Mississippi State football nearing deal for Memphis' Matt Barnes as defensive assistant | Source

STARKVILLE — Mississippi State football is nearing an agreement to add Memphis defensive coordinator Matt Barnes to new coach Jeff Lebby's staff, a source told the Clarion Ledger on Wednesday.

The source requested anonymity because no official announcement has been made.

The move comes with MSU is expected to hire Alabama assistant Coleman Hutzler as Lebby's defensive coordinator, a source reported the day before.

Barnes has spent two seasons with the Tigers. In his first season under coach Ryan Silverfield, Barnes led Memphis to the No. 5 five scoring defense among 11 teams in the American Athletic Conference. The Tigers had the No. 9 scoring defense among 14 teams this year.

Barnes' coaching career started in 2009 when he served as a running backs coach at Delaware Valley. He spent 2010-11 working on the offensive side at West Virginia Wesleyan before a pivot to defense.

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He was a defensive/special teams graduate assistant at Florida (2012-14), a defensive analyst at Michigan (2015), a special teams coordinator and linebackers coach at Maryland (2016-18) and a special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach at Ohio State (2019-21).

Stefan Krajisnik is the Mississippi State beat writer for the Clarion Ledger. Contact him at skrajisnik@gannett.com or follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, @skrajisnik3.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi State football targeting Memphis' Matt Barnes | Source