Let's start out with football recruiting. There will be a handful of players in town for the spring game. But not a ton. And here's why: As a program, you accentuate what makes you stand out. We've always said, it's why Mizzou hosts most of its visitors after the season. The game atmosphere at Faurot is decent, but it's not going to stand out for kids who have visited some of the other schools on their list. So they bring them in after the season when they can spend more one on one time with guys and sell the family atmosphere we always hear about. The same goes for the spring game. This isn't an insult to fans or anything, but Missouri's spring game atmosphere isn't going to stand out for a kid who has been to some other spring games. So, while they'll bring some guys in, it's not something that they're necessarily trying to load up on a ton of visitors here. Here are the guys we expect to be here:
Ayodele Adeoye
Kamryn Babb
Tyler Shough
Israel Antwine
Jalen Knox
There will likely be more. The vast majority of visitors are not offer guys or priority targets in general. But there will probably be a few more high profile guys and we'll do our best to track them down. But again, not a huge weekend.
The intriguing guy on this list is Shough. He's a three-star QB from Chandler AZ. It's been no secret for quite some time that James Foster is Missouri's top target here and Foster has Missouri on top of his list. But as long as Foster isn't committed (he'll be at Georgia's spring game this weekend), Mizzou has to look out for Mizzou. Would the Tigers take a commitment if Shough wanted to jump in? Good question. We don't think it's going to be something that comes up, but it would be interesting. We're still thinking Missouri will wait on Foster for a few weeks. But if we get to camp season and Foster isn't on board, all bets are off.
We plan to follow up with Shough after his visit, but got some quotes from 3-star rated prospect on his relationship with the Tigers and what's he's looking forward to seeing this weekend:
"I am starting to develop a pretty good relationship with Coach Heupel. I'm looking forward to meeting the staff and see what they have to offer in Columbia, I know they are a great program and especially Coach Heupel, he has put players into the league. So, it is very encouraging. I'm wanting to check out their academic philosophies and department as well."
- We also caught up with another new target in Springdale (Ark.) defensive tackle Isaiah Nichols, who visited Missouri last weekend and got an offer. We'll have a full update on him soon, but we can tell you he was extremely impressed with what Missouri had to offer during his visit. So much so, that he told us that the Tigers would definitely be getting one of his official visits.
- We just did a story on Cordova (Tenn.) offensive tackle target Jerome Carvin and his recent trip to Mizzou. The 4-star prospect also told us that he plans to name a top ten or eight schools at some point during the summer before naming a top five before his senior season begins. Carvin mentioned during our interview that he really wanted to get back to Missouri and watch a game. So, at least for now, it sounds like the Tigers are in good shape to make his top five.
We're going to finish up football recruiting with some interesting national stuff here. Under the radar, today is a very important day in college football and recruiting as this story from ESPN outlines. Here are some of the things that could be voted on today:
*The addition of a 10th assistant, which would go into effect immediately. Earlier this spring, a coach told us that if it happens, "it's going to be like the wild west," basically a free agent period for every assistant in America.
*Early official visits. Currently, prospects can't take an official until September 1 of their senior year. This would allow for visits between April 1 and late June of their junior seasons. This is a precursor to the potential early signing period, which will be voted on later this summer. It would allow 2018 kids to begin visits a month sooner, on August 1.
*Reduction of satellite camps. This is a Harbaugh rule. If you're interested in it, read the article, but I don't think it's a huge impact for Missouri.
*Hiring of a "person associated with a prospect" to a non-coaching position. College basketball already does this. If you're going to hire a coach or a family member of a recruitable athlete, you have to do it as a full-time assistant. That's currently not the case. I can't imagine why this one wouldn't pass.
*Limiting annual scholarships to 25. Most will say "don't they already do this?" Not really. This rule would mean you can only have 25 players on scholarship begin classes in August. Right now, that's not necessarily the case right now with backdating, grayshirts, blueshirts, etc. Again, if you want to understand this in detail, read the article I linked.
*Extended dead period in the summer. This would effectively make 2/3 of the summer a dead period, which would mean there could be no unofficial visits during this time. It would give coaches more down time, so they might vote for it. I think it would make it tough on prospects who like to do a summer tour and see a whole bunch of schools at one time when they're not in school or in season. We'll see how this one goes.
That's all the football stuff. Coming in part two is the basketball stuff.
Ayodele Adeoye
Kamryn Babb
Tyler Shough
Israel Antwine
Jalen Knox
There will likely be more. The vast majority of visitors are not offer guys or priority targets in general. But there will probably be a few more high profile guys and we'll do our best to track them down. But again, not a huge weekend.
The intriguing guy on this list is Shough. He's a three-star QB from Chandler AZ. It's been no secret for quite some time that James Foster is Missouri's top target here and Foster has Missouri on top of his list. But as long as Foster isn't committed (he'll be at Georgia's spring game this weekend), Mizzou has to look out for Mizzou. Would the Tigers take a commitment if Shough wanted to jump in? Good question. We don't think it's going to be something that comes up, but it would be interesting. We're still thinking Missouri will wait on Foster for a few weeks. But if we get to camp season and Foster isn't on board, all bets are off.
We plan to follow up with Shough after his visit, but got some quotes from 3-star rated prospect on his relationship with the Tigers and what's he's looking forward to seeing this weekend:
"I am starting to develop a pretty good relationship with Coach Heupel. I'm looking forward to meeting the staff and see what they have to offer in Columbia, I know they are a great program and especially Coach Heupel, he has put players into the league. So, it is very encouraging. I'm wanting to check out their academic philosophies and department as well."
- We also caught up with another new target in Springdale (Ark.) defensive tackle Isaiah Nichols, who visited Missouri last weekend and got an offer. We'll have a full update on him soon, but we can tell you he was extremely impressed with what Missouri had to offer during his visit. So much so, that he told us that the Tigers would definitely be getting one of his official visits.
- We just did a story on Cordova (Tenn.) offensive tackle target Jerome Carvin and his recent trip to Mizzou. The 4-star prospect also told us that he plans to name a top ten or eight schools at some point during the summer before naming a top five before his senior season begins. Carvin mentioned during our interview that he really wanted to get back to Missouri and watch a game. So, at least for now, it sounds like the Tigers are in good shape to make his top five.
We're going to finish up football recruiting with some interesting national stuff here. Under the radar, today is a very important day in college football and recruiting as this story from ESPN outlines. Here are some of the things that could be voted on today:
*The addition of a 10th assistant, which would go into effect immediately. Earlier this spring, a coach told us that if it happens, "it's going to be like the wild west," basically a free agent period for every assistant in America.
*Early official visits. Currently, prospects can't take an official until September 1 of their senior year. This would allow for visits between April 1 and late June of their junior seasons. This is a precursor to the potential early signing period, which will be voted on later this summer. It would allow 2018 kids to begin visits a month sooner, on August 1.
*Reduction of satellite camps. This is a Harbaugh rule. If you're interested in it, read the article, but I don't think it's a huge impact for Missouri.
*Hiring of a "person associated with a prospect" to a non-coaching position. College basketball already does this. If you're going to hire a coach or a family member of a recruitable athlete, you have to do it as a full-time assistant. That's currently not the case. I can't imagine why this one wouldn't pass.
*Limiting annual scholarships to 25. Most will say "don't they already do this?" Not really. This rule would mean you can only have 25 players on scholarship begin classes in August. Right now, that's not necessarily the case right now with backdating, grayshirts, blueshirts, etc. Again, if you want to understand this in detail, read the article I linked.
*Extended dead period in the summer. This would effectively make 2/3 of the summer a dead period, which would mean there could be no unofficial visits during this time. It would give coaches more down time, so they might vote for it. I think it would make it tough on prospects who like to do a summer tour and see a whole bunch of schools at one time when they're not in school or in season. We'll see how this one goes.
That's all the football stuff. Coming in part two is the basketball stuff.
