Like so many other people, I’m a football junkie. I love all levels of play, but especially youth and high school football. I can’t get enough of it, and frankly there’s just not enough out there. So I went on a mission to find the best people to create a company that offered what I, as well as so many other people, longed for. I found them and together with Barton Football Academy, we created and called it NEI (Northwest Elite Index). This is a website that is free to everyone, and includes everyone. Our goal is to provide the best coverage of youth and high school football in the Northwest, and not just about the top few kids or programs. From rankings to articles to video, we wanted to support as many kids and programs in the area as possible.

Having run the biggest and most prominent Football Academy in the Northwest for the last 3 decades, no one knows these kids and their abilities better than us. So we finally decided to create a forum that allowed us to pass along all the information we have on kids, to viewers.
Our lead Oregon analyst and head of scouting is Jordan Johnson, a name many of you are already familiar with. You won’t find anyone better than him, period. Spending more time watching video and analyzing players than most college coaches, Jordan provides NEI with the most in depth, accurate rankings and projections than you’ll find anywhere. Jordan spent the last few years working from the ground up to learn this business, often doing all the work without receiving credit, and now it’s his time to shine.

We are excited to announce that Scott Eckland will be our lead Washington analyst. Scott has spent a lot of years in this industry, having worked for Scout.com and still working for Dawgman.com. Both are great, respected sites and we’re excited to have him and his experience join the team. Between the two of them, Jordan and Scott have a lot of kids to cover and are up to the challenge. Along with Jordan and Scott, Eric Edison is the head of our audio-visual department. Having worked at OSU the last few years, Eric brings a wealth of knowledge to NEI. Having helped organize, format, and run the weekly show Beavers All Access, look for Eric to create great concepts for the NEI team. So not only will our site offer rankings about players and teams both locally and regionally, we’ll also offer a talk show reviewing and previewing games, teams, coaches, and players weekly.

With the successful Barton Football Academy and now the launch of NEI, we needed someone who could help create and run our websites, and his name is Tony Palazzo. Tony is an expert in social networking, and created links to make viewing and following our rankings, stories, and thoughts on our sites easily accessible. As for myself, I will be overseeing everything that comes in to us and goes out on our site. Though I run the Barton Football Academy, this is not just a website for kids in our camps. Our aim is to cover everywhere in the Northwest, and not just the top kids or programs, though we will do that too. So buckle up and enjoy the ride, as we are looking forward to taking this journey with you.

Taylor Barton