Top safety target plans to visit Clemson twice more this season

Khalil Barnes plans to visit Clemson two more times.

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Tue Oct 11 17:36:42 GMT-04:00 2022

One of Clemson’s top remaining safety targets plans to visit Clemson two more times before the end of the regular season.

Three-star safety Khalil Barnes (5-11 175) of Bogart (GA) North Oconee, just outside of Athens, has seen two schools come after him the hardest since he decommitted from Wake Forest earlier this month. Both have been involved with him for an extended period. And he said there are some new teams starting to get involved, including that team just a few miles down the road from his home.

“Ole Miss has reached out a good bit, and I went to Georgia this past weekend, and they are really interested,” Barnes said. “None of the schools have offered at this point.”

Clemson was the last offer for Barnes and that came in late September. He has visited twice, the last coming in April for the spring game. But now he has plans to see the Tigers twice before the season is over.

“I’m going to Clemson October 22nd for the Syracuse game for an unofficial visit, and I’m going for an official visit when they play South Carolina last game of the season. And I’m going to try to get back up to Wake. Them and Clemson are definitely recruiting me the hardest I feel.”

Clemson safeties coach Mickey Conn is handling the recruiting for the Tigers, and Barnes said their conversations are something he really enjoys.

“More than football, it’s been more life talk, checking in,” Barnes said. “Asking me how my team is doing. They really want you to know that they are recruiting you to be a part of their team. The end of every conversation Coach Conn always ends it up, ‘You know we need you now, we’d love for you to be a Tiger.’ I get a lot of that for sure.”

Barnes, of course, lives in the shadow of Sanford Stadium at Georgia and has been the campus many times over the years, but he said as long as there’s no offer from Georgia, there’s no interest from him. He said his focus is on the schools that have offered.

Barnes is looking at a decision sometime in December because he plans to sign later that month and enroll in January.