Elijah Barnes
Kentucky Wildcats
86
Great

Elijah Barnes

Kentucky WildcatsElite
WLBDefenseGreatTRANSFER · Texas
Projected Starter

Is Elijah Barnes starting?

Elijah Barnes is the projected starter at WLB for Kentucky Wildcats.

Redshirt freshman · #0 · 6'1", 242 lbs

See full Kentucky Wildcats depth chart ›
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Depth at WLB · Kentucky Wildcats

  1. 1086Elijah BarnesStarter
  2. 2985Alex Afari Jr.
  3. 3464Antwan Smith

Kentucky Starting Lineup

Full Kentucky depth chart ›

Top linebackers in the SEC

TJ DotteryLSU · MLBAmare CampbellTennessee · MLBChris ColeGeorgia · MONEY

Up next for Kentucky

Kentucky plays Tennessee away on Sat, Nov 7. The listed kickoff time is 06:15 PM ET.

The Story

Making His Case

A 4-star recruit out of Dallas Skyline, ranked #68 nationally coming out of high school. This season: 4 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sacks. That's 1% of the team's production at his spot — good for a 86 overall (Great tier).

Recruit4★ · #68 NatlTeam Share1%
Dallas, TX
Jersey
#0
Class
RS FR/TR
Height
6'1"
Weight
242 lbs
Transfer
Texas

Stats

SeasonTklTFLSacks
—411

Regular-season totals from public sources. Derived splits (completion %, yards per carry, catch rate) aren't available in our current dataset.

Recruiting Profile

Stars
★★★★☆4-star
Composite
0.9661
National Rank
#68
High School
Dallas Skyline
Hometown
Dallas, TX

Why this rating?

On a 86-rated defense; 55th-percentile production at transfer origin (×0.99 for competition level) put them +0 vs unit starters → 86.

Team defense (SP+)
86
Rating basis
On-field stats
Production (prior school)
Outperforms 55% of peers
Recruiting pedigree
Top 11% recruit
Strength of schedule
Faces easier competition — rating adjusted down (×0.99)
Depth-chart adjustment
+0 for role

2026 projection — based on SP+ (a respected team-efficiency metric; 2026 not published yet, using 2025), 2025 production, recruiting, and the 2026 transfer portal; capped to depth-chart order.

2026 Game Log

Oct 24WVANTKL 6
TKL
6
SOLO
6
SACK
0
INT
0
PD
0

Final W 34-17

Oct 17WOUTKL 10
TKL
10
SOLO
1
SACK
0
INT
0
PD
1

Final W 21-13

Oct 10WLSUTKL 12
TKL
12
SOLO
6
SACK
0
INT
0
PD
0

Final W 35-34 OT

Oct 3WSCTKL 7
TKL
7
SOLO
5
SACK
0
INT
0
PD
0

Final W 35-34 OT

Sep 19WTA&MTKL 8
TKL
8
SOLO
2
SACK
0
INT
0
PD
0

Final W 31-21

Sep 12LALATKL 3
TKL
3
SOLO
0
SACK
0
INT
0
PD
0

Final L 45-17

Sep 5WYSUTKL 7
TKL
7
SOLO
4
SACK
0
INT
0
PD
1

Final W 45-13

Elijah Barnes's 2026 game-by-game stat log.

The People's Ratings

Is our 86 OVR fair?
86
Great
Vote to see what thousands of fans think

Team Role

4 tkl · 1 TFL · 1 sacks
Usage / Involvement13%
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Overall ratings blend team strength (SP+), on-field production, and recruiting. Higher = more impactful.