Qua Barnes and his teammate, Kimlon Dillon, (both Class of 2012, Apopka HS, Fla.) both had a very busy spring break a couple of weeks ago. The duo visited Indiana, Purdue, Eastern Michigan, Cincinnati, and Kentucky during their week-long trip.
While Barnes has yet to receive his first collegiate offer, he is still receiving interest from a lot of teams and wanted to tour some campuses with his teammate.
It is also worth noting that Dillon recently received an offer from UK after Greg Nord watched some of Apopka’s spring game last month.
Kentucky hasn’t shown the most interest in Barnes, but he came away impressed from his first visit to Lexington.
“I really liked the visit. Kentucky has a very nice campus,” he began. “Coach (Greg) Nord is a really cool guy too. I like what they have to offer up there.
But Barnes really likes what Middle Tennessee State is offering to him right now, as they are staying in close contact and recruiting him the hardest.
“The coaches from Middle Tennessee State are really interested in me. They stay in touch with me a good bit.”
In addition to UK and Middle Tennessee State, Barnes is also hearing from Rutgers, Ohio, West Virginia, Elon, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Indiana, Stanford, and “a little from South Carolina.”
The 5’9″ athlete denies having any leaders right now and from the way he talks, he is just trying to keep things open and talk to any teams that come his way.
There have also been many discussions about where he will play in college because of his size. Barnes thinks he will be an impact player, though.
“I think I am better suited to play the slot, but I can also come in the backfield and be a toss sweep type of running back occasionally,” Barnes explained.
That is one thing Barnes believes is valuable about him: he is intelligent on the field and can play multiple positions when needed.
“I think a strength of mine is the ability to go into the game and just play. I’m football-smart and I typically know what a play is supposed to look like and how it is designed,” he said. “It’s something I’m good at.”
With that said, Barnes will look to show off his smarts at some camps this summer. However, the rising-senior has yet to schedule any definite visits or camps. In time, they will come.
Barnes has plenty of time for a decision, and don’t be surprised for his recruitment to carry out for a long time.
“It’s not a big rush for me. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I have a lot of time.”
We will definitely keep an eye on Qua Barnes from here on out.
Follow Garrett Tucker on Twitter [URL=”https://twitter.com/GTuckersports”]@GTuckersports[/URL] for more info on Kentucky recruiting.
