Ryan Barnes is a sought-after cornerback prospect in the 2021 class, and his phone is blowing up on a daily basis as he communicates with many coaches from the 30-plus programs on his offer list.

The Gaithersburg (Md.) Quince Orchard standout recently spoke with The Clemson Insider and named some of the schools he has been in contact with most often of late.

“Clemson, Notre Dame, Florida State, USC, Penn State, Michigan, Duke, Virginia, Virginia Tech,” Barnes listed. “That’s just from the past week who I’ve heard from a lot, but there’s a lot more schools that I’ve had good communication with.”

Barnes (6-2, 180) received an offer from Clemson in February and stays in touch with cornerbacks coach Mike Reed, defensive coordinator Brent Venables and defensive player development coach Miguel Chavis.

“Those are the big three that I’ve talked a lot with, and we check in with each other, see how each other’s doing,” Barnes said. “We talk ball sometimes and then we talk about why Clemson would be a good place for me and my family because the decision’s not just about me, it will have an effect on my family. So, just being able to know that I’ll be taken care of while I’m there, just talking about stuff like that. It’s been good with all of them.”

According to Barnes, the Tigers aren’t just recruiting him as a cornerback but as a defensive back in general due to his versatility.

“[If I go there], we can try out the spots and figure out what’s going to be best for the team and best for me because I’m able to play multiple positions,” he said. “That’s kind of what we talked about.”

Barnes made visits to Clemson, Maryland, Georgia, Tennessee and Duke this year before the NCAA suspended all in-person recruiting in response to COVID-19. There are still a bunch of schools he hopes to be able to check out after the NCAA’s dead period is lifted, whenever that may be. It was recently extended through at least May 31.

“Me and my family are still looking to try to get some visits to schools we haven’t seen before, just because we like those schools,” Barnes said. “We want to get to as many as we can. Hopefully if this opens up in this July period, we’re able to get to as many as we can. Because you never know where the best place for me is going to be, so just trying to figure out where that is, is something that we’re looking forward to.”

The lone visit Barnes has on the calendar right now is one to Michigan this summer,

“We’re trying to figure out what other places we’re going to try to get to, but that’s the only one that we have a scheduled date for,” he said.

As of now, Barnes is still eyeing a preseason commitment so ideally, he can devote full attention to his senior campaign.

“That is still the plan,” he said. “I still want to be able to focus on the season, be able to focus on what I have to do during the season. So, the plan is still to do it before the season. Even with all this, that’s still pretty much the plan.”

Whenever the time comes for Barnes to sit down and render a commitment, a few factors will carry a lot of weight in his college choice.

“My parents always told me academics first, so just the school that’ll have the major I want to study,” he said of what will be important to him in the decision-making process. “There’s three of them – marine biology, criminology or psychology – any of those three I have interest in studying in college. So, academics, having my major, then it would be just the campus environment. If football wasn’t in the picture, could I still see myself going to the school and being happy there? Then finally, just on the athletic piece, a coaching staff that plans to develop me for the next level because a dream of mine is to be able to play in the NFL.”

Barnes visited Clemson for the first time when he attended the program’s junior day on March 7. The Tigers made a great impression on the standout DB and remain in a good spot in his recruitment.

“They’re definitely high for me,” he said. “I got a chance to go on campus. I love the campus. I loved my time there. The coaching staff was amazing. The atmosphere that it had, it felt like a home. So, they’re definitely high on my list for me. I love the school.”

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