Amaré Barno (born April 26, 1999) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

for the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at Butler (KS) before transferring to

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

. Barno was drafted by the Panthers in the sixth round of the

2022 NFL draft The 2022 NFL draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual NFL draft, draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, Paradise next to Las Vegas. The first round ...

Early life

Barno grew up in

Blythewood, South Carolina Blythewood is a town in Richland and Fairfield counties, South Carolina, United States; and a suburb of Columbia. As of the 2020 United States census, the population of the town was 4,772. History Blythewood was originally named "Doko", ...

and attended Westwood High School. He played the safety position in high school. Barno failed to qualify academically to play Division I football and enrolled at Butler Community College.

College career

Barno began his college career at Butler Community College, where coaches moved him from safety to linebacker. As a sophomore, he recorded 66 tackles, 14 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks. In 2018, Barno committed to transfer to

for his remaining eligibility. Barno played in three games in his first season at Virginia Tech in 2019 as an outside linebacker before redshirting the rest of the season. Going into his redshirt junior season, he was again moved to a different position and played defensive end. Barno finished the season a team-high 6.5 sacks and led the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

with 16 tackles for loss. Barno recorded 5.5 tackles for loss with 3.5 sacks in 2021. Following the end of the season, Barno declared that he would be entering the

, and ran a 4.37

40-yard dash The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a he ...

at the

NFL combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foot ...

, faster than any linebacker or defensive lineman that year.

Professional career

At the 2022

NFL Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foot ...

, Barno tied

Odafe Oweh Odafe Jayson Oweh (; born December 15, 1998), is an American professional football linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Penn State Nittany Lions and was selected by the Rave ...

for the fastest

time by a

defensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line (OL), while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line (D ...

at 4.36; Oweh had recorded that time at the NFL Combine the year prior. Barno was drafted by the

in the sixth round (189th overall) in the 2022 NFL Draft. He finished his rookie season with nine tackles and two sacks in nine games played. In the 2023 season, he finished with 21 total tackles in 15 games and one start. Barno began the 2024 season on the reserve/ physically unable to perform list. He was activated on November 30.

References

External links

Carolina Panthers bio

Virginia Tech Hokies bio

Butler Grizzlies bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barno, Amaré 1999 births Living people People from Blythewood, South Carolina Players of American football from South Carolina American football defensive ends Butler Grizzlies football players Virginia Tech Hokies football players Carolina Panthers players American football linebackers