Khalil Barnes

Senior safety on Georgia's 2026 roster.

S · Georgia · Sr. · #7

6′0″ · 200 lb · Athens, GA · North Oconee

CFB Index 41 · #352 of 544 safetiesMedium confidenceTransferred Clemson → Georgia for 2026

Next upSat Sep 19 · 12 pm ETat ArkansasRazorback StadiumGeorgia by 24.5

Recruiting

4★

ATH recruit

No. 399 nationally · Signed with Clemson

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 safety on Georgia's 2025 roster.

Signed as a 4-star recruit to Clemson in 2023.
Transferred from Clemson to Georgia in 2026.

His career, year by year

How he projects

Moves between deep coverage and the slot.

Grades highest in play recognition and speed.

The full scouting read

Khalil Barnes

S · Georgia · Sr · #7

Moves between deep coverage and the slot. He got to Georgia by way of Clemson. His first career honor landed in 2023: ACC Defensive Back Player of the Week. The receipt: 9 tackles, 1 TFL against Duke — Week 10, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
portal record
recognition record
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

3 seasons under Dabo Swinney — 26-14 over that span.

2023Clemson9-4HC: Dabo Swinney · Balanced, fast tempo

2024Clemson10-4HC: Dabo Swinney · Balanced

2025Clemson7-6HC: Dabo Swinney · Balanced

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

41Rotational starter #352 of 544?

Medium confidenceFading6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: qb hurries (92nd percentile). Concern: sacks (24th percentile).

Box-score production (6)

QB hurries#188 / 2975 · 92nd pct

Solo tackles#790 / 2975 · 73rd pct

Tackles#906 / 2975 · 69th pct

Passes defended#777 / 2975 · 67th pct

Tackles for loss#1936 / 2975 · 28th pct

1.0

Sacks#1575 / 2975 · 24th pct

0.0

Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 10 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home6g	3.8	0.2	0.0	0.2
Road4g	4.2	0.0	0.0	0.2

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-74g	2.0	0.0	0.0	0.2
Weeks 8+6g	5.3	0.2	0.0	0.2

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Kirby Smart

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Part-time starter

Tackle volume for the position in part-time-starter range.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

41 · #352 of 544 safeties

Former four-star. Now #352 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	Clemson	40	24	1.0	0.0	2	--	--
2024	Clemson	57	33	0.5	0.0	4	4	--
2023	Clemson	38	33	5.0	1.0	6	3	--
Career		135	90	6.5	1.0	12	7	--

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 10 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	INT	PD	Note
Wk 1	L 10-17vs LSU	0	0	0.0	—	0
Wk 4	L 21-34vs Syracuse	1	1	0.0	—	0
Wk 6	W 38-10@ North Carolina	4	3	0.0	—	1
Wk 7	W 41-10@ Boston College	3	2	0.0	—	0
Wk 8	L 24-35vs SMU	5	3	0.0	—	0
Wk 10	L 45-46vs Duke	9	5	1.0	—	0	Season-high 9 tackles
Wk 11	W 24-10vs Florida State	5	2	0.0	—	1
Wk 12	W 20-19@ Louisville	5	3	0.0	—	0
Wk 13	W 45-10vs Furman	3	2	0.0	—	0
Wk 14	W 28-14@ South Carolina	5	3	0.0	—	0
Total		40	24	1.0	—	2

How he plays

Play style

Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.

CFB Index positional classification

Activity vs finishing · season enumeration

What the box score actually says

10 games

40Tackles

24Solo

1TFL

0Sacks

2Pass def.

0INT

40 tackles. 2 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 1 TFL.

Week 61 PD
Week 111 PD

Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.

DNA match

Player DNA

Hybrid Nickel

Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Bralen Trahan’s 2021 season.

Bralen Trahan

94%match

Louisiana · 2021

All-Sun Belt

Kendrick Simpkins

Western Kentucky · 2022

91%

Isaiah Taylor

Arizona · 2022

86%

Henry Blackburn

Colorado State · 2021

86%

Dashaun Jerkins

Vanderbilt · 2021

85%

Matches Bralen on

PD rate

Height

TFL rate

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Jordan Coleman's junior season at Ball State (2024).

Jordan Coleman

93%match

Ball State · 2024

Mario Easterly

Old Dominion · 2024

91%

Raider Damuni

BYU · 2025

87%

Joenel Aguero

Georgia · 2025

86%

Dwayne McDougle

San Diego State · 2025

86%

Matches Jordan on

Class year

PD rate

Tackle volume

Player DNA

Players who play like Khalil Barnes

Jaylen McClain

Ohio State · 2025

88%

Dwayne McDougle

San Diego State · 2025

82%

Edwin Joseph

Florida State · 2025

79%

Max Melton

Rutgers · 2023

76%

Will James

Houston · 2025

71%

Background

2026: Selected to preseason All-SEC Third Team by SEC Media 2023-25 (Clemson): Transferred to Georgia in winter 2026...247sports three-star transfer prospect…ranked as the #274 overall prospect and the #21 safety prospect…On3.com three-star transfer prospect…ranked as the #324 overall prospect an...

via georgiadogs.com ↗

The secondary · Georgia

#4KJ BoldenDB · Jr.77 tackles · 2025
#12Ja'Marley RiddleS · Jr.70 tackles · 2025
#7Khalil BarnesS · Sr.40 tackles · 2025
#2Zion BranchS · Sr.28 tackles · 2025
#8Demello JonesDB · Jr.24 tackles · 2025

16 more on the roster · Georgia team page

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology

202310 games

2026