Illinois tight end Daniel Barker remembers his first touchdown reception against Minnesota in 2018. His favorite touchdown catch came against Penn State in the 2020 season finale on a bubble screen.
But maybe no touchdown catch will be as memorable as the one he had against Charlotte last week because that was his 10th touchdown reception in an Illinois uniform – a record for an Illini tight end.
“It means a lot,” Barker said on Tuesday about owning the record. “I can’t thank the lord enough, thank my team, the o-line for protecting and being able to help me make history.”
The record game on a pass from Illini quarterback Brandon Peters on a 10-yard pass-through traffic. Barker had to make a nice play on the ball by reaching to his left, but he was still able to pull it in despite the pass being slightly behind him.
“Once I turned my head, I saw it was coming, stuff like that is a routine catch,” Barker said. “That kind of came easy to me, that’s why I caught it and kind of walked away. I got to make the play for my quarterback, by any means, I have to make it.”
Barker didn’t know that he had broken the record, and neither did his teammates. But when the news was shared with the team in the locker room after the 24-14 victory, there was a celebration that was right up Barker, a Florida native’s, alley.
“As soon as the game was over, they broke the news,” wide receiver Casey Washington said. “I was in shock because we don’t talk about records like that. When he broke it, that’s huge, so we are excited for him. Turned the music on, turned some Florida music on, for him the locker room.
“DJ is DJ every day,” Washington continued to say. “I mean obviously that’s a high moment for him and the team, but he’s himself every day. When he does these big things on the field or off the field, he’s DJ so we’re happy for him.”
Barker didn’t come to Illinois as a highly-touted recruit in the 2018 recruiting class. Illinois was his only Power 5 offer coming out of Deerfield Beach High School in South Florida. But despite the lack of high major interest, Barker came to Illinois with a purpose.
“Records are meant to be broken,” Barker said. “That’s kind of what I came to Illinois for, to break records. I didn’t have no idea, but I went out there and gave it 110% and went out there and broke the record.”
The catch against Charlotte was Barker’s third touchdown reception of the season, which is one shy of his career-high mark of four in 2019. Of his nine catches this season, three of them are touchdowns, which has effectively made him the Illini’s best red-zone target in the passing game.
But Barker has always been a threat in the passing game as a tight end. He has the footwork, ball skills and hands of a wide receiver all wrapped up in his 6-foot-4, 250-pound frame. He knows he’s good at catching the ball, he didn’t need the touchdown record to know that. What Barker has made a point to improve – and how he has changed the most from his first touchdown catch vs. Minnesota in 2018 – is in the blocking game.
“My game has changed tremendously,” he said. “Just me lining up, full-speed, smashing somebody. Just wanting to block and take heads off. Stuff like that, that’s where my game has changed tremendously over the course of time. Those things the passing stuff is pretty natural, so I just want to go out there and put somebody on their butt.”
This season, Barker has already moved into the top-10 in career receiving yards, by an Illini tight end. He currently ranks eighth in program history, but could potentially get all the way up to fourth on the all-time receiving yards by a tight end list. Barker doesn’t know what the next record he could break is, instead he’s going to just keep giving 110 percent.
“We are going to keep going out there and giving it 110 percent,” Barker said. “We’ll see when we make the play.”
