Southern Cal RB Darwin Barlow Transferring to UNC

North Carolina Coach Mack Brown said the day before the Tar Heels played in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl that getting a running back from the transfer portal was one of the program’s priorities. Thursday night, they achieved that objective.

Darwin Barlow, a running back who played the last two seasons at Southern Cal, is transferring to UNC. He has one year of eligibility remaining.

Barlow attended Newton (TX) High School and was a 4-star prospect in the class of 2019. He originally went to TCU spending three years in Fort Worth, before transferring to USC for the last two season. A redshirt in 2019, Barlow is using the 2020 Covid season for one more season of college football.

Barlow played some in his redshirt season with the Horned Frogs, rushing for 99 yards and scoring a touchdown. He was part of the rotation for much of the 2020 campaign, when he ran for 428 yards on 73 attempts with four touchdowns. In 2021, Barlow gained 289 yards before transferring to USC.

In two seasons with the Trojans, Barlow ran the ball 24 times for 177 yards and four scores. So, in his career, Barlow has run the ball 181 times for 993 yards and 11 touchdowns. He also has 18 receptions for 120 yards.

Barlow played just 58 snaps at Southern Cal and 443 for TCU. He has 11 runs of 15 or more yards, 26 runs of 10 or more yards, 632 yards after contact, and a long of 74 yards in his career.

CAREER: In his 4-year collegiate career (2 years at TCU and 2 years at USC), Barlow has run for 912 yards on 173 carries (5.3 avg) with 10 TDs, caught 17 passes for 110 yards (6.5 avg) and returned 3 kickoffs for 43 yards (14.3 avg) while appearing in 33 games (with 5 starts).

2023: Barlow will look to be a contributor in the running back rotation as a redshirt senior in 2023.

2022: Barlow saw action in 9 games (all but Arizona State, Washington State, Arizona, Cal and Tulane) as a redshirt junior in 2022. He rushed for a total of 96 yards on 16 carries (avg 6.0) and 3 TDs. He also had 3 receptions for 34 yards (11.3 avg). He had 5 carries for 16 yards and a TD against Rice. He recorded 2 carries for 17 yards against Fresno State. He had 5 carries for 41 yards with a TD and 2 catches for 31 yards against Colorado. He tallied 3 carries for 25 yards and a TD at UCLA. He had 1 catch for 3 yards in the Pac-12 Championship game against Utah.

2021: Barlow, who transferred to USC from TCU in the fall of 2021, saw key action at tailback as a redshirt sophomore in 2021. Overall in 2021 while appearing in 11 games (all but San Jose State) and starting once (BYU), he ran for 266 yards on 56 carries (4.8 avg) with 2 TDs and caught 4 passes for 22 yards (5.5 avg). He missed the San Jose State game while recovering from a hamstring strain suffered in 2021 fall practice.

He had 22 yards on 3 carries with a short TD against Stanford, 61 yards on 10 carries at Colorado, 29 yards on 6 carries and a 6-yard catch against Utah, 15 yards on 4 carries with a short TD at Notre Dame and 28 yards on 8 tries against Arizona. He had 6 yards on 2 carries at Arizona State, 24 yards on 4 carries against UCLA, a season-best 81 yards on 19 carries and 2 catches for 15 yards against BYU and 23 yards on 6 carries and a 1-yard catch at California.

TCU: In his 2-year career at TCU, he ran for 527 yards on 95 carries (5.9 avg) with 5 TDs. He ran for 428 yards on 73 carries (5.9 avg) with 4 TDs as a 2020 redshirt freshman at TCU, plus caught 9 passes for 44 yards (4.9 avg) and returned 2 kickoffs for 23 yards (11.5 avg). He rushed for a career-best 117 yards on 16 carries with a TD at Baylor, including a 74-yard carry. He added 83 yards on 8 carries with a TD and a 23-yard kickoff return at Kansas, 63 yards on 11 tries versus Texas Tech, 56 yards on 8 carries with a TD against Kansas State and 40 yards on 8 attempts plus 3 receptions for 12 yards against Oklahoma State. He also had a short rushing TD at Texas. He appeared in all 10 games in 2020, with 4 starts (Kansas State, Oklahoma, Baylor, Texas Tech).

As a first-year freshman in 2019, he ran for 99 yards on 22 attempts (4.5 avg) with 1 TD, caught a 10-yard pass and had a 20-yard kickoff return while appearing in 3 games. He rushed for 51 yards on 13 carries and had a 10-yard catch versus Kansas and rushed for 45 yards on 8 carries with a TD against Arkansas Pine Bluff. His 20-yard kickoff return came against Baylor.

HIGH SCHOOL: He was named 2018 MaxPreps Small Schools All-American first team, AP Class 3A Offensive Player of the Year, Tops in Texas first team and Super Team at Newton (Tex.) High as a senior running back and safety when he rushed for 2,366 yards on 205 carries (11.5 avg) with 42 TDs, caught 19 passes for 371 yards (19.5 avg) with 4 TDs and threw an 8-yard TD pass. He also had 9 tackles a fumble recovery and a forced fumble on defense. Newton went 15-0 and won its second straight Class 3A Division II state title in 2018.

He was the District 10-3A-11 Co-Offensive Most Valuable Player as a 2017 junior when he ran for 2,246 yards on 205 carries (11.0 avg) with 38 TD, had 14 receptions for 189 yards (13.5 avg) with 4 TD and added 5 tackles on defense.

He made All-District second team as a 2016 sophomore, rushing for 1,111 yards on 135 tries (8.2 avg) with 13 TD, caught 7 passes for 84 yards (12.0 avg), made 13 tackles and returned 2 kickoffs for 31 yards (15.5 avg).

He also played baseball at Newton.

PERSONAL: He is majoring in Communication at USC.

*He scores here against Washington this season.