NFL draft: Khalif Barnes fishing for spot in the first round

Khalif Barnes enjoys fishing. Mainly deep-sea fishing.

If only he could go out on the boat without throwing up.

The three times that Barnes has taken to the waters off the coast of his hometown of San Diego, he took his salt tablets too late — the day of instead of the night before — and just couldn't take the ocean motion.

One might think that the NFL draft is so nerve-wracking that all of that waiting and anticipation for many prospects can lead to similar stomach problems. Not so for Barnes, the Washington Huskies' former left tackle.

He'll be relaxing with a few family members and friends in the house where he grew up, and he won't have too long to wait for his name to be called Saturday, Day 1 of the draft. He's projected to be the second offensive lineman taken, somewhere in the high teens or low 20s of the first round. So there won't be much time to get nervous.

"For me, it's like who knows?" Barnes said when asked where and when he thought he might be chosen. "You think you're going somewhere, and then you end up somewhere else."

Barnes has been linked to such teams as the Jacksonville Jaguars, St. Louis Rams and Tennessee Titans. The 6-foot-6, 305-pound giant has worked his way up the draft boards. After the Senior Bowl in January, he had become a possible late first-round pick.

Then came the combine in Indianapolis, where Barnes didn't duck the workouts and drills like other first-round prospects did. The scouts got to see his speed, strength, agility and interpersonal skills.

Barnes figured he had something to prove because he missed six games with a wrist injury last season at UW. He wanted the NFL personnel people to see what he could do and how he stacked up against two other first-round tackles, Alex Barron of Florida State and Jammal Brown of Oklahoma.

Barnes ran a faster 40-yard dash than both.

"I worked my way into the first round," he said. "I'm hearing the results. Where I stay, I don't have a computer, but I have my parents or friends telling me about it (his draft prospects). I'm up for whatever."

No computer, and yet ESPN.com had him doing a diary leading up to the draft.

Barnes looks back on the day he was moved from defensive lineman to offensive lineman. It happened a few days before the Huskies played in the 2001 Rose Bowl, with Barnes redshirting his freshman year.

"This doesn't happen to everybody," he said, trying to hide a smile. "I think about: What if I would have stayed at defensive end? Would I be a top-five pick or not picked at all? I'm happy the way it played out."

Barnes spent Sundays after Huskies games watching some of the premier offensive tackles in the NFL. His favorites are Baltimore's Jonathan Ogden, Washington's Chris Samuels, Orlando Pace of St. Louis, Brad Hopkins of Tennessee and Walter Jones of Seattle.

When Barnes went over to Seahawks headquarters in Kirkland early this month to visit with coaches, not only was he grilled about offensive sets, but he had questions of his own.

After offensive-line coach Bill Laveroni went over line play for 45 minutes, Barnes asked what made Jones such a good player. He was already aware of the solid offensive line the Seahawks have.

Such is Barnes' personality. He can be funny, as he was yesterday on campus when he pretended to be a reporter with direct questions for former teammate Derrick Johnson, another draft prospect. He can be engaging, enough so that Rams coach Mike Martz told Barnes he would take him deep-sea fishing if the Rams chose him with the 19th pick in the first round.

"He said he had a 40-foot boat," Barnes said. "I don't think I'd yack on a 40-foot boat. I think I'd be too happy to yack if I went No. 19 in the draft."

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com