Daniel Barker's Recruiting Promises Realized in Game-Winning TD
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Daniel Barker insisted multiple times Saturday he was promised an opportunity to make history.
Not exactly a small guarantee but not exactly fiction following Illinois' 37-34 victory at Michigan State. In a smile, Barker admits he specifically wasn't told he'd be catching the game-winning touchdown of Illinois’ largest comeback win in school history but says he was guaranteed he'd be involved in something special when the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native traveled 1,262 miles to revive a football program on life support.
“They never sold me on a dream. They told me from moment one out of the gate exactly what was going to happen,” Barker said. “They told me I would come in and make an impact early and be part of the turnaround of Illinois football. They told me this would happen. Not might, not maybe. That it would.”
So it was little surprise to Barker who found himself briefly open near the back right pylon for the five-yard pitch-and-catch from Brandon Peters to give Illinois its first, only and final lead Saturday. In a broken play rollout, Peters found his 250-pound tight end with five seconds left to stun an announced crowd of 63,370, get Illinois bowl eligible and complete a 25-point comeback over the final 41 minutes of action.
Barker, who finished with two catches for 21 yards and the memorable touchdown, came into Saturday as the Illini’s third-leading receiver and third is likely what he was on the game-winning play. As Peters, who spent three seasons at the Spartans’ in-state rival Michigan before transferring to Illinois, rolled to his right on a fourth-down play, all Barker had to do was stick his right hand above his 6-foot-4 frame to find his moment.
“It means a lot to me make history,” Barker said. “You never know with Brandon and you have to assume the ball is coming to you. It’s hard to express how that play was second nature to us. We go over drills and situations like that in practice all the time and the difference is now we’re finding ways to win. We’re finding ways to make those winning plays.”
Illinois (6-4, 4-3 in Big Ten Conference) found itself down 28-3 early in the second quarter, being outgained 440-195 through three quarters of action and staring down another league road loss in a game its own head coach called “the most important of his tenure”.
“It’s just a feeling everybody that everybody should get to go through,” Illinois head coach Lovie Smith said. “We know we’re going bowling, somewhere.”
Illinois scored 27 of the game’s final 30 points to pull off another miraculous victory Saturday that left Michigan State fans shocked and disgusted. After starting 2-4 on the path of what was considered a fourth straight sorry football season, Illini fans have gone from calling for athletics director Josh Whitman to remove Lovie Smith as head coach to seeing Whitman removing Smith’s feet from the ground in a bear hug Saturday night.
“It means a lot to see Coach Lovie and the seniors who have been here a long time, just seeing how excited they were,” Peters said. “But we know it's on to the next phase.”
Illinois is on a four-game Big Ten winning streak for the first time since the 2001 Big Ten Championship team finished the regular season with seven straight conference victories. Winning is what Barker was promised. Bowl games are what Barker was promised. Winning games against traditional powers in their house is what these last three years of recruiting classes have been promised. Saturday is another validation for players on this Illinois roster to see those promises fulfilled. When the clock read: 0:00, Illinois 37, Michigan State 34, everybody on the Spartan Stadium field knew another milestone had been crossed.
“We’ll remember this one,” Smith said. “If you just see our players' joy out there. They know what they’ve been through to get to this point.”