Barnes stays in-state for unofficials

Rivals100 athlete Mark Barnes stayed in-state the last couple weeks and made trips to a couple games at South Carolina. How were the visits for the Columbia (S.C.) Richland Northeast prospect and has he set up any other officials?

"The visits to South Carolina went really well," he said. "I went to the game against Florida Atlantic and then the one on Thursday against Auburn. The Auburn game was pretty interesting. They gave them all they could handle.

"It was really loud in the stadium and very exciting. I enjoyed the whole game and I think a lot of people didn't think South Carolina could stay in it. They did a good job though."

After the game, Barnes was able to talk to quite a few players including Syvelle Newton and Fred Bennett.

"I talked with Syvelle for a little while and got some input from him," he said. "Basically I was trying to learn from him how to recognize things more and he was a really cool guy. It was nice because even though they lost, the players didn't let that bring them down and in fact it hyped them up for the next game."

Currently the four-star prospect still has not named any other official visits.

"I'm still trying to see which ones will be available for me," he said. "I think they'll be a lot later. I do plan to do all five officials."

Though Barnes claims no idea of upcoming visits, his coach Duane Wages may have an idea.

"He doesn't have any other visits set, but he has mentioned one possibly to Southern Cal and Florida as well."

This season Wages feels that the 6-foot-2, 194-pounder has really stepped up.

"He's a leader on our defense and has really elevated himself on offense," he said. "I know he's caught three touchdowns, but we've got to get the ball to him some more. In the last two games, he's had 27 tackles I believe and has recorded three interceptions on the year."