Illinois Football: 3 key Illini players against the Wyoming offense

3. Tarique Barnes

In the weekly interview with the coaches of the Illinois football program, head coach Bret Bielema talked about the Illini middle linebacker situation.

Bielema would mention that Illinois has three middle linebackers who have the talent to start but only two can start for the Orange and Blue. The three names he mentioned were Tarique Barnes, CJ Hart, and Isaac Darkangelo.

I believe all three will be big for Illinois if we want to beat Wyoming on Saturday, but Barnes is the middle linebacker who I think needs to have the biggest game out of all of the talented linebackers.

Barnes made All-Big Ten fourth team last season. He would finish the campaign with 80 tackles, five pass deflections, two forced fumbles, two sacks, and an interception. He led the team in both tackles and forced fumbles.

Coming into this season, Barnes is going to be looked at as one of the best players on the Illinois defense. His versatility will be extremely important against Wyoming’s offense.

Barnes isn’t just a one-trick pony. As mentioned earlier, he led Illinois in tackles and forced fumbles. He also ranked No. 5 in sacks, No. 3 in pass deflections, and No. 2 in interceptions. With playing a 3-4 defense, we are going to need Barnes to play downhill as Wyoming will try to run the ball a lot.

Having a player like Barnes will also enable Illinois to drop him back to give Wyoming’s starting quarterback troubles. He can cover any slot receiver or tight end. Barnes will be extremely invaluable. That is why I think he is one of the key players in stopping the Cowboys’ offense on Saturday.