While the state of Illinois has a very strong class of 2023 players, one that continues to climb up the rankings is Richard Barron. After an impressive season playing with St. Ignatius Prep earning himself special mention all-state honors as a sophomore and following that playing with the Meanstreets, Barron has continued to be a popular name amongst college coaches. 

Barron recently took his first college visit, which was to Illinois. “The visit was awesome.” Also adding in, “We watched practice, checked out the campus, checked out the apartments, toured State Farm Center, then took some pictures.”

The 6’5” wing guard received his first offer back in March from DePaul and his recruitment has only picked up from there. Since then, he has also been offered by George Mason, Kent State, Loyola-Chicago, and Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Other programs to have shown interest in the junior include Butler, Colorado State, Michigan, Iowa State, Temple, West Virginia, and several others. 

When talking about his experiences playing with Meanstreets this year, Barron said “My season started off pretty slow. I wasn’t getting on the floor as much as I was expecting but I kept competing in practice. (Coach) Slaughter truly believed in my abilities and once I realized that I took it and ran. Truly one of the best coaches I’ve ever played for because of his ability to push people and the outcome of that was me getting on the radar and starting up my college recruitment.”

With all Barron brings to the floor look for his recruitment to only grow. He is a powerful guard that shoots it well from the perimeter in addition to being an effective slasher. Even with his strong build he is still a very fluid player attacking the basket as well as defending the ball.