This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

When us media types talk about recruiting pipelines, we're usually referring to cities, or states. Occasionally, there's a high school that produces an unusual number of Utes.

But then there's the Barton family.

Jackson is a redshirt freshman offensive tackle, Cody is getting his first taste of spring conditioning as a freshman linebacker, and now it appears little sister Dani will be next to make the short commute from the Barton household to the U. campus.

The Brighton junior-to-be's commitment to the Utah's volleyball team was no secret — fellow U. commit and club teammate Jaidin Farr tweeted congratulations more than a month ago — but we missed it, so we'll rectify that now.

Barton is the daughter of Mikki Kane-Barton, one of Utah's all-time greats in both women's basketball and volleyball. Her dad, Paul, was both a quarterback and pitcher at the U., playing in the minors for the Toronto Blue Jays. As a 6-foot sophomore, she can grab the rim, and she hopes to dunk before her high school career is over.

So apparent was her talent that she received basketball offers from BYU and Utah (under former head coach Anthony Levrets) while she was a freshman at Brighton, and she made the All-Tribune team after averaging 19 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the state champion Bengals as a sophomore.

Barton knew she wanted to play volleyball in college — and at the moment, she thinks, only volleyball — but she didn't see herself at the U. because she preferred sand volleyball.

The NCAA will recognize sand volleyball as a varsity sport for the first time next season, and the reigning AVCA sand volleyball champions, USC, had offered Barton a scholarship.

"My heart and my mind was really set on USC," said Barton, who plays the two-a-side game at Wasatch Beach Volleyball and in summers at Southern California's Manhattan and Huntington beaches.

But Utah head coach Beth Launiere coached her mom and has known Barton from a young age. Morgan's Farr and Bingham's Torre Glasker committed to play for Utah, and after playing with them at a club tournament in Reno, Barton thought, "Wow, this is great. I do love indoor volleyball."

The right-side hitter was also impressed by the camaraderie among Utah's current freshmen — who will be seniors or redshirt juniors during her freshman season, in 2017.

And Utah may add a sand volleyball team within the next few years, anyway — a topic we'll explore here at a later date. So Barton pulled the trigger.

Her mom cried, she said. Dad, who wanted to see her as a Division I basketball player, will happily take it.

"I'm glad she's going to Utah, so we can watch her play," he said.

Like Jackson and Cody, she trains with former Utah and Oakland Raiders receiver John Madsen, catching rides with her mom now that Cody has joined the Utes.

She might not be the last Barton in crimson, either.

Lander, 11, is fresh off Utah's youth football camp.

Says Paul: "He's the best of the bunch."

— Matthew Piper

Twitter: @matthew_piper