‘Superman’ steps into NIU offense: Former SVN player of the year Barnas helps out Huskies’ run game

ATHENS, Ohio – With Northern Illinois looking for someone to give the Huskies another option in the run game, safety Garrett Barnas seemed to fit what they were looking for.

Barnas had the first carry on a speed sweep during NIU’s 38-31 loss at Ohio on Saturday and finished with three rushing yards, an incomplete pass and served as a decoy on other runs.

“The first play, I’m not going to lie, I was pretty nervous carrying the ball,” Barnas said. “But it was fine after I got the hang of it.”

NIU entered Saturday’s game banged up at running back, with injuries to Chad Spann (shoulder) and Me’co Brown (ankle) limiting them in practice.

“We wanted them to know we were going to stretch the field both vertically and horizontally and we wanted to do what with Garrett,” NIU offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover said. “I think he helped us early on because it showed were weren’t just going to be a between-the-tackles team against them.”

So why Barnas, now a safety and a former junior college quarterback?

“He’s a phenomenal athlete,” Limegrover said. “By all accounts, he should be the starting quarterback at Syracuse right now. He had a scholarship offer that they pulled and we were lucky enough that he wanted to stay close enough to home. In junior college he could really run. He could run around and make plays.”

Barnas’ first pass at the FBS level, a 20-yarder to wideout Marcus Lewis, fell just short.

“The pass, they had it,” Barnas said. “I usually mess around [throwing passes] in practice, before games.”

Spann, who finished with 32 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries (Brown had 16 yards on 11 carries and Chandler Harnish led NIU in rushing with 41 yards on 11 carries) said his shoulder was “all right” after the game.

“My shoulder is pretty down still, but I played as much as I could and the coaches thought I could,” Spann said.

Spann added that what hurts the most isn’t impact with a defender.

“Not as much impact as it is falling down,” Spann said. “Falling down and getting back up is the hardest thing. Holding the ball and running with it, that doesn’t bother me at all.”