Daniel Barker, Michigan State Football News: Draft Scout Player News

08/14/22 - TE Daniel Barker, rSr/2023, Michigan State

Ted Gilmore delivered high praise for his newest understudy, Daniel Barker. Even though he feels the Michigan State football tight end transfer does have one thing he needs to work on. "Once he learns it all, once it slows down for him, this young man has some skills. And I'm glad we have him," Gilmore said Monday. "My biggest challenge with him is to get him to be quiet." Barker's opinion? "I mean, I got a great personality," he said with a grin. And talented, enough so that Barker explored entering the NFL draft before deciding to leave Illinois and play a fifth college season as a graduate transfer with the Spartans.

The 6-foot-4, 250-pound native of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, went from a three-star recruit to the Illini's tight end career leader with 11 touchdown receptions. He finished his four seasons with 64 catches for 827 yards in 44 games, opting to test the draft after starting eight of his 13 games last season to finish with 18 receptions, a career-best 273 receiving yards and four TDs. But in January, Barker withdrew from the draft and entered the transfer portal. "Last year, my mind was kind of set on, 'Yeah I'm gonna come in this year and put my best foot forward and go ahead and give (the NFL draft) a shot," Barker said. "But that comes with looking yourself in the mirror and making a decision that you might not want to make. You gotta evaluate everything, go through all your pros and cons and see what's the best for you after you get your grade and see what's best for you. "And I kind of thought coming back one more year, even though I didn't want to and that was not the plan, but I knew I had to come back and be able to showcase my full ability and everything that I could do." - Lansing State Journal

rSr/2023