Barnas taking a bite out of NIU
A little over a week ago, Northern Illinois University’s football team concluded practice with one-on-one drills at the goal line.
A few minutes later, Garrett Barnas walked off the field with sore arms, legs and back, thinking about what it had been like to be a quarterback when such drills were usually avoided.
“I am pretty sore right now,” Barnas said over the phone a few minutes later. “But it was a lot of fun.
“There are some big boys up here that can move pretty good. I am still trying to get used to it a little.”
A two-time SVN football player of the year (2005 & 2006) who led the Bureau Valley Storm to a Class 3A state championship in 2005, Barnas is not only adjusting to life at a Division I school but also to a new position.
Barnas played the last two seasons as the starting quarterback at Harper College in Palatine. While there, he set pretty much every passing record in the Harper book. With NIU, he’s been moved to strong safety.
Last December, he accepted a scholarship to Syracuse University, where he would get a crack at the quarterback position. A few weeks later, Barnas was left out in the cold when a coaching change cost him his scholarship.
New Syracuse coach Doug Marrone decided to rescind the scholarship offer to Barnas.
Barnas had to start back at square one to figure out where to continue his playing career. He decided to make his first stop DeKalb.
After meeting with coach Jerry Kill and several members of his staff, Barnas was sold on the Huskies and his search was over.
“I knew after talking with the coaches that this was the place that I wanted to be,” Barnas said. “I’ve learned that you have to pick a place where you feel comfortable with the coaches. If you don’t mix with them, then it’s not worth it. Here I was impressed from the start.
“I didn’t go anywhere else after that. I let them know almost immediately that I’d be walking on with them.”
Barnas started taking classes this summer and participated in team workouts.
The reality of playing NIU, though, was that there wasn’t a spot open for him to play quarterback.
At Harper, Barnas moved up from third to first string his freshman year due to injuries to the quarterbacks ahead of him. Once he got his chance, Barnas did not relinquish the position.
NIU is set at QB. Chandler Harnish earned the position as a freshman last season, when the Huskies went 6-7 and played in the Independence Bowl.
This meant that Barnas was going to have to flip to the other side of the ball.
“They told me from the start that if I came, I’d be a defensive back,” Barnas said. “I knew that. I looked at it like I wanted to do whatever I could to get out on the field.
“I was OK with the move. It’s just the process of learning the system and getting used to being on this side of the field that is tough. It is kind of nice delivering the hits again. At Harper, I was usually the one getting hit around.”
Barnas is listed as a strong safety on the team’s website.
He joins an experienced group in the defensive backfield led by senior David Bryant, who started 13 games last year at free safety, and sophomore Tracy Wilson, who appeared in 13 games at strong safety.
“I think we’re going to be pretty strong defensively,” Barnas said. “I know a lot of people don’t think about defense when they hear MAC, but we want to be the exception. I think it could happen.”
Barnas is expected to add to the depth that may give NIU one of the most stout defensive backfields in the Mid-American Conference.
“Right now, I am at a point where I have to get back to just reacting out there,” Barnas said. “I am out there thinking too much and worried about my footwork. Once that starts becoming more natural, I think I’ll start progressing up the depth chart more.”
NIU opens the season on Sept. 5 against Wisconsin in Madison.
