Barton expecting strong combine crowd

Barton Football will be hosting one of their regional combines Sunday in Issaquah, Wash., and if the Seattle-area combine is as successful as their other recent combines, expect one or two players to eventually earn scholarships based on their workouts.

In talking with combine head Taylor Barton, the number of regional combines (seven) means a lot more 1-1 and 7-7 work, which translates well to film.

"We're the only combine in the entire country that does this - we have our camera crews out there, and we film every single kid's rep of his 40, his shuttle and his standing long jump," Barton told Scout.com Thursday. "And then we get film of every kid going through his individuals and one-on-ones. Every kid, at the end of the next week, we've put together a 1-2 minute clip of them from the combine. Every kid gets his own video. And that's youth and high school.

"The really cool thing is that we've had a kid offered after every single combine we've done because coaches have had a chance to look at that video."

David Henry of tiny Oakland High School in Oregon made his mark at the Medford combine, earning a scholarship offer from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, and after the Gig Harbor (Wash.) combine, Portland (Ore.) Central Catholic's Dallin Leavitt earned a scholarship offer from Hawaii. West Salem (Ore.) OL/DL Matthew Sommer was offered by Montana after his Barton combine workout. And Chad Bach and John Carroll from Bend (Ore.) Mountain View were invited to a special meet-and-greet with national recruiting analyst Tom Lemming after their combine workout in Bend.

With near 100 participants expected, the short list of top players for Sunday's Issaquah combine is distinguished:
QB Ross Bowers - Bothell (2015)
TE Jeremy Ruef - Bothell
QB Pierre Le Dorze - O'Dea (2014)
DE Bryan Carter - O'Dea
ATH Tatum Taylor - O'Dea
ATH Tere Calloway - Seattle Prep
WR Sammie Long - Lakes (committed to Washington)
LB Peyton Pelluer - Skyline
LB Devin Benford - Skyline
ATH Nic Sblendorio - Skyline

They will start with a youth combine for grades 3-7 from 9:30 to 11:30, doing the same thing as the high school guys, and then the high schoolers take center stage.

Testing will be done for the 40-yard dash (including 10-yard splits too), 20-yard shuttle, and the standing long jump. Then the players go straight into position work for every position on offense and defense. The OL/DL work together for the full camp, while the offensive and defensive skill players are split up into different position groups. At that point, the QB/WR throw, RB/LB do one-on-ones, run/pass drills, and then everyone comes together in four one-on-one sessions at the same time. Then they switch half the field over for a camp-ending 7-on-7.

"With what we are able to do with the one-on-one on one field and 7-7's on the other field, every quarterback gets at least 3-4 reps on 7-7, which is pretty unique," Barton said. "I know there's so much controversy because of 7-7's and combines and if they are worth it if college coaches can't be there. With this video, I have a bunch of schools every week asking me when the videos are up. On times, they can watch the video and time it themselves. Some of the kids are getting 100, 200, 300 hits off their video, which means coaches are coming and looking at it, going through it. And then they contact us and ask more about the kids or they contact the high school coach, so it's real exciting that the first combines we've done have worked out that way."

On top of all that, coaches from D2, D3 and NAIA schools will be there and they'll have their own stopwatches and notebooks as they look for talent they can offer scholarships too.

For more information on Sunday's combine, click on the link below.

Barton Football Issaquah Combine