The West Virginia Mountaineers football program has added a key piece on the offensive side of the ball with a commitment from Northern Illinois tight end transfer Grayson Barnes.
Barnes, 6-foot-5, 225-pounds, is an experienced option spending two seasons with the Huskies and two more at American River College.
During his time at Northern Illinois, Barnes hauled in 54 passes for 760 yards and 9 touchdowns as a key pass catching option on the team.
Prior to that the athletic tight end was an all-American in 2022 at American River where he hauled in 38 passes for 526 yards and 4 touchdowns in 2022. He also had a productive season the year before with 23 catches for 381 yards and a touchdown in his first year at the school.
The California native entered into the transfer portal once the spring window opened and committed to the Mountaineers following an official visit to campus.
Tight ends coach Michael Nysewander served as the lead recruiter.
Barnes gives West Virginia a versatile option at the position in a room which is lacking for numbers and becomes the second transfer tight end on the roster along with Jacksonville State tight end Jacob Barrick.
Barnes has one season of eligibility remaining.
WVSports.com breaks down the transfer commitment of Barnes and what it means to the West Virginia Mountaineers football program both now and in the future.
The data:
Over his two seasons at Northern Illinois, Barnes played a total of 773 snaps and the majority of those were spent as a pass catcher with 510 of those coming in that area. A total of 489 of those were spent as snaps where he was utilized on a receiving route.
Barnes was targeted a total of 94 times over his two seasons with the program and hauled in 54 catches for 760 yards and 9 scores. He is versatile as Barnes lined up both in the slot 264 times and only 215 snaps in-line. The versatile tight end also was used even out wide on 43 snaps during that time.
Barnes had an average depth of target of 10.4 yards, while he demonstrated the ability to not only make contested catches with 8 in 22 attempts but create yardage after the catch with 355 yards of his total output coming after he had reeled in the pass.
Barnes had a total of 261 blocking snaps over his career and did not permit a sack, but he has been most effectively used as a pass catching option that can move around.
The Mountaineers have landed an experienced option that can fill a number of roles and bring more options and opportunities to what West Virginia wants to do on the offensive side of the ball.
Fitting the program:
West Virginia only had three other tight ends on the roster in Barrick, redshirt senior Gregory Genross and redshirt sophomore Colin McBee so this is a very welcomed addition to the room. Add to the fact that Barnes brings a lot of versatility in how the coaching staff can use him and it’s an exciting addition for a lot of reasons.
Barnes had been productive at every stop over his college career and now will have the opportunity to showcase that at the power four level in an offense that wants to highlight the tight ends given what they can bring in terms of mismatches and not allowing a defense to substitute.
Recruiting the position:
Even with Barnes in the fold, West Virginia could still look at adding another tight end to the room considering the overall numbers at this stage of the off-season. Still, Barnes is more of a non-traditional type of weapon at the position so the focus will likely be on more of a blocking style option to complement what is already there.
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