Taylor Barton
Owner, Co-Founder

As a high school senior, Taylor was the Gatorade Player-of-the-Year in Oregon, when he also earned Prep Star All-America honors as the fifth-rated quarterback in the west. Super Prep also tabbed him as an All-American, ranking him as the No. 14 quarterback nationally and the third-rated player overall in the Pacific Northwest….The National Recruiting Advisor selected him on its All-America team…USA Today selected him as a honorable mention All-American and designated him as Oregon's player-of-the-year.

Prep Football Report tabbed him as a preseason All-America…A member of the prestigious Tacoma News-Tribune's Western 100 list... READ MORE

A message from Taylor Barton:

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 named 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... READ MORE

Jordan Johnson
Co-Founder, Director of Recruiting

Jordan is considered by many to be the Pacific Northwest’s top recruiting analyst. He was an all conference athlete at Beaverton High School on both the Football and Baseball field from 1995-1997. He graduated from Portland State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health Education in 2004. From 2005-2007 he coached football and baseball at both Canby and Beaverton High School.

As the creator of NEI, Jordan has teamed with Taylor Barton and T12 Sports to help elevate recruiting in the Pacific Northwest. The detail put into all of the rankings is unmatched and will be used by college coaches and fans throughout the United States.

Eric Edison
Head Video Coordinator

Eric has taken his talents to the Northwest Elite crew after working for 6 years at various video departments at Oregon State University. There, Eric helped produce and shoot Fox Sports Network’s “Beavers All Access”, while covering all athletics that Oregon State has to offer. He graduated in 2009 with a degree in New Media Communications and now specializes in media management within Final Cut Pro Studio but also has a passion for video/photography. Outside of Oregon State, Eric has interned with IdeaStream Media, who does television advertising for local businesses, is currently working on a television series that airs on Fox's KPTV, and does wedding production.

Tony Palazzo
Director of New Media

Tony was born in Portland, Oregon, attended Jesuit High School and graduated from the University of Oregon with degrees in Economics and Marketing. Since college, Tony has aquired years of technical experience and is currently a Vice President at one of the country's largest digital marketing firms. Tony's experience combines business know-how with cutting-edge technology techniques and is constantly exhibiting the best ways to capitalize on the ever-growing digital and Social Media markets. Tony is also the primary designer for our other site, Blue Collar Recuit. Read more about him at TonyPalazzo.com.

Scott Eklund
Head Washington Analyst

Scott played high school football at Bremerton High School and then finished his playing career at Central Washington University. Since 2000 he has been scouting high school and junior college players and evaluating them. He loves watching players develop from a young age and see them go on to have success at both the prep level as well as at the college level and, in some cases, on to the pros. He has developed relationships with many of the coaches in the state of Washington and hits the camp circuit every spring to get a look at players from across the state.