One player in Iowa lighting up the scoreboard this season is Easton Darling. Darling is a 6’0” senior guard at Winterset High School. While scoring north of 20 points per game last season as a junior, Darling has taken it to another level this season. This year he is putting up a highly impressive 25.6 points per game currently to lead Winterset to a 6-1 start. 

Darling is able to score the ball well in a variety of ways to put up his big numbers. He uses his great quickness and good moves with the ball to get to the basket often. He can knock down jumpers off the dribble and catch with deep range. As well, he can be very tough to stop in transition with all of his abilities.  

With his hot scoring, Darling has attracted the attention and offers of college coaches from several levels. He has been able to receive scholarship offers from NCAA division one and two schools, in addition to ones from the NAIA and junior college ranks. His offer list includes Air Force, Central Missouri, Dordt University, Iowa Central, Kirkwood, and Upper Iowa. Additionally, more division one programs have been showing interest including South Dakota and South Dakota State. 

When speaking about the schools that offered him, Darling gave a broad statement saying, “I like a lot about the coaches, environments, and culture of the teams that are recruiting me.” When being more specific about one of these schools, he was able to add “Air Force is an amazing place with great coaches, but the military route isn’t exactly what I want to do.” 

While a service academy may not be in his plans, there are some things Darling does know he wants in his future school. “I’m looking for a college that has coaches and players that trust in me and want me. I’m also looking for a good education and a place where I feel like home.”

Before he heads off to college, Darling has some things he would like to accomplish as Winterset, “the goal is to win the conference and win the state championship.” Earlier this season, he was able to set his schools record for career points, in doing so breaking the record set by his head coach. While Darling was excited to set this mark, it didn’t rank too high on his importance. “The record was a pretty cool thing, but I would trade that record for a state championship any day of the week.”