Top Maryland CB recaps Junior Day Clemson visit

Barnes poses with head coach Dabo Swinney

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Tue Mar 10 09:14:13 GMT-04:00 2020

One of the top players in the state of Maryland made the trip to Clemson this past weekend and fell in love. Not with a girl, but with a place.

Three-star 20201 cornerback Ryan Barnes of Gaithersburg (MD) Quince Orchard traveled to Clemson last weekend with his parents for junior day festivities. It was Barnes’ first visit with the Tigers, so he got the full academic and athletic tour of the school.

“I loved the place overall,” Barnes said. “Campus was amazing. There’s a lot to do. The academic portion we got to see kind of surprised me. I knew a lot about the football program. I did a little research on the academic program, but what they do have to offer was a lot more than I expected, which is definitely a great thing. It was a great experience to meet the coaches, see a little bit of the practice. It was just fun for me.”

Barnes met with the coaching staff and got a good idea from them what he could look forward to if he decides to join the Tigers.

“Their plan is to develop the incoming classes to be a great team overall,” Barnes said. “Develop us as players and develop us as men. Make sure we have a plan after football just in case the NFL stuff doesn’t work out. The whole coaching staff is just great people who wants the best for their players. They just don’t want to win, they want to win while developing everybody.”

Barnes also got some one-on-one time with Dabo Swinney and found that to be a fulfilling experience as well.

“He’s a great guy, fun to be around,” Barnes said. “You can tell that he loves what he does and he’s great at what he does. He just expressed how the coaching staff loves me, he loves me, my film, how they could see me playing there and how I could be a great fit for the team.”

Barnes hasn’t taken many visits. He checked out Duke in January. His plan to is to see as many of his offers as possible, but he said Clemson has set the bar high for the rest to meet.

“My parents just were moved by the amount of things they have to offer to help develop me as a person, not just a player,” Barnes said. “They are definitely a big school in my mind right now. Clemson is definitely somewhere I’m going to head back down to. You never know what these schools have to offer until you get there. Being able to get to Clemson was a great experience and definitely opened my eyes to opportunities and what each school has to offer compared to each other.”

This weekend Barnes will visit Tennessee. South Carolina has also offered and he is working on a date to visit the Gamecocks. Some of his other offers are Georgia, Oklahoma, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Michigan, Louisville, Maryland, Southern Cal, Penn State and Kentucky.

“I just want try to get to as many places because you never really know a school until you get there. Getting to these places is going to help me continue to work on the list, try to narrow it down some. Just trying to get to as many places that I can to see what everyone has to offer.”

The 247Sports composite ranks Barnes as the #42 cornerback in the country and the #19 prospect in Maryland for the 2021 class.