On March 16, 15 NFL teams went to Bowling Green's Pro Day to scout a kid named Freddie Barnes. Bengals receiver coaches were there, watching Barnes put up a "40-yard dash in 4.67 and 4.70 seconds, had a 30 1/2-inch vertical jump, an 8-foot, 11-inch broad jump, a 4.55-second short shuttle, a 7.16-second three-cone drill and did 12 bench press repetitions at 225 pounds."
I know. Those attributes tend to mean very little when it comes to evaluating football players. Game tape is kind of an accurate description of a player's abilities. In 2009, the wide receiver caught 155 passes, for 1,770 yards receiving and 19 receiving touchdowns -- he had 21 touchdowns total. In eight of his 12 games in 2009, Barnes caught 10 passes or more including four games with 14 receptions or more. Against Kent State, Barnes caught 22 passes for 278 yards and three touchdowns. In a seven game stretch to close the season, he caught 14 touchdowns.
| 2009 Regular Season Game Log | Receiving | ||||||
| DATE | OPP | RESULT | REC | YDS | AVG | LNG | TD |
| 9/3 | Troy | W 31-14 | 15 | 157 | 10.5 | 31 | 2 |
| 9/12 | @Missouri | L 27-20 | 10 | 70 | 7.0 | 15 | 0 |
| 9/19 | @Marshall | L 17-10 | 17 | 109 | 6.4 | 13 | 0 |
| 9/26 | Boise State | L 49-14 | 4 | 24 | 6.0 | 10 | 0 |
| 10/3 | Ohio | L 44-37 | 7 | 84 | 12.0 | 21 | 0 |
| 10/10 | @Kent State | W 36-35 | 22 | 278 | 12.6 | 55 | 3 |
| 10/17 | @Ball State | W 31-17 | 10 | 160 | 16.0 | 41 | 3 |
| 10/24 | Central Michigan | L 24-10 | 14 | 172 | 12.3 | 51 | 1 |
| 11/3 | @Buffalo | W 30-29 | 8 | 122 | 15.3 | 23 | 1 |
| 11/12 | @Miami (OH) | W 35-14 | 10 | 109 | 10.9 | 59 | 2 |
| 11/20 | Akron | W 36-20 | 12 | 197 | 16.4 | 53 | 2 |
| 11/27 | Toledo | W 38-24 | 9 | 69 | 7.7 | 17 | 2 |