I haven't read all of the posts about David Barrent but thought I would let you know a little more about him. I coached Conor Boffeli and David Barrent for about 5 years in basketball including AAU. David is a great kid. I saw that one poster said he saw him at the ISU team camp and said he was not very big or was skinny. David is every bit 6-8, 290. He is not skinny! He is solid and I agree with an earlier post he could easily put on another 30 or so pounds. My only thought about someone saying he is skinny is that he doesn't fit the traditional mode of a 290 lineman with a larger midsection. David has a well proportioned body.
It reminds me of a quote from Coach Bowden at Florida State. Someone commented to him about 5 years ago that Florida State should be great every year due to all of the 5 star recruits. Bowden laughed and said out of every 10 - 5 star recruits he lands that only one will be an impact player, 2 or maybe 3 will contribute and the other 7 will play sparingly or not play at all. There is no science to recruiting. It is all based on potential.
David is the type of kid that he will do what he is told and strive to be the best he can be. There is no doubt that he may have gotten beat a few times at the Ames camp but lets face it, his upside is huge. I compare him in basketball to a 7' who gets up and down the court well. It would be tough to pass him up.