Anthony "A.T." Barnes took a long path to Georgia Tech, where he started three games at outside linebacker last season as a redshirt freshman. Part of the 2005 recruiting class, he did not enroll until Jan. 2006 after the NCAA flagged a class he took at Calhoun High before transferring to Cartersville.

He redshirted that fall, and last season had 29 tackles and assists and a fumble recovery. He's a good bet, but not guaranteed, to start this season. Barnes, who will be 23 in Jan., spoke with The Journal-Constitution's Matt Winkeljohn.

Q: How different is the team "vibe" with a new coach (Paul Johnson)?

A: Oh yeah, it's totally different just because of the coaches. The years that I've been here, the beef between coaches, the defensive staff and the offensive staff ... they've kind of been at battle with each other and that rubbed off on us as players.

That was the first thing [Johnson] talked about, that chemistry has got to be as one.

Q: What was wrong with chemistry before?

A: As it went along, we [defensive players] would get mad at them [offensive players] if they weren't doing their job, and they would get mad at us if we weren't doing our job. It wasn't like, 'We got your back,' or 'You got ours.' We were beefing with each other all around.

Q: You still going to play strongside linebacker?

A: It's still the strongside (where a tight end or H-back is aligned), really, but we're just backed up off the line. It's different because I'm not used to playing in space. I was up on the tight end. Now, I'll be playing in the [tackle] box [instead of outside the defensive end], I've got to learn how to take small steps.

Q: Bottom line: better or worse?

A: [Defensive coordinator Dave Wommack] has made it real simple for [linebackers]. Last year, we had to disguise things. We're still going to disguise some, but he just wants us to play the run, go hit. Basically, they're letting us [linebackers] play free, and everybody else is going to do the hard work. He's making it easy for us.

Q: Can this defense be better than last year's?

A: It's going to be much better because last year was just a whole bunch of chaos, crazy business for everybody. Sometimes, we got ourselves confused so we couldn't really understand what everybody else was doing.

Bonus Q: Why A.T. instead of A.B.?

A: It's my middle name, Tyrone.