Barry Gardner had 20 tackles against sixth-ranked Michigan last week, not a bad day for a guy who came to Northwestern four years ago as a soft, undersized offensive lineman without a scholarship.
When he was timed in the 40-yard dash upon arrival at Northwestern, he ran a 5.2, a time normally reserved for guys nicknamed “Lumpy.” He was as pedestrian as a guy walking down the street.
How did he get here from there? Funny, that’s the same question Big Ten running backs are asking about the linebacker these days. And it’s likely Sedrick Irvin, Michigan State’s star back, will have the same thought Saturday when the 12th-ranked Spartans visit Ryan Field.
Gardner had no scholarship offers coming out of Thornton High School. There’s not a particularly big market for 6-foot-1, 232-pound offensive linemen. An assistant coach at Thornton had attended Northwestern and suggested that Gardner, a bright student, attempt to walk on.
Coach Gary Barnett was happy to have him, simply because Northwestern’s tuition tends to scare off football players who have to pay their own way. No one could have known that there was a football player underneath the soft body. Until he started playing linebacker and began hitting.
“I didn’t even know he was a walk-on at first,” defensive end Keith Lozowski said. “Everyone said, `Man, he’s slow, but boy can he hit.’ We’d do tackling drills with each other, and it was like hitting a wall. We thought, `Man, if he gets that stuff moving, he’s going to be deadly out there.’ He worked real hard.”
Long and hard. To help his parents with his tuition, he worked from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. five nights a week as a security monitor in the dorms.
“I was tired for practice, but football was something I loved,” he said. “When you love something, you’re willing to go to any limit to do it. I wasn’t going to stop at anything to play football here.”
Referring to Gardner’s freshman year, Barnett said, “I remember one of the seniors said to me, `I think you guys could be really good next year. Barry’s a guy who really is going to help pick up spirits around here.’ “
By the fall of his second year, Gardner had earned a scholarship, mostly for his leadership abilities.
By the end of the season, his 40 time was down to 4.7. Last year, it was down to 4.6, and he was a starter as the Wildcats went to the Citrus Bowl.
Gardner, who has another year of eligibility left after this season, leads the Big Ten with 13.8 tackles a game. He has intercepted two passes and recovered two fumbles. He also had 20 tackles against Wake Forest.
Those kind of numbers would seem to invite comparisons to former Wildcat Pat Fitzgerald, but the two play different positions. Fitzgerald, the national defensive player of the year the last two seasons, played inside linebacker and had to fight off a guard on almost every play. Gardner plays outside linebacker and is free to roam to make plays.
They do have at least one thing in common, however.
“Each and every chance I got when I arrived here, I played my hardest,” Gardner said. “And I tried to do more than what was expected of me. That’s the way I’ve played all my life.”
