When glancing at Tennessee DE Derek Barnett’s statistics over the past two seasons — 10 sacks and 20.5 tackles for loss in 2014 and 9 sacks and 11.5 tackles for loss in 2015 — he comes across as one of the most dynamic players in the country. But a closer look at his numbers reveals an interesting trend: the vast majority of his production has come against opponents with struggling offenses.

In 2014 and 2015, 11 of Barnett’s 19 career sacks came against Kentucky, South Carolina and Vanderbilt. He has also had a tough time produce sacks against ranked opponents (only six sacks against eight top-25 foes), and three of those sacks came against Ole Miss in 2014.

With those facts in mind, it’s fair to wonder how well Barnett has actually played during his career at Tennessee. Does Barnett simply feast off weak opponents? Or is he on the verge of becoming a game-changing pass rusher in 2016?

Barnett has been undeniably productive. He didn’t earn spots on ESPN’s 2014 True Freshman All-American Team and 2015’s All-SEC Second Team through reputation. His statistics validate those honors. He struggled at the beginning of his past two seasons, but finished strong — particularly this season with nine tackles for loss and eight sacks in the Volunteers’ final seven games.

Barnett also finished the regular season third on the team with 67 tackles — a high number for a defensive lineman. But his inconsistency in production from game to game is worth noting.

There are many reasons Barnett has struggled to build off of his excellent freshman season. For one, Barnett has supposedly had an undisclosed injury for the last two months, which could have had a significant impact on his statistics.

Plus, an injury to LB Curt Maggitt also may have affected Barnett’s early season numbers. Barnett and Maggitt combined for 21 sacks last season, but a hip injury sidelined Maggitt since the second game of the season, allowing offenses to double-team Barnett and focus on slowing him down. But Barnett has found ways to adjust to the extra attention.

So, how good is Barnett?

He is really good — probably one of the nation’s best defensive ends. But he also has the potential to be significantly better.