Dalton Barnes Impressing College Coaches with Skills & Grades

Florida Guard Already Has Received Six Verbal Offers

Veteran NSR scout Dave Johnson has covered nearly a fourth of Florida in his eight years with National Scouting Report.  Over that time Dalton Barnes may be the best basketball prospect he has evaluated. 

Last March a former NSR client approached Dave about a local prospect he thought Dave should see.  The ex-client was a basketball official and had seen the kid play.  The ex-client’s daughter had gone through NSR in the late ‘90’s and he knew that the kid in question, Dalton Barnes, needed help getting his name and abilities in front of college coaches. 

Dave went to see the sophomore guard play and liked what he saw – a kid with raw, but exceptional athletic skills whose game stood out among local high school competition.  Soon afterward, Dave met with Dalton, Dalton’s mom and stepdad.  The in-home interview went well and again Dave was impressed.  He discovered a prospect who took 500 practice shots every day, weight trained regularly and had very good grades (3.7 GPA).  Dalton’s mom, Jennifer, had been named Senior Female Athlete of the Year at the same high school Dalton now attended, Spruce Creek in Port Orange, so Dalton had come by his athleticism naturally.  That night Dalton’s parents enrolled Dalton with NSR.

In a matter of days Dave had shot Dalton’s skill tape and submitted his profile with video footage to NSR’s home office and in-house video editing department.  Dalton’s profile was digitized, uploaded onto NSR’s Website and then sent each month to every college basketball coach in the country and Dalton had selected specific colleges to receive his four-page, color brochure.  After that, things began to happen as questionnaires from coaches began to arrive in Dalton’s mail box.  The entire family was excited. 

Dave Johnson:  “Dalton tried out for and made the Florida Nike Blue Team which is one of the better club teams in the state.  We then sent out 4 or 5 Camp Recommendation packets for him and one of them was at the Hoop Group Elite Basketball camp in Pennsylvania.  There he made the all-star team and was drafted #8 out of 700 participating kids.  His high school basketball coach Joe Gidden accompanied him to that camp.  Dalton has since received six verbal offers and he receives calls and emails daily from another 10 or 12 coaches.  His verbal offers are from Presbyterian (NC), Campbell (NC), Stetson (FL), North Florida, Merrimack (MA) and Embry Riddle (FL).   Also talking with him regularly are Wake Forest, Miami (FL), Bucknell (PA), Colgate (NY), Palm Beach Atlantic (FL), Bethune Cookman (FL), Liberty (VA) and several more.”

Recently, Dalton was invited to play on the Florida Elite Team next spring and summer which is sponsored by Adidas.  The team plays in every major tournament around the country.  The future looks sunny for this superb student-athlete.