Listed measurements: 6-foot-1 ⅞, 190 pounds.
2023-24 year, eligibility: A junior, Barnes has three seasons of eligibility remaining.
Depth Chart: Barnes has a chance at cracking the two-deep behind sophomore Benjamin Morrison at boundary cornerback, but he will have to hold off early-enrolled freshman Christian Gray to do so.
Recruiting: Prospects in the class of 2021 were never allowed to take official recruiting visits, missed summer recruiting camps before their senior seasons and in many cases, including Barnes’s, did not even have senior seasons. That led to wider disparities between recruiting rankings (rivals.com considered Barnes to be the No. 60 cornerback in the class) and scholarship offers (Clemson, LSU and Oregon all chased the consensus three-star) than usual.
CAREER TO DATE
Barnes has yet to make an impact on any Saturdays. He oddly played in four of Notre Dame’s final five games in 2021 before appearing just once in 2022 with no further statistical notice.
QUOTES
If Barnes does not line up behind Morrison but instead behind fifth-year Cam Hart at field corner, he will then be competing with sophomore Jaden Mickey for two-deep honors. That “if” is necessary because Barnes moved around a bit in the spring.
Boundary is still most likely for Barnes, to be clear.
“He plays both sides,” Irish cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens said in mid-April. “He’s a guy that has to know all the positions just because of the depth at safety, the depth at nickel (back) right now.
“We use him a lot as a utility guy because he’s long. That’s what we like about him. Because of his length, he can cause disruptions at safety, at corner, at nickel. Boundary corner is what he’s doing corner-wise. He will be on the boundary because he’s so long to get around.”
WHAT WAS PROJECTED A YEAR AGO
“The Irish starting trio of Hart, junior Clarence Lewis and fifth-year nickel back TaRiq Bracy is well established. Beyond them, Notre Dame has nothing but questions.
“It would be unnecessarily ambitious to suggest Barnes will be one of the answers to those questions, but along with early-enrolled freshman Jaden Mickey, he does seem most likely to genuinely fill a backup role. Obviously, that will lead to some snaps when the respective starter needs a breather or rolls an ankle, but it will also lead to one of Barnes or Mickey seeing plenty of dime action.
“The nickel package is utilized more often than not, and the dime package — needing at least six defensive backs — is far from a rarity. Notre Dame’s depth at safety will make it so the sixth defensive back is usually among them, but specific matchups may require Barnes or Mickey.
“Aside from that, Barnes should be a lock for punt coverage, perhaps on every single such snap. That alone could lead to half a dozen tackles.”
2023 OUTLOOK
Barnes’s misfortune was arriving in South Bend a year before Morrison and Mickey did. Barnes may well be a Power Five-level cornerback already, but Morrison is a preseason All-American as a sophomore, not to mention Mickey was the more heralded of the two upon arrival.
And Barnes is likely behind both of them both now and in the future.
Thus, to find a contributing role, Barnes needs to solidify that utility-knife nod. Oklahoma State graduate transfer Thomas Harper and senior Clarence Lewis should lead the way at nickel back, lessening how much a utility knife is needed, but if Barnes can move between cornerback, nickel back and safety with relative ease, he alone could create some multiplicity in the Irish defense.
That may be a tough ask for anyone, but Barnes’s length makes it a vague possibility.
DOWN THE ROAD
Hart will almost assuredly head to the NFL if he is healthy this season. That could create a chance for Barnes, be it at field cornerback or at boundary if Morrison moves for the betterment of the defense as a whole.
Finding any other path to a starting gig for Barnes becomes difficult simply because there is so much eligibility remaining throughout Notre Dame’s secondary. Of 15 defensive backs, only sixth-year safety DJ Brown and Harper will be out of time in college following the 2023 season. Now, again, Hart will hopefully be gone, as well. (Hopefully as in, that means he’s healthy.) Logic suggests two or three more names will spend their 2024s elsewhere.
But those names are not names pressing for playing time. Again, leaning on logic there. If Barnes has a chance at a starting gig, he likely will spend next spring trying to earn it. If he does not, he may look elsewhere for that spring beginning.
NOTRE DAME 99-TO-0
The summer countdown begins anew, Rylie Mills to Deion Colzie
No. 99 Rylie Mills, senior defensive tackle, moving back inside from end
No. 98 Devan Houstan, early-enrolled four-star defensive tackle
No. 97 Gabriel Rubio, junior defensive tackle, one of three Irish DTs with notable experience
No. 95 Tyson Ford, sophomore defensive tackle, up 30 pounds from a year ago
No. 93 Armel Mukam, incoming freshman defensive end, former Stanford commit
No. 92 Aidan Keanaaina, a senior defensive tackle now ‘fully healthy’ after a 2022 torn ACL
No. 91 Aiden Gobaira, sophomore defensive end, former four-star recruit
No. 88 Mitchell Evans, the next starter at ‘TE U
No. 87 Cooper Flanagan, incoming freshman tight end, four-star recruit
No. 84 Kevin Bauman, senior tight end coming off a torn ACL
No. 83 Jayden Thomas, junior receiver, probable No. 1 target in 2023
No. 79 Tosh Baker, senior tackle, again a backup but next year ...
No. 78 Pat Coogan, junior interior offensive lineman
No. 77 Ty Chan, sophomore offensive tackle, former four-star recruit
No. 76 Joe Alt, first-team All-American left tackle
No. 75 Sullivan Absher, incoming freshman offensive lineman
No. 74 Billy Schrauth, sophomore left guard, likely starter
No. 73 Andrew Kristofic, fifth-year right guard, likely starter
No. 72 Sam Pendelton, early-enrolled freshman offensive lineman
No. 70 Ashton Craig, sophomore interior offensive lineman
No. 68 Michael Carmody, senior offensive lineman
No. 65 Michael Vinson, sixth-year long snapper, four-year starter
No. 64 Joe Otting, incoming freshman offensive lineman, four-star recruit
No. 59 Aamil Wagner, sophomore offensive tackle
No. 56 Charles Jagusah, incoming freshman offensive lineman, four-star recruit
No. 56 Howard Cross, fifth-year defensive tackle, multi-year starter
No. 55 Chris Terek, incoming freshman offensive lineman, four-star recruit
No. 54 Blake Fisher, junior right tackle, second-year starter
No. 52 Zeke Correll, fifth-year center, third-year starter
No. 51 Boubacar Traore, incoming freshman defensive end, four-star recruit
No. 50 Rocco Spindler, junior offensive guard
No. 47 Jason Onye, junior defensive tackle on the verge of playing time
No. 44 Junior Tuihalamaka, sophomore defensive end, former linebacker
No. 42 Nolan Ziegler, sophomore linebacker, Irish legacy
No. 41 Donovan Hinish, sophomore defensive tackle following in his brother’s footsteps
No. 40 Joshua Burnham, sophomore linebacker-turned-Vyper end
No. 38 Davis Sherwood, junior fullback/H-back, former walk-on
No. 34 Drayk Bowen, early-enrolled freshman linebacker, baseball infielder
No. 32 Spencer Shrader, South Florida transfer kicker
No. 31 Nana Osafo-Mensah, fifth-year defensive end
No. 29 Christian Gray, early-enrolled freshman cornerback coming off a knee injury
No. 29 Matt Salerno, sixth-year receiver, former walk-on
No. 27 JD Bertrand, fifth-year linebacker, third-year starter, possible captain
No. 25 Preston Zinter, early-enrolled freshman linebacker, subtle recruiting win
No. 24 Jack Kiser, fifth-year linebacker, third-year starter, most efficient defender
No. 24 Jadarian Price, sophomore RB, reportedly recovered from an Achilles injury
No. 23 Jaiden Ausberry, early-enrolled freshman linebacker, four-star recruit
No. 22 Ben Minich, early-enrolled freshman safety, four-star recruit
No. 22 Jeremiyah Love, incoming freshman running back, four-star recruit
No. 21 Adon Shuler, early-enrolled freshman safety coming off shoulder surgery
No. 20 Benjamin Morrison, sophomore cornerback, preseason All-American
No. 19 Jaden Greathouse, early-enrolled freshman receiver, Blue-Gold Game star
No. 18 Steve Angeli, sophomore quarterback, competing for the backup role
No. 18 Chance Tucker, junior cornerback
No. 17 Brenan Vernon, incoming freshman defensive end, four-star recruit
No. 17 Rico Flores Jr., early-enrolled freshman receiver, four-star recruit
No. 16 Micah Bell, incoming freshman cornerback, speedy four-star recruit
No. 13 Holden Staes, sophomore tight end, up 20 pounds in a year
No. 12 Penn State RB transfer Devyn Ford gives Notre Dame newly-needed backfield depth, experience
No. 4 Rhode Island transfer safety Antonio Carter gives Notre Dame desperately needed backline depth
