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Former Alabama QB Blake Barnett commits to Arizona State

Blake Barnett started vs. USC (Getty).
Blake Barnett started vs. USC (Getty).

Blake Barnett is headed to the Pac-12.

A few months after transferring from Alabama, the former Crimson Tide quarterback announced Monday night that he will transfer to Arizona State.

Barnett was one of the top quarterback prospects in the 2015 recruiting class. He redshirted his first season at Alabama and started the Tide’s season opener against USC after battling with true freshman Jalen Hurts and redshirt junior Cooper Bateman for the starting role during fall camp.

Barnett played the first two series of the USC game before Hurts was inserted into the lineup. Hurts has started ever since and led Alabama to an SEC title and the No. 1 ranking in the College Football Playoff. Barnett served as Hurts’ backup for three games before opting to leave the program. He played in three games total for the Tide, completing 11-of-19 for 219 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.

Per Al.com, Barnett has been taking classes at Palomar College in California since his transfer from Alabama, but did not play for the junior college. According to DevilsDigest.com, Barnett plans to enroll at ASU in January before spring practice begins. From there, Barnett, who visited campus over the weekend, must sit out the Sun Devils’ first four games in 2017 to satisfy the NCAA’s transfer requirements.

From there, he will be eligible to play.

He also must meet certain requirements at his junior college to be eligible. From Al.com:

Barnett will be eligible to play after the fourth game of next season as long as he completes an average of 12 hours of transferrable degree credits per term at his junior college, earns at least a 2.5 GPA in those courses and graduates from the junior college, according to NCAA Bylaw 14.5.6.

At ASU, Barnett joins a crowded quarterback room alongside the likes of Brady White, Manny Wilkins, Dillon Sterling-Cole and Bryce Perkins.

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Wilkins won the team’s starting job out of camp and kept that role until injuring his ankle Oct. 1. At that point White, who ranked 24 spots behind Barnett in the 2015 Rivals 100, moved into the starting lineup. However, White suffered a season-ending foot injury on Oct. 8, prompting the ASU staff to burn the redshirt of Sterling-Cole (Perkins didn’t play this season because of a neck injury) until Wilkins’ return.

Barnett figures to play prominently in that quarterback battle. Arizona State also has a commit from four-star 2017 quarterback prospect Ryan Kelley.

The Sun Devils went 5-7 and missed a bowl for the first time in Todd Graham’s five-year tenure as head coach.

For more Arizona State news, visit ASUDevils.com.

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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!