Ever since Matt Barkley has set foot on the field in an Eagles practice, he has been praised by the coaching staff for his football IQ, work ethic, and talent. Chip Kelly called him “a real student of the game” and gushed about his ability to pick up the offense quickly. The future for the USC graduate certainly looks bright.

But unfortunately, while Barkley may have all the intangibles, he may be more of a work in progress. Despite strong showings in OTAs and mini-camp, Barkley has largely struggled ever since the pads have come on in training camp.

In Barkley’s defense, he is playing mostly with the third team. But a player of his experience level needs to completely wow the coaching staff with out-of-this-world play, and the rookie hasn’t been able to do that.

Instead, like most rookies, Barkley has struggled so far in his first NFL training camp.

On Sunday, Barkley had an impressive pass early on, but then took far too many chances as the day went on. He was nearly picked off multiple times and struggled when the pass rush nearly got to him.

Monday’s practice saw Barkley completing 7 out of 11 passes, but many of his passes were short dump offs.

On Tuesday, Barkley played horribly. Barkley managed only four completions out of 16 pass attempts. According to John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com, Barkley failed to connect on ten straight passing attempts at one point. He played exclusively with the third-team.

Three days of training camp in pads have passed and Barkley still has yet to put up an impressive performance. He will have to bounce back with strong performances for the rest of camp, as well as in the pre-season, if he wants to re-enter the starting quarterback race.

However, it’s not even just Barkley’s performance so far that will keep him out of the running. Both Nick Foles and Michael Vick have been more consistent to date.

While still struggling with his accuracy, Foles has had his share of good plays so far. Yesterday, he slung a pass past Earl Wolff, David Sims, and Mychal Kendricks into the hands of Jason Avant.

Vick has continued to outperform the competition and lead the quarterback competition. For the second straight day now he has thrown two touchdown passes in practice. He is also being utilized more in designed running plays, which will likely be an integral part of the 2013 Eagles based on Kelly’s penchant for it at Oregon. And for the first time, Vick has received significantly more first-team reps than Foles, 24 compared to Foles’ 13.

Even if Barkley is able to beat out Foles for the backup quarterback job, he will need to unseat a red-hot Vick. Vick also has the advantage in experience and athleticism.

Barkley has no shortage of talent, but don’t expect him to be able to contend for the starting quarterback spot at this rate. The job is Vick’s to lose right now, and it would take Barkley a truly phenomenal rest of camp to win the job.

And for a player of his inexperience, that may be expecting a bit too much.

Follow Yueh Ho on Twitter @YuehHo