Not when that good player has not played a down and/or developed any rhythm with the QB, coordinated blocking with the OLine, etc. Talent is one thing, but football is very much a team sport and there is SO much more to it than talent when he hasn't played a down all year. Even if you forget all of that, I'm not risking him for next season on a third rate bowl game. While we love any bowl game, we're not fighting for all the marbles here gang.
There's a reason we're playing better at the end of the season than we did in game 1 of the season. This would be game 1 for him. We're much better off with Barker in there.
Bolded: with the all the extra practices you have between the end of the season and the bowl game, you basically have another training camp. He could get that rhythm or in sync during that time.
Non-Bolded: he could get hurt in practice giving a scout team look. He could get hurt in the weight room. He could hurt next training camp or the first game next season. We’re still in the building process. We need our best guys on the field for ourselves, but also to show recruits what we can do with talented players.
Alabama/LSU/Clemson yeah they maybe sit that guy even for the playoffs because they’re that deep and talented. We don’t have the luxury.