Tarique Barnes was just coming into his own when his 2020 football season was ripped away from him. Barnes was experiencing a surprise breakout season for Illinois at linebacker, but when he suffered a broken ankle in Illinois’ blow-out win against Nebraska.

What made the injury so frustrating for Barnes was that he was putting together another really impressive game for the Illini defense. Barnes recorded his first career interception against the Huskers and had totaled seven tackles for the second consecutive week.

Before he knew it, he was being helped off the field with a broken ankle and the rest of his 2020 season was quickly over with three games remaining on the schedule.

When Illinois opened training camp on Monday, it was the first time that Barnes was able to put a helmet on and participate in a team setting since his broken ankle.

“It defiantly put me in a different mindset,” Barnes said of his ankle rehab. “It really helped me appreciate the smaller details of the game. I’m back now. I want to put that chapter behind me.”

Barnes has been successful at putting his past behind him in his Illinois career. Barnes wasn’t a highly recruited target coming out of East High School in Memphis. That didn’t prevent former linebackers coach Miles Smith from finding Barnes.

The 6-foot-1, 230-pound linebacker contributed to the Illini as a freshman in 2019. He played in all 13 games, mostly on special teams and was actually one of the team’s best special teams players. Barnes had 12 special teams tackles and forced a fumble in just his second career game at UConn.

Barnes continued to impress in the 2020 season-opener against Wisconsin. After starting linebacker Jake Hansen left the game with a concussion, Barnes was substituted into the game and quickly made his presence known with a fumble recovery for a touchdown. But just a few weeks later Barnes suffered what he called his first real injury.

“That was actually my first, so it was very different for me,” Barnes said. “I just took it one day at a time knowing that I still had a lot that I wanted to accomplish with this team and at this university, so just taking it one day at a time, keeping my head up about everything and knowing that one day I am going to be back. It was easy after that.”

Barnes wasn’t the only Illinois linebacker to suffer a season-ending injury, Khalan Tolson tore his ACL the week after Barnes and Shammond Cooper broke his ankle too. The three were able to go through rehab together, which Barnes said made it easier.

“Honestly, it made it a lot easier because we were all working towards that same goal of getting back healthy,” Barnes said. “Then we worked in the same unit, so it made it a lot more motivating to be around people who were going through the same things.”

Due to their rehab, Barnes, Tolson and Cooper weren’t able to participate in spring football, but that didn’t stop them from building a relationship and learning his new assignments with new Illinois inside linebacker coach Andy Buh.

“We basically turned them into coaches,” Buh said. “We always say, ‘The teacher learns the most.’ So, as we were going through it, they were watching the film. They weren’t actually experiencing it out on the field, but they were verbalizing it, they were teaching it. They got their reps in a different way, which they are profiting off of now that they can play.”

Barnes made his return to the field on Monday and while many players have some hesitancy getting back on the field, Barnes made a point to work through that this summer so he wouldn’t have to this fall.

“I feel like truthfully there is a mental block, but before I put myself out here for camp, I think I did a great job of working through those things that I might have been worried about when I got to this point,” he said. “I feel like I’m good with that, nothing that bothers me now.”

Barnes is expected to be a major contributor to the Illinois defense this season and even though he’s only been in practice for a couple of days, Buh can already see that Barnes has an ability to make a big impact for the Illini defense.

“I really love what I’m seeing out of Tarique,” Buh said. “You can tell that he really studied what we are doing and it’s showing out on the field. He’s got really good athleticism, vision and he’s a natural at some of the things that he does.”