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Nittany Lions' Barnes is eager for his pro career to take off

Despite low ratings in the run-up to the draft, Penn State defensive end Deion Barnes is hopeful of landing with an NFL team.

THE FLIGHT, in late March, was from State College to Washington, D.C.

The prop plane was small, the weather bad. And Deion Barnes was hanging on for dear life.

Barnes, a defensive end from Penn State and Northeast High, was on the first leg of a journey that took him to a pre-NFL draft workout with the Oakland Raiders, the only team he worked out for besides the Eagles. He tweeted at the time that it was the "scariest flight of my life" and added, "I almost threw up and cried at the same time."

Asked about the flight last week, he said, "If I ever see one of those things again, I'll drive . . . It just kept going down and up and sideways. Everybody else on the plane was relaxed. I've never been on that rough of a ride, so I was terrified."

Barnes' route to an NFL roster appears no less perilous. The 6-4, 260-pounder, who elected to forgo his final year of eligibility at PSU, is projected by analysts as no better than a late-round choice in the seven-round selection process, which begins Thursday and lasts three days. He also might not be chosen at all, and will have to try to latch on with a team as a free agent.

Russ Lande, president of GM Jr. Scouting and college scouting director for the Big Ten Network, the CFL's Montreal Alouettes and 120Sports.com, likes Barnes' quickness, and the fact he has "a little bit of a feel for rushing the passer," as he showed in recording 14 sacks in three seasons at Penn State.

At the same time, Lande said: "To me, he's not a natural, explosive guy. He's not a natural pass- rusher. I think he made a big mistake coming out early for the draft. When I looked at him initially, I thought he was probably a Day 3 guy, potentially a fourth-, fifth-rounder."

But after watching more video on Barnes, and also seeing him at the Senior Bowl in January, Lande dropped him down a little more and said, "He does not impress me as a guy who can really contribute at the NFL level."

NFL.com has Barnes pegged as a seventh-rounder or free agent, and when Sports Illustrated listed its top 300 draft-eligible players, Barnes was ranked 213th.

His agent, Jim Ivler, of Sportstars in New York City, thinks his client will be "a solid, solid Day 3 draft pick," meaning he could go anywhere from the fourth to the seventh round. Ivler further thinks Barnes could function as an end in a 4-3 scheme or an outside linebacker in a 3-4 alignment.

"Could somebody reach up and grab him in the third round?" Ivler said. "Sure. Anything could happen. I think, more realistically, we're anticipating sometime on Day 3 and hopefully earlier than later on Day 3."

Barnes tries to concentrate only on the things he can control.

"It's just been work right now for me," he said. "I don't think I really just sat back and thought about [the draft] at all, but you know, draft day, hopefully my name will be called and the dream will be there. But right now I'm just training and trying to stay in shape."

Barnes, who graduated in December, has shuttled between Philadelphia and State College for workouts. Looking back, he thinks the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., was a critical part of the process for him.

"I was able to show my football ability, which I love to do," he said.

He was credited only with an assisted tackle and a quarterback hurry in the game, but thinks he performed well in the practices, which are witnessed by scouts. He also met with the Eagles and several other teams, standard operating procedure for every player at that event.

While he was not invited to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis in February, he bench-pressed 225 pounds 31 times at Penn State's Pro Day on March 19, which would have ranked among the top defensive ends at the combine.

"I felt like people felt like I was small and weak," he said. "I was trying to get, like, 34. I was trying to show them I've got some upper-body strength, and I'm actually stronger than you think I am."

Barnes, the Public League Player of the Year in 2010, redshirted his first year at Penn State, then recorded six sacks and was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year in '12. He slipped to only two sacks the following season, but rebounded with six more this past fall.

Like many of his teammates, Barnes flourished under Bob Shoop, his fourth defensive coordinator in as many years. But there was something more.

"I would say the big difference was, I finally got it," Barnes said. "The game, I guess, just slowed down for me again. I was able to get back to my roots and get back to what I did best."

Now he can only hope that his career takes flight.