Highly recruited offensive lineman Jalin Barnett officially visited Arkansas with his grandmother for the Northern Illinois game on Sept. 20.
Redshirt freshman defensive lineman Ke’Tyrus Marks was one of two players that hosted Barnett on Friday night of the trip and sophomore offensive linemen Denver Kirkland hosted on Saturday.
“I could see some of the similarities between us,” said Barnett of Kirkland. “I met his family. He has a really nice family. Denver was really cool to me.”
Barnett, 6-4, 305 pounds, is rated the No. 1 offensive guard and the nation's No. 43 overall prospect by ESPN. He has more than 50 scholarship offers, including schools like Arkansas, Oklahoma, Oregon State, Oklahoma State, Alabama, Stanford and Tennessee.
It appears Barnett will visit Oklahoma State this weekend and Oklahoma on Nov. 8. He also plans to visit Oregon State. He and his grandmother spent time at Coach Bret Bielema’s home the first day of the visit.
“I can tell he’s one of those that’s not a line coach that really like linemen,” said Barnett, who was featured in Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “I can tell he really wants me to be successful if I chose to go to that school. I can tell he wants me to successful more on the college level than on a football level.”
Lawton, Okla. Coach Randy Breeze said Barnett’s performance last week was the most dominant game he's ever seen by an offensive lineman. He graded 95 precent and had 18 pancake blocks.
Barnett, a major Arkansas target, accumulated two pancakes on one play and almost had a third.
“I guess my reaction was really fast, so as soon as I pancaked the end, the backer just came over the top and I just hit him and he just fell,” Barnett said. “There was a lot of trash all over the place so I just tried to jump over those two and hit the safety and he stumbles back off and he couldn’t make the tackle either.”
He enjoys the physical play on the line.
“I feel like I prove myself when I come off ball as hard as I can and just lay someone out,” he said.
Most defensive linemen usually have had enough of Barnett after several plays into the first quarter.
“They quit,” Barnett said. “They don’t want to try anymore against me.”
Barnett is an imposing sight for defenders as he pulls and blocks on the edge.
“Some guys try to cheap shot me and try and take my knees out and some guys just runaway.” Barnett said.