Former Georgia Tech defensive tackle T.J. Barnes conceded that he wasn’t always so focused on a diploma. When he arrived on campus in 2008, his main priority was playing time and creating a path to the NFL.
Barnes achieved those goals, but thanks to a maturing perspective on the value of a degree, he will cross that off the list, too. Barnes will be one of 72 current or former Tech athletes, managers or trainers who will graduate Saturday. Former Tech football stars Gary Guyton and Joshua Nesbitt will be among them.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Barnes, who will receive a degree in management.
Barnes’ Tech career ended with the 2012 season, setting a record with teammate Rod Sweeting for most career games (54) in a Yellow Jackets uniform. He was not drafted, but went to training camp with the Jacksonville Jaguars and was signed to the New York Jets’ practice squad in October. The Jets signed Barnes to their offseason roster following the season.
Prodded by coaches and teammates, namely former roommates Jamal Paige, Malcolm Munroe and Antonio Wilson, Barnes returned to Tech to finish work on his degree. During college, he said, he began to realize how fleeting an NFL career could be.
A degree “was going to benefit me later on in life,” he said. “You can get hurt in a quick second, and what else do you have to lay back on?”
Without spring practice, meetings with coaches or mandatory breakfasts, Barnes had to adjust to the free time, which he said he spent sleeping and working out. As part of the athletic department’s program to defray school fees for former athletes, Barnes also video recorded Tech baseball games.
Barnes’ graduation is the final piece in a considerable achievement for his 2008 signing class. Of the 15 players who stayed at Tech four years or longer, all 15 have received a Tech degree. That’s Barnes, Jon Lockhart, B.J. Machen, Daniel McKayhan, Nick McRae, Munroe, Embry Peeples, Rashaad Reid, Phil Smith, Steven Sylvester, Omoregie Uzzi, Tevin Washington, Richard Watson, Antonio Wilson and Marcus Wright. Remarkably, of the five who transferred, at least four graduated elsewhere.
The 2008 signees, retained or hastily recruited after coach Paul Johnson replaced Chan Gailey, are part of the considerable academic progress the football team has made since Johnson’s hire. The perfect graduation rate for a single football class is the first in several years for Tech.
Said Barnes, “I didn’t want to be the only one that didn’t have it.”
When he walks across the stage at McCamish Pavilion on Saturday, he will need not worry any more.
