[1] Barnes played Tailback and Safety for the Urbana Hawks during their then State record 50 game win streak.
Becoming, along with Billy Gaines and Eric Lenz, one of the only Sophomores to make the start for Dave Carruthers at Urbana.
In 2011, Barnes served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for West Virginia Wesleyan.
[1] Barnes got his first coaching opportunity at the Division I level as a graduate assistant at the University of Florida.
[3][4][5] In 2019, Barnes accepted a job on Ryan Day's staff at Ohio State as assistant secondary coach and special teams coordinator.