A couple of days after helping lead Gaithersburg (Md.) Quince Orchard over Gambrills (Md.) Arundel 69-32 in the quarterfinals of the 4A Maryland state playoffs last November, Ryan Barnes landed his first scholarship offer.
It wasn’t a small Football Championship Subdivision school in the mid-Atlantic like you may expect. It came from the Tennessee Volunteers, which opened the gate for future offers to come, and his recruitment became a whirlwind in the six months that followed.
Likely the most hectic recruiting week for Barnes was Jan. 22-29, as he landed offers from Florida, Georgia, Louisville, LSU, Michigan, Oklahoma, Penn State and South Carolina.
This was the first year that February was a recruiting dead period, but that didn’t equate to things slowing down for the 6-2, 180-pounder. Barnes added offers from Arizona State, Clemson, Florida State, Kansas, Kentucky, USC and Virginia.
When visits opened back up in March, Barnes checked out Clemson and Tennessee, but then the coronavirus pandemic unfortunately shut down all recruiting visits. The rising senior had a visit set up to see Notre Dame on April 7 but that was cancelled. He was also planning to check out East Carolina, Michigan, Penn State, Virginia and Virginia Tech.
It seemed likely that Barnes would have earned an offer from the Irish during his South Bend visit, so without it, the coaching staff decided to go ahead and offer the rangy defensive back March 25.
“Coach [Terry] Joseph wanted to talk, so I called him and I got the good news,” Barnes previously told BlueandGold.com. “It was very exciting. Notre Dame has been a team I’ve watched since I was a kid. I’m definitely a fan of the school, and I have family that lives in Indiana.
“This is definitely an exciting opportunity for me and my family. They definitely rank high for me. I’m just really excited about this.”
In April, Barnes added a few new offers, most notably from Oregon on April 23, but much of that month was building relationships with the big-time programs that were after him the hardest.
May was the same. The NCAA extended the dead period through the end of July, so all Barnes could do was continue to keep up the coaches via Zoom and other video chat formats.
Barnes has family on his mom’s side of the family that lives in Warsaw, Ind., about an hour drive from Notre Dame, so he had been on campus several years ago. He and his family’s familiarity with campus and the Hoosier State helped the Irish ultimately win Barnes’ recruitment.
He took to social media to announce his pledge to the Irish on Saturday in a very neat reveal. Click here to view Barnes’ tweet.
With how much Barnes’ recruiting process heat up in the past couple months and so many prospects locking in spots, he wanted to work on finding his home, and he did just that with the Fighting Irish.
It was a full team effort by Notre Dame to land him as defensive line coach Mike Elston and recruiting director Aaryn Kearney having early contact with Barnes, and defensive backs coaches Mike Mickens and Terry Joseph did a great job building a relationship with him.
Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly and defensive coordinator Clark Lea helped seal the deal as well.
“They believe in what they’re doing,” Barnes said of the Notre Dame staff. “They’re all different people, but every time I talk to them individually, it’s the same thing. One person isn’t preaching one thing and one is saying something else. They’re on the same page and all want the same thing for the program, which is to win a national championship.”
Barnes is the third defensive back pledge for the Irish, joining Bolingbrook (Ill.) High’s Justin Walters and Valrico (Fla.) Bloomingdale’s Philip Riley.
He is Notre Dame's 11th commit of the 2021 class, which ranks inside the top 15 in the Rivals team rankings.
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