Marcellus Barnes said he knew getting on the Syracuse campus in the spring was going to benefit him in his first season of college football.

“I was able to get their head start getting the playbook early," Barnes said. "Just starting to learn more from the older guys here. I feel like if I would have came in June, I kind of would have been behind a little bit.”

What You Need To Know

  • Syracuse football is off to a 2-0 start

  •  Part of the reason is freshman defensive back Marcellus Barnes

  • He earned a starting role on the defense after fall practice

The level of difficulty in practice, he said, is exactly what head coach Fran Brown told him it would be during the recruiting process.

“He hasn't lied about anything that he told me since I got here," Barnes said of Brown," as far as the practices would be, and you know how tough it would be in the classroom, too. I love that I have to compete every day for free and make sure we never become complacent or anything like that. So I feel like I can contribute this year, but I'm always looking forward to getting better and competing.”

Everything so far has paid off for Barnes. He used the spring to build the foundation and the fall to impress the coaching staff and veteran players.

“He is about his business," defensive backs coach Joe Schaefer said. "He shows up every day like an upperclassman, takes notes, approaches every day, like I just mentioned with Devin Wright, attention to detail and he has really detailed on him. Coming here as a mid-tier was huge. You know, he doesn't act like a true freshman right now, that's for sure. That's the biggest thing.”

“He just a natural ballplayer," fellow defensive back Duce Chestnut added. "He's sticking in coverage. He going to go make some plays. He's quiet at times, but when you get in here, he's going to talk some trash. And we like to see that on our defense. That gives us energy.”

He said he's always ready to learn from the upperclassmen.

“That makes me better every day," Barnes said. "There's always something that they point out that I can work on. And I mean, I feel like that'll work towards me wanting to be one of the best for the game.

"I will always compete," Barnes added, "and I would never back down from anything because this is who I am. [I'll] just be that young guy who will go out there, and you'll be able to depend on me to go out there and compete.”