LEAD STORY: Khalil Barnes Comes Home to Athens
Khalil Barnes finally wears red and black. The 6-foot, 200-pound safety grew up in Bogart, minutes from Georgia's campus, starred at North Oconee High School, and chose Clemson out of high school. Three seasons and 30 starts later, he lands with the Bulldogs with one year of eligibility remaining and a resume that should make him an immediate factor rather than a depth piece.
The production is real. Barnes leaves Clemson with 139 total tackles, seven interceptions, 11 pass breakups, 6.5 tackles for loss, three forced fumbles and a sack. He was disruptive from the jump, becoming the first Clemson player of the last coaching era to record multiple interceptions and multiple forced fumbles as a true freshman in 2022 and earning Freshman All-America recognition. His best all-around season came in 2024: 61 tackles and four interceptions, third-most in the ACC, on a team that reached the College Football Playoff. The 2025 tape is thinner. Nagging injuries held him to 10 games and nine starts, and he finished with 40 tackles, five quarterback hurries, two pass breakups and one tackle for loss — the first season of his career without an interception.
That 2025 dip is the honest question mark, and it's the one Georgia's staff is betting against. Barnes appears ticketed for the STAR spot, the hybrid slot role where the Bulldogs have repeatedly plugged in transfers and gotten All-SEC play — Tykee Smith earned that honor in 2023 after arriving from West Virginia. With former five-star Joenel Aguero out of the program, fall camp shapes up as Barnes versus sophomore Rasean Dinkins for the job. Georgia lost five secondary players this offseason, so the margin for a slow start is thin. A healthy return to his 2024 form, plus leadership from a brand-new veteran on a defense returning experienced starters at every level, is the version of Barnes that keeps this secondary at its ceiling.
QUICK HITS
- Track and field: Former Georgia Bulldog Curtis Thompson (2015-19) won his fourth straight USATF Championship in the men's javelin on Saturday at Icahn Stadium in New York. It's the sixth national title of his career.
- Track and field: Claire Stegall placed in the top five in the 1500 meters at the USATF Outdoor Championships on Saturday evening, coming just over a month after she won the event at the USATF U20 Championships. Beating a senior national field at that age is the harder of the two results.
- Softball: Georgina Corrick threw a complete-game four-hitter as the defending champion Utah Talons beat the Chicago Bandits 2-1 in Game 1 of the AUSL Championship Series. Utah is one win from back-to-back titles.
- Men's basketball: Texas will play Baylor on Sunday, November 15, at the San Antonio Hoops Showdown inside the Frost Bank Center. Per Texas Athletics, it's the Longhorns' first appearance in San Antonio since the 2003 NCAA Tournament, and it renews the most-played series in program history — the two shared a conference from 1915 until Texas joined the SEC ahead of 2024-25, with 1908 the only season since 1906 they did not meet.
- Football: SEC media picked Texas to finish second in the conference and placed 11 Longhorns on All-SEC teams. Georgia drew the media's preseason nod for the SEC title, LSU was slotted fifth, and Tennessee, Ole Miss, Missouri and Vanderbilt all took their turns processing where the room put them.
PORTAL WATCH
No new entries or commitments to report in the last 12 hours. The portal's fingerprints are all over the roster news anyway: Georgia's STAR competition exists because of one arrival and one departure, and Texas baseball has seen former Longhorns land at Georgia, TCU and Texas Tech. Expect the board to stay quiet until fall camp reshuffles depth charts.
RECRUITING BUZZ
Point guard Tyrone Jamison committed to Baylor, ESPN reported Saturday, giving the Bears a top-50 prospect in a seventh consecutive class. It's a non-conference note with SEC teeth given how often Baylor and Texas cross paths.
Elsewhere on the trail: Asher Ghioto, the nation's No. 2 EDGE in the 2028 class, has six game-day visits lined up this fall, and four-star shooting guard Justin Wise is down to a final six. No SEC program has landed a new pledge overnight.
GAMES TO WATCH
Nothing on the SEC slate today. The nearest must-watch is Game 2 of the AUSL Championship Series, where the Bandits have to solve Utah's pitching or hand over the trophy. On the calendar: Texas-Baylor in San Antonio on November 15, and fall camps opening across the league within weeks.
