Amaré Barno has entered the combined week thought to be an option that could be mid to late round. His performance on Saturday may have spiked him too far from then.
Barno ran the official 40-yard run of 4.36 seconds, the fastest time by a defensive midfielder in the NFL combined since 2003. His time was originally recorded as 4.37, but was dropped. down to a hundredth of a second after further consideration.
It should be pointed out that Barno is an angled racer, so it’s not like the record was set by a burly nose-scraper. But still 6-foot-5, 246 lbs. Pass Rusher’s performance was notable and likely attracted more than some teams interested in digging deeper into his potential.
Barno began his college career at Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kansas, where he was converted from safe to guard. He played two seasons with the Grizzlies before moving to Virginia Tech in 2019.
With the Hokies, Barno underwent another positional change, as they switched him from an outside full-back to a full-time defense ahead of his red shirt youth season. It turned out to be a huge success, as he led the team with 6.5 covers and led the ACC with 16 ball losses.
He claimed for the draft after the 2021 season, in which Virginia Tech led 6-6 before losing in the Pinstripe Bowl. Joe Marino of The Draft Network gave Barno a score of four before combining.
