FOOTBALL RECRUITING
- The final position in the updated "Five to watch" features ran this morning. If you read each of those there is a good chance you can put together the class Mizzou is working to land.
Some new names have emerged at tight end and defensive line that appear to be big targets for the Tigers. And there is always the chance of an unheard of prospect popping up out of the blue. Overall though, we feel very confident in the names we were able to track down.
On Sunday we'll run the updated "Perfect class" feature built off the "Five to watch" stories, so be on the lookout for that.
- Brevyn Spann-Ford visited Mizzou last weekend before heading to St. Louis for the Rivals.com 3 Stripe Camp. While in Columbia he earned and offer from the Tigers. Spann-Ford stood out in O'Fallon measuring in at 6-foot-7 and 234-pounds.
Tight end coach Joe Jon Finley is the lead recruiter for the St. Cloud, Minn. two-sport athlete. Spann-Ford said the two have been talking a lot and have developed a very strong relationship. The three-star tight end has also talked with Barry Odom and Josh Heupel so he is getting familiar with the coaches that will most impact him at Missouri.
Spann-Ford wants to cut his list down soon and then plans to make a commitment this summer. He told PowerMizzou.com that Mizzou is right there at the top for him now that they've offered.
- Mizzou has offered four in-state prospects in the 2019 class. That number will increase and one of the most likely to get a Tiger offer is Frances Howell North wide receiver Maurice Massey.
The talented prospect has great size at the position and has very good hands as well. He'll need to improve his speed and quickness a little, but there is no doubt that he is someone Tiger fans should be following closely.
Cornell Ford has stopped by to see Massey this spring and Massey believes he will earn an offer very soon at a Mizzou camp. Massey told PowerMizzou.com that he likes the idea of playing close to home. He also likes the offense that the Tigers run.
- After seeing all the St. Louis Seven at the Rivals.com 3 Stripe Camp our Show-Me Top 35 will have some changes at the top. Michael Thompson is the best player in-state right now (he will almost certainly be in the top 100 when rankings are re-done next week. Five stars is probably too big a leap, but our national guys love him). Kamryn Babb is No. 2. Ronnie Perkins is No. 3. Trevor Trout is No. 5 behind Mario Goodrich. Dele Adeoye is No. 6. Cameron Brown is No. 8 behind Daniel Carson. Dallas Craddieth is No. 10 behind Daniel Parker.
-Six of those guys (Thompson, Trout, Babb, Adeoye, Perkins and Parker) earned invitations to the Rivals Five-Star Challenge. That's more than we've had at the last two combined from the state of Missouri. It appears the class is living up to the hype throughout the process. We understand that many are freaking out right now. Goodrich and Brown are off the board and Carson isn't coming. That leaves seven guys. Adeoye seems like a long shot, at least for now. But the Tigers have a good shot at the other six. We covered this on the podcast yesterday, but Mizzou is in solid shape with the rest of them. If you were dealing within the bounds of logic and reason, getting more than six wasn't real likely anyway. The bad news has come early, so now Missouri needs to hope to finish the class with good news in the fall. That's always the way it was going to be. The only thing we'd term as a surprise in what has gone down so far is that Brown committed to Nebraska so early. Other than that, not much has changed from four months ago, other than the number of people who follow recruiting ready to harm themselves and give up.
-Mizzou camp season is starting next week. As we discussed on the podcast, it will be interesting to see if it results in any new offers. Right now, it almost appears that second wave of in-state offers isn't happening. We could just have a bad read on that, but it seems that the ten that got offers got them very early. All the offers since then have gone out of state. The approach will be interesting.
- New cornerback target Christian Young out of Foster (Tex.) is planning to move quickly in his recruiting process. He plans to release a Top 10 soon, expect Missouri to be on that list. Young
plans to visit Columbia next month along with his other top schools and make a commitment on July 18th on his birthday.
- Other new offers out of the state of South Carolina that we've reached out to that intend to visit this summer include Wyatt Campbell, an offensive tackle out of Lugoff Elgin and Trajan Jeffcoat, a defensive end/outside linebacker out of Irmo. Missouri is the first SEC offers for both.
- We talked with an assistant coach at Manvel (Tex.), a program that boasts two Missouri targets in wide receiver Kam Scott, who just picked up a Missouri offer, and outside linebacker Brian Johnson, who has the Tigers in his top six. That coach told us that both Scott and Johnson will likely visit Missouri at the same time at some point this summer. Scott had released a top 8 before being offered by Missouri, but is obviously listening to the Tigers.
- Jayden Russell, a 2019 safety prospect out of St. Thomas Aquinas (Kan.) was another underclassmen prospect that caught our eye at the Rivals 3-Stripe Camp in St. Louis over the weekend. The 6-foot-3, 180-pound talent already has offers from Iowa State, Kansas State, and Kansas but told us he is hearing a lot from Missouri of late and plans to camp this summer.
- After speaking with Antar Thompson, Missouri is in good shape. In fact, we'd probably even go so far as to say we'll be surprised if he ends up anywhere else. We don't think it's going to be a quick decision. He's going to take his time. But Thompson has a family and he's not likely to look to be moving across the country. He committed to Mizzou once and basically begged them to take him back at times over the last few years. He's earned that chance now and we see him taking it. We've been told Thompson is an NFL player. Heck of a boost to add a 22-year-old defensive tackle to the class if it happens. Again, we don't think it happens until the fall, but we feel good about the chances.
-As far as the most likely commits soon, Jalen Knox told us he'll make a decision early this summer. He said he's pretty much set on that choice unless something really blows him away very soon. We think Missouri will be the choice. It will be worth keeping an eye on to see if Texas A&M, TCU, etc come in with offers later, but we think Missouri gets Knox (one person told us at the time Brown went to Nebraska that getting Knox would make losing Brown a moot point, to give an idea of the type of prospect he is). The other guy we believe Mizzou could land pretty soon is Brandon Cross, who visits in three weeks. The reaction is probably "Oh good, a two-star kid we don't know anything about." Mississippi State and Tennessee have jumped in on Cross since Missouri did. He'll have other major offers.
-Speaking of two-stars, a source told us this week that 2017 signee Chris Turner is up to 6-4, 245 and is running a sub 4.6 40-yard dash. We'll see whether they're right or not, but the staff loves this guy and thinks they really found a hidden gem.
- The final position in the updated "Five to watch" features ran this morning. If you read each of those there is a good chance you can put together the class Mizzou is working to land.
Some new names have emerged at tight end and defensive line that appear to be big targets for the Tigers. And there is always the chance of an unheard of prospect popping up out of the blue. Overall though, we feel very confident in the names we were able to track down.
On Sunday we'll run the updated "Perfect class" feature built off the "Five to watch" stories, so be on the lookout for that.
- Brevyn Spann-Ford visited Mizzou last weekend before heading to St. Louis for the Rivals.com 3 Stripe Camp. While in Columbia he earned and offer from the Tigers. Spann-Ford stood out in O'Fallon measuring in at 6-foot-7 and 234-pounds.
Tight end coach Joe Jon Finley is the lead recruiter for the St. Cloud, Minn. two-sport athlete. Spann-Ford said the two have been talking a lot and have developed a very strong relationship. The three-star tight end has also talked with Barry Odom and Josh Heupel so he is getting familiar with the coaches that will most impact him at Missouri.
Spann-Ford wants to cut his list down soon and then plans to make a commitment this summer. He told PowerMizzou.com that Mizzou is right there at the top for him now that they've offered.
- Mizzou has offered four in-state prospects in the 2019 class. That number will increase and one of the most likely to get a Tiger offer is Frances Howell North wide receiver Maurice Massey.
The talented prospect has great size at the position and has very good hands as well. He'll need to improve his speed and quickness a little, but there is no doubt that he is someone Tiger fans should be following closely.
Cornell Ford has stopped by to see Massey this spring and Massey believes he will earn an offer very soon at a Mizzou camp. Massey told PowerMizzou.com that he likes the idea of playing close to home. He also likes the offense that the Tigers run.
- After seeing all the St. Louis Seven at the Rivals.com 3 Stripe Camp our Show-Me Top 35 will have some changes at the top. Michael Thompson is the best player in-state right now (he will almost certainly be in the top 100 when rankings are re-done next week. Five stars is probably too big a leap, but our national guys love him). Kamryn Babb is No. 2. Ronnie Perkins is No. 3. Trevor Trout is No. 5 behind Mario Goodrich. Dele Adeoye is No. 6. Cameron Brown is No. 8 behind Daniel Carson. Dallas Craddieth is No. 10 behind Daniel Parker.
-Six of those guys (Thompson, Trout, Babb, Adeoye, Perkins and Parker) earned invitations to the Rivals Five-Star Challenge. That's more than we've had at the last two combined from the state of Missouri. It appears the class is living up to the hype throughout the process. We understand that many are freaking out right now. Goodrich and Brown are off the board and Carson isn't coming. That leaves seven guys. Adeoye seems like a long shot, at least for now. But the Tigers have a good shot at the other six. We covered this on the podcast yesterday, but Mizzou is in solid shape with the rest of them. If you were dealing within the bounds of logic and reason, getting more than six wasn't real likely anyway. The bad news has come early, so now Missouri needs to hope to finish the class with good news in the fall. That's always the way it was going to be. The only thing we'd term as a surprise in what has gone down so far is that Brown committed to Nebraska so early. Other than that, not much has changed from four months ago, other than the number of people who follow recruiting ready to harm themselves and give up.
-Mizzou camp season is starting next week. As we discussed on the podcast, it will be interesting to see if it results in any new offers. Right now, it almost appears that second wave of in-state offers isn't happening. We could just have a bad read on that, but it seems that the ten that got offers got them very early. All the offers since then have gone out of state. The approach will be interesting.
- New cornerback target Christian Young out of Foster (Tex.) is planning to move quickly in his recruiting process. He plans to release a Top 10 soon, expect Missouri to be on that list. Young
plans to visit Columbia next month along with his other top schools and make a commitment on July 18th on his birthday.
- Other new offers out of the state of South Carolina that we've reached out to that intend to visit this summer include Wyatt Campbell, an offensive tackle out of Lugoff Elgin and Trajan Jeffcoat, a defensive end/outside linebacker out of Irmo. Missouri is the first SEC offers for both.
- We talked with an assistant coach at Manvel (Tex.), a program that boasts two Missouri targets in wide receiver Kam Scott, who just picked up a Missouri offer, and outside linebacker Brian Johnson, who has the Tigers in his top six. That coach told us that both Scott and Johnson will likely visit Missouri at the same time at some point this summer. Scott had released a top 8 before being offered by Missouri, but is obviously listening to the Tigers.
- Jayden Russell, a 2019 safety prospect out of St. Thomas Aquinas (Kan.) was another underclassmen prospect that caught our eye at the Rivals 3-Stripe Camp in St. Louis over the weekend. The 6-foot-3, 180-pound talent already has offers from Iowa State, Kansas State, and Kansas but told us he is hearing a lot from Missouri of late and plans to camp this summer.
- After speaking with Antar Thompson, Missouri is in good shape. In fact, we'd probably even go so far as to say we'll be surprised if he ends up anywhere else. We don't think it's going to be a quick decision. He's going to take his time. But Thompson has a family and he's not likely to look to be moving across the country. He committed to Mizzou once and basically begged them to take him back at times over the last few years. He's earned that chance now and we see him taking it. We've been told Thompson is an NFL player. Heck of a boost to add a 22-year-old defensive tackle to the class if it happens. Again, we don't think it happens until the fall, but we feel good about the chances.
-As far as the most likely commits soon, Jalen Knox told us he'll make a decision early this summer. He said he's pretty much set on that choice unless something really blows him away very soon. We think Missouri will be the choice. It will be worth keeping an eye on to see if Texas A&M, TCU, etc come in with offers later, but we think Missouri gets Knox (one person told us at the time Brown went to Nebraska that getting Knox would make losing Brown a moot point, to give an idea of the type of prospect he is). The other guy we believe Mizzou could land pretty soon is Brandon Cross, who visits in three weeks. The reaction is probably "Oh good, a two-star kid we don't know anything about." Mississippi State and Tennessee have jumped in on Cross since Missouri did. He'll have other major offers.
-Speaking of two-stars, a source told us this week that 2017 signee Chris Turner is up to 6-4, 245 and is running a sub 4.6 40-yard dash. We'll see whether they're right or not, but the staff loves this guy and thinks they really found a hidden gem.
