How Duke football’s Graham Barton went from lacrosse to being the ACC’s top left tackle
Early in his high school career, Graham Barton appeared destined for Duke, whether he knew it or not.
Growing up in Brentwood, Tennessee, Barton had yet to go through a growth spurt that now has him rated among the nation’s top offensive tackles and projected to be a first-round NFL Draft pick next spring.
While he played football as early as fourth grade, he also played lacrosse. The Blue Devils are three-time NCAA champions who narrowly missed their fourth after an NCAA championship game loss last May.
“My original plan was that I really wanted to play college lacrosse,” Barton said in an exclusive interview with the News & Observer, remembering that while he wasn’t the biggest or best player in football, he was those things on the lacrosse field.
“I moved well and I could get up and down the field,” Barton said. “So, I just really enjoyed it and I just saw that, if I were to have a college athletic future, that would probably be in lacrosse.”
That changed in high school, when Barton matured physically and started putting on weight. His Ravenwood High School football coaches saw an offensive lineman and placed him at left tackle.
“And from there, you know, the rest is history,” Barton said.
Lacrosse became a secondary sport as Barton helped Ravenwood win a 2019 state championship. He came to Duke, but not to play for John Danowski’s renowned lacrosse team
Four years later, the 6-5, 314-pound Barton enters his senior season on Duke’s football team, part of an experienced offensive line primed to help the Blue Devils build on last season’s surprising 9-4 record.
Duke’s offense is loaded with returning starters at skill positions, most notably junior quarterback Riley Leonard. But the right-hand throwing Leonard is quick to point to Barton’s importance in any success the group has.
“Having a good left tackle, my blind side, just changes everything,” Leonard said. “I can sit in the pocket a little longer and not worry about anything on my left side. I’m not sure one time this year I’ve had to escape in practice. He’s just so dialed in, so locked into football. He’s arguably the hardest-working football player that we have.”
Choosing Duke...and staying
Barton signed on to join Duke football under former head coach David Cutcliffe and his staff in 2020. He was so talented that he started games at center during his freshman season, when injuries knocked out Duke’s top two centers.
Since then, he’s been back out at left tackle, starting all 25 games during his sophomore and junior seasons. Three times he’s won internal team awards for his hard work on the field and in the weight room.
Barton was a first-team, all-ACC pick last season when Pro Football Focus assigned him an 88.2 grade for last season, which put him fifth nationally among tackles. The scouting service credited him with 17 of its big-time blocks, five more than any other tackle in the country.
He’s on numerous preseason all-America squads at second team entering this season. NFL scouts regularly rolled through Duke’s August practices to see him firsthand.
“It’s so easy to talk to scouts about him because he checks every box,” Duke offensive line coach Adam Cushing told the N&O. “He already operates like a pro taking care of his body.”
Barton chose Duke over offers from Michigan State and Boston College. He committed in April 2019, prior to his senior year at Ravenwood.
Following his sophomore season, with Duke having lost 19 of 24 games overall and 13 consecutive ACC games during his tenure, the opportunity to leave for another school presented itself. Cutcliffe and his staff departed and Duke athletic director Nina King hired Mike Elko as the new head coach in December 2021.
Several Blue Devils hit the transfer portal.
Barton, though showing signs of an NFL future, never wavered.
“It’s definitely something that crosses your mind,” Barton said. “I don’t think I ever really, truly, truly considered it. I never truly showed interest in any other school.
“A large part of that was just Nina King and the interactions I’ve had with her. I trusted her and her staff and the athletics department to make the right hire and to do their due diligence and they did. They hit a home run. It’s been awesome.”
Yes, Elko, Cushing and the rest of the new staff made life better for Duke football. The Blue Devils returned to a bowl game for the first time since 2018 and posted their most wins in a season since 2014.
An NFL future
As he’s prepared for his senior season and what he hopes is even more team success, Barton does his best to put professional football thoughts out of his head for now.
“Friends and family read it and stuff and they’ll send it to me,” Barton said, “but, I try to really block those things out, just eliminate the distractions so I can be the best football player and teammate and leader I can be.”
Barton worked on a possible non-football future this summer, interning at U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis’ Raleigh office through Duke’s Future Initiative program.
“Playing professional football, and playing for a long time, is a priority for me, definitely something I envision myself doing,” Barton said. “But, the future, you never know. So it’s something that I just wanted to broaden my horizons to develop a little bit of a connection in and we’ll see where it takes me.”
He also tapped into Duke’s NFL ties this summer.
In July, while they were both attending an OL Masterminds event in Texas with some 300 other pro and college linemen, former Duke and NFL center Matt Skura made a point to find Barton.
“We sat next to each other for most of the two-day event,” Barton said. “So it was awesome, just to get to connect with him and get to know him more and share some advice and those things because he’s had a long, awesome career in the NFL.”
Chicago Bears lineman Lucas Patrick, a former Duke player who’s also from the Nashville suburb of Brentwood, has also advised Barton.
But, for now, Barton’s focus is solely on his final season with the Blue Devils, capping off a career he has no regrets over choosing.
“I haven’t looked back,” Barton said. “I’d do it over again. I love being here and I love being a part of this place.”