Matt Barnes proclaimed himself ready for “the team up north.” The Ohio State football team’s special teams coordinator and his colleague, special teams quality control coach Parker Fleming, had just put the finishing touches on the special teams gameplan for a Big Ten rival so despised the Buckeyes choose not to address it by its name: Michigan. “We were excited to get to practice and into the meetings and get it installed and coached up,” said Barnes, an Urbana High alum. Then Barnes and Fleming ran into Ohio State quarterbacks coach Corey Dennis, who swiftly took the starch out of them. The game against the Wolverines had been cancelled, Dennis told them. For Barnes and Fleming, about 24 working hours had just gone down the drain — the result of a COVID-19 outbreak on the Michigan team. The early-December disappointment marked one of several instances during which Barnes thought about…
Continue Reading: A most gratifying run: Urbana alum Barnes reflects on Ohio State's run to the national title game
