Illinois Football: 7 Illini players who have struggled so far in 2023

5. Tarique Barnes – Linebacker

Coming into the 2023 campaign, I was fully expecting Tarique Barnes to have a big year. He was entering his fifth season with the program, and this was his time to shine on the football field.

Before week one, Barnes earned preseason All-Big Ten honorable mention by both the coaches and media. This is a great honor and shows that a lot of people had high expectations for this kid. Through two weeks, though, things haven’t gone well.

Barnes wasn’t terrible against Toledo, going for seven tackles and a sack, but he struggled against Kansas and their running game. The starting linebacker would only have two total tackles in the loss.

The grades for Barnes bear out that he is having a bad season through two games. He has played 63 snaps at the line of scrimmage and 72 snaps in a more traditional linebacker role. Pro Football Focus has Barnes with a defensive grade of 43.2 so far this season. This ranks No. 691 out of 695 players who are classified as an edge defender.

The best grade for Barnes comes in the pass rush department. His one sack in game one helped boost his grade up to 71.2 among all edge defenders. The lowest grade is a bad one, though. Barnes’ coverage grade, which is one that hurts because that is what he is doing when playing the more traditional linebacker role, is 29.6. This ranks dead last among all edge defenders. It would also rank second-to-last among linebackers.

Barnes had a grade of 63.2 last season. I know this kid can play football, but he has had a rough start to the 2023 campaign. He needs to up his game for the big matchup this weekend against Penn State.