MOBILE, Ala.  – University of South Alabama outside linebacker Cori Barnett recently sat down with USA Athletic Media Relations to discuss the season as well as life off the field.

When did you hurt your knee?
“I hurt it the second week in fall camp. I was coming off the edge on a blitz, and just took a wrong hit and it kind of gave out. It was pretty tough. I tore my ACL [anterior cruciate ligament], MCL [medial collateral ligament], LCL [lateral collateral ligament] and my lateral and medial meniscus.”

What was your feeling when you first heard the diagnosis?
“I knew as soon as it happened; I heard something pop in my knee. I knew my season was over. [Assistant Athletic Director of Sports Medicine] Jinni [Frisbey] came up to me and said, ‘We don’t know yet. We’ll get an MRI [magnetic resonance imaging]. Maybe you just messed up your meniscus, and you’ll just miss two weeks.’ But I knew that it was worse than that. I was pretty bummed out about it. When I got the results of the MRI, everything was torn; my knee was completely messed up. Jinni told me in the old days that they didn’t have surgery, that people just played with it. I was thinking that I could be one of those tough guys and just tough it out for this last season and get it fixed in December. I was really depressed the first two to three weeks. I didn’t like being here if I couldn’t contribute. But the coaches started working me into stuff like helping with personnel, organizing the team and just being a leader out here even though I can’t be on the field. It started getting better, but I’m still working through it now.”

Where are you at in the rehabilitation process?
“At first, we rested it for a week-and-a-half to two weeks. Then I got into moving on it, just biking and stuff like that. Then three to four weeks out, I started doing some jumps and then began doing cuts and dot drills five to six weeks out. They actually let me do some things on the field in my helmet and jersey. Now I’m full go; they’re [training staff] letting me go. It’s just a day-by-day battle. Right now I am just working back into it, trying to prove to the coaches that I can still play. They’re letting me practice on scout team to get some reps, and I got to travel to Arkansas State. Hopefully, I can get back on special teams.”

How is your knee holding up?
“It feels good. It’s stiff and kind of achy in the morning, but once I get moving and warmed up it’s good to go.”

Did you set any personal goals for this season? Did those change after you hurt your knee?
“The goal I set for myself at the start of fall camp was that I was going to come out and work hard every day, and that I would play every Saturday. And once I hurt my knee, that wasn’t looking realistic. So I set a new goal to be traveling by the Troy game; I was going to be done with rehab and be back practicing by then. So far it has come true, but my next goal is to get back on the field and hopefully get a few plays before I go out in December.”

What did it mean to be able to run out of the tunnel onto the field with your teammates at Arkansas State?
“It meant a lot. We’ve been working all spring and summer, killing ourselves together. And having it taken away from you makes you appreciate game day, and the fans and all the people who come out and see you. Being able to run out of the tunnel with them is something that I will remember. It was when I came back.”

What are some of the challenges of playing outside linebacker?
“In high school I played rover. It’s a mix of safety and outside linebacker. But I have been playing Sam [strong outside linebacker] for the majority of the time I have been here. And I am undersized, so it’s really tough for me. I have to be stronger and more physical than the guys in front of me; I just have to have more heart than they do and be able to say, ‘You won’t beat me and I won’t quit.’ The coaches have always looked at me and said I have heart. Being 5-foot-9 and 195 pounds, I’m not the proto-type Sam linebacker. But if you have a lot of heart then you can play it. I tell that to any kid I see who says they are not big enough to do it.”

How important is offseason conditioning for you since you are “undersized”?
“I try to be one of the strongest guys in the weight room. I push myself, and I’m always doing more in the offseason. You have to be that way if you are undersized or not the most talented because not everyone is given God-given ability. And I wasn’t one of those guys. One thing I do have going for me is that I am pretty intelligent. I know the whole defense like the back of my hand. The offseason is very important for me to just get better than I was last year.”

What is it like playing under [defensive coordinator] coach [Bill] Clark?
“We ran a 3-4 and a little bit of a 5-2 in high school, so this defense we are running now is kind of the same though there are different aspects to it. My high school coach was a dictator. Everything had to be perfect. All the little things had to be correct, so coming here was an easy transition because coach Clark is the same way. He doesn’t accept failure. He’s a guy you don’t want to disappoint. I have always looked at him like he’s a second father. He takes care of me. If I have a problem, I can go and talk to him about it and we’ll get it figured out.”

What type of leadership role have you assumed?
“My role as a leader on the team is to be perfect – that’s what I strive to do. Even if I’m not the best athlete out there, I don’t want the guys to see me ever get in trouble or do anything stupid outside of football. I try to morally tell or show them what’s right and wrong. I’m not a very vocal leader, but they can look at me and see the example of how we need to be. And I just try to encourage guys and not get down. I think a lot of guys look up to it, because you don’t see that a lot nowadays. Usually you think of your leader as the starter, the guy who is on the field all the time. I’m a leader off the field, and I just try to set an example of how it should be – this is the standard.”

What are your plans after your football career is over?
“My dad is a Command Sergeant Major in the Army. I come from a military family, so I’m going to start that up in May. I commission to be a first lieutenant in the Army. But I am going to go to law school after I do a couple of years in the military.”

What influence has your brother, Alex, had on you as a player?
“We’re complete polar opposites. I was the smarter one and worked hard, but everything was given to him. He was naturally athletic and got a full scholarship to Samford. But I had to work for everything. I came here as a preferred walk-on, and earned a scholarship after a couple of years. I was always striving to be as good as him. He was starting at Samford my first couple of years here, and I would always want to go watch him play but he would tell me to stay in Mobile and work to get better because he wanted to come see me play when he was done. That’s how it’s always been. He’s always helped me because he is a running back and I play defense. He’s a great older brother. We’re best friends since we are just a year-and-a-half apart. We’re more like best friends than brothers.”

What do you like to do in your spare time?
“I like to sleep. It’s my hobby. We’re always here; it’s like a 12-hour-a-day job. When I get home, I turn on the TV and relax and take a nap. I might go see a movie or listen to music, just relaxing stuff.”

What do you do in the locker room to prepare for the game?
“I’m very superstitious. When I put my uniform on, it’s all in order. I put everything on methodically. While I’m doing that, I listen to country music. I like country music, and I’ll listen to Garth Brooks and the old-school stuff.”

What are some of the things that stand out in your career up to this point?
“One of the craziest things was last year when we went to N.C. State. I wasn’t the starter, Ken Barefield was. But then he messed his knee up in the first quarter, and they [coaches] started yelling, ‘Barnett, get in.’ And I was shell-shocked. I wasn’t expecting to play. It was a crazy atmosphere with around 60,000 people there, and it was my first game to get in during the first quarter. I just didn’t want to mess up, but that was one of my better moments here. It was really fun, and I had a good time.”

What factored into your decision to come to South Alabama?
“I didn’t want to play football after high school. I had a couple of offers from Division III schools, but I told my coach I didn’t want to play anymore. The summer before I left for college, I had already enrolled at Alabama. [Former Jag wide receiver] Taylor Noon was coming here, and we were hanging out over the summer and I told him I missed football. He knew coach Clark and he told me to call him, and coach Clark told me to come as a preferred walk-on. I liked the school because it was an hour-and-a-half away from home, but it’s far enough that I feel like I am away.”

What influence have your parents had on you?
“They have been awesome. When I hurt my knee, my dad was telling me that I could fight through it. That’s how it’s been my entire life. They were tough parents – both of them were in the military. My mom was in the Air Force and Dad is in the Army. They instilled in me that you have to have morals.”

 How has the experience of moving from town-to-town with a military family helped mold you?
“You get to interact with other people. It makes you understand other people’s point of view, because you have lived where they are from. I’ve lived all over the country. I think everyone should have the opportunity to meet people from different cultures and ethnicities. I’m a well-rounded person because of it. I don’t have any bias toward anyone, and accept people for what they should be.”

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).