negative he said he noticed was that Barber was not using both hands.
For Barber, the takeaway from the discussion is straightforward: the tools are real, the versatility is useful and the injury questions are part of the file. What the two Tices suggested on Football 301 is that he looks like a second-round type of tackle, even if he is not the kind of prospect who jumps off the page on every snap.
