By Andy Furman
NKyTribune Reporter
He’s super – no matter what happens this weekend. And the Glenn O. Swing Elementary School family will prove it this Friday.
The little school – 419 students serving K-5 – will honor one of its own.
Friday is Lions Spirit Day – that’s Detroit Lions Spirit Day.
Sorry Bengals.
That’s because Glenn O. Swing graduate Derrick Barnes plays linebacker for the Super Bowl hopeful Detroit Lions.
And, should those Lions get past the San Francisco 49ers Sunday in the NFC Championship Game – they’ll punch a ticket to this year’s Super Bowl.
If you’re wondering – yes – it’s been a while, both for the city of Detroit and their football Lions.
In fact, The Lions will be performing in the NFC Championship game for the first time since 1992.
That story is perhaps just as amazing as Derrick Barnes in a Detroit Lions uniform.
Barnes grew up in Covington and attended Holy Cross High School where he played basketball and ran track in addition to playing linebacker and running back for coach Bruce Kozerski – a former Cincinnati Bengal.
As a senior, he was named first-team All-State and the Class 2-A, District Six Player of the Year after leading the team with 126 tackles on defense and rushing for 1,567 yards and 22 touchdowns on 150 carries on offense.
He originally committed to play college football at the University of Toledo but changed his commitment to Purdue after receiving an offer from then new head coach Jeff Brohm.
As a Boilermaker he started as a sophomore and finished the season with 92 tackles with eight tackles for loss and three sacks.
After the regular season, he was moved to the defensive end position going in the 2018 Music City Bowl.
He stayed as a pass rusher during his junior season and finished the year tied for the second most sacks on the team with 7.5 along with 11.0 tackles for loss.
As a senior, Barnes returned to the middle linebacker position and led the Boilermakers with 54 total tackles and was second on the team in tackles for loss with 5.5 and was named second-team All-Big Ten.
The 6-foot, 240-pounder was drafted in the fourth round – pick 113 – by the Lions in 2021.
This past season, the Lions finished 12-5 and defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31-23 last Sunday in the NFC Divisional playoffs.
And it was Barnes’ game-stealing interception of Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield with 1:33 to play that iced the contest.
In fact, the timing was perfect – it was Barnes’ first career interception.
Derrick Barnes (Photo provided)
For the past regular season, Derrick Barnes started a career-high 13 games and made 82 total tackles – good for third on the team.
But it was during Week 7, 2021 when the Lions were playing the Los Angeles Rams, Derrick Barnes showed his true appreciation to a mentor.
After the game, he ran across the field to TV announcer and former Bengal Andrew Whitworth.
“Let me tell you how old you are,” Barnes recalled telling him, in an interview with The Athletic. “I was nine or 10 years old. And you would come to my Boys and Girls Club.”
Whitworth joined the Rams in 2017 as their left tackle and team captain, but spent the first 11 years of his career in Cincinnati after the Bengals drafted him with the No. 55 overall pick out of LSU in 2006.
As a Bengal, Whitworth made frequent trips to the Boys and Girls Club in Covington where the 10-year-old Barnes would go every day after school.
“He was always there,” said Barnes, “every, like two weeks. I remember when I was at school I was bragging like, ‘I know an NFL player.’ My dad and I were huge on watching the Bengals play every Sunday.
“I’d be like, ‘Dad, I met that guy at the Boys and Girls Club.”
It’s no coincidence that Barnes also wears No. 55 – the same pick number at which the Bengals drafted Whitworth.
Now that’s super.
And they’ll celebrate him Friday at 501 West 19th Street in Covington.
