One of the true freshmen standouts on Clemson’s defense so far this season has been safety Khalil Barnes, and the former Wake Forest commit made his presence felt against the Demon Deacons on Saturday at Death Valley.
The Tigers’ lone takeaway of their 17-12 victory was caused by Barnes, who stripped the ball from wide receiver Wesley Grimes’ grasp on a Wake Forest possession in the second quarter before safety R.J. Mickens recovered the forced fumble.
It was the latest big play from Barnes, who has had a number of them in his first year as a Tiger. The 6-foot, 195-pounder particularly shined in Clemson’s win over Florida Atlantic last month, when he shared defensive player of the game honors after posting five tackles (one for loss), two pass breakups, a forced fumble and his first career interception.
Barnes enrolled early at Clemson in January and had a big spring, coming up with the game-winning pick-six in the Tigers’ April spring game, but did Dabo Swinney expect him to make as much of an impact as he has thus far this year?
Clemson’s head coach was asked that question following Saturday’s game against Wake.
“Yeah, I did,” Swinney said. “After watching him through the spring and then watching him, just being around him in the summer – just who he is and how mature he is, and watching him in camp – yeah, we expected him to be a dude for us.”
On Saturday, Barnes — a former three-star recruit who originally committed to Wake Forest before later narrowing his college decision to Clemson, Oklahoma and Notre Dame — became the first Clemson freshman to force multiple fumbles in a season since Myles Murphy in 2020 (three).
The Georgia native also joined Murphy and Stephone Anthony — both of whom were first-round NFL Draft picks — as the only Clemson players in Swinney’s tenure to force multiple fumbles in their freshman seasons.
Similar to fellow freshman star Tyler Brown, who has been a breakout receiver for the Tigers this season after enrolling in the summer, Swinney isn’t surprised by Barnes’ early contributions on the defensive side of the ball.
“Just like we thought Tyler Brown, and we didn’t get Tyler until the summer. But after going through the camp and everything with him, we’re like, ‘OK, this kid’s going to help us right out of the gate, he’s ready,’ and so he has,” Swinney said. “Khalil, we just had a chance to be around a lot longer, since January.”
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