Amaré Barno

Barno grew up in Blythewood, South Carolina and attended Westwood High School. He played the safety position in high school. Barno failed to qualify academically to play Division I football and enrolled at Butler Community College.^[2]

Barno began his college career at Butler Community College, where coaches moved him from safety to linebacker. As a sophomore, he recorded 66 tackles, 14 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks.^[3] In 2018, Barno committed to transfer to Virginia Tech for his remaining eligibility.^[4][5]

Barno played in three games in his first season at Virginia Tech in 2019 as an outside linebacker before redshirting the rest of the season.^[6] Going into his redshirt junior season, he was again moved to a different position and played defensive end. Barno finished the season a team-high 6.5 sacks and led the Atlantic Coast Conference with 16 tackles for loss.^[7] Barno recorded 5.5 tackles for loss with 3.5 sacks in 2021. Following the end of the season, Barno declared that he would be entering the 2022 NFL draft,^[8] and ran a 4.37 40-yard dash at the NFL combine, faster than any linebacker or defensive lineman that year.

At the 2022 NFL Combine, Barno tied Odafe Oweh for the fastest 40-yard dash time by a defensive lineman at 4.36; Oweh had recorded that time at the NFL Combine the year prior.^[11] Barno was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the sixth round (189th overall) in the 2022 NFL Draft.^[12] He finished his rookie season with nine tackles and two sacks in nine games played.^[13] In the 2023 season, he finished with 21 total tackles in 15 games and one start.^[14]

Barno began the 2024 season on the reserve/physically unable to perform list.^[15] He was activated on November 30.^[16]