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This is going to be a football centric edition, so let's get the basketball notes out of the way first:
BASKETBALL RECRUITING
Kobe Brown is in the NBA Draft for good. The pendulum for the return of Isiaih Mosley has recently swung in the direction of no. So here's Missouri's roster as it sits today:
SENIOR/GRADUATE: Sean East, Nick Honor, Noah Carter, John Tonje, Caleb Grill, Jesus Carralero
JUNIOR: Curt Lewis, Tamar Bates, Mabor Majak
SOPHOMORE: Aidan Shaw
FRESHMAN: Anthony Robinson, Jordan Butler, Trent Pierce
That's 13 players. Again, the scholarship number is a very flexible thing right now. We know that Mizzou is pursuing Oral Roberts transfer Connor Vanover. Vanover was on campus for an official visit on Wednesday and Thursday. He has not tweeted or posted on Instagram since his announcement he was entering the portal, so we can't really tell you who else, if anyone, is involved. We'd say there's a pretty solid chance that we see an announcement out of Vanover in the next few days. He's not necessarily under a time constraint, but Mizzou started summer workouts this week and summer school begins Monday and the last day to add or drop classes for the first summer session is Wednesday. So he likely wants to get something done sooner rather than later.
The reception to the interest in Vanover has been lukewarm. Missouri fans are likely a bit tainted by the game in 2021 when Jeremiah Tilmon went for 25 and 11 and Vanover was 0/11 from the floor. First, that's probably the worst day of Vanover's college career and no player should be judged on his worst day. Second, that was two-and-a-half years ago. Stick with me here, maybe he's improved. A quick comparison:
Connor Vanover career: 106 games, 86 starts, 18.4 mpg, 8.3 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 1.9 bpg, 0.7 TO/gm, 48.4 FG%, 32.1 3-pt%, 81.1 FT%
Jamarion Sharp career: 64 games, 60 starts, 28.3 mpg, 7.8 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 4.4 bpg, 0.9 TO/gm, 67.9 FG%, 0 3-pt%, 46.3 FT%
Connor Vanover 2022-23: 34 games, 34 starts, 25.7 mpg, 12.7 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 3.2 bpg, 1.0 TO/gm, 51.7 FG%, 32.4 3-pt%, 81.4 FT%
Jamarion Sharp 2022-23: 32 games, 32 starts, 28.6 mpg, 7.4 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 4.1 bpg, 0.7 TO/gm, 62.8 FG%, 0 3-pt%, 50 FT%
This year alone, Vanover scored more, rebounded almost exactly the same and had one less block per game. He shot a lower percentage, but shot a lot more than Sharp and he is a very good free throw shooter. Over the course of his career, Vanover's numbers other than scoring are lower, but he spent the first three seasons he played in major conferences and played ten fewer minutes per game than Sharp (and still scored more than Sharp). He's not the defensive presence Sharp is, but he's not bad. He's a very similar rebounder and is a much better offensive player. If you were in the crowd that was falling all over yourself to get Sharp, there's no reason you shouldn't want to add Vanover.
It's still possible Missouri looks at someone else out of the portal as well. But if that's happening, we don't know who it would be.
Vanover would be a graduate transfer, which would mean Missouri is losing seven players after next season. Figure at least one or two more transfers out and you're looking at another eight or nine-man haul in 2024 with probably three or four of those being high school recruits and the rest coming out of the portal.
FOOTBALL RECRUITING
- The calendar has officially turned to June, which means the month of camps, new offers, official visits, and hopefully for Missouri, additional commitments to their 2024 class.
- Missouri started their week off right, hosting a group of talented targets on Memorial Day that included the likes of Williams Nwaneri, Jeremiah McClellan, Kavion Broussard, Weston Davis, and 2025 WR Isaiah Mozee. For more on that, CLICK HERE
- Out of that group, we caught up with Kavion Broussard, an OL target out of Zachary (La.), who told us he has Missouri high on his list after Monday's visit. The 6-foot-6, 270-pound prospect said that he's planning to schedule an official with the Tigers this month or sometime during the season. He currently has no official visits set anywhere, but said that Florida State, Miss. State, Miami, and Cincinnati are schools he also hears from frequently.
- One of Missouri's latest quarterback offers, Trever Jackson, has scheduled an official visit with the Tigers for the "big" weekend of June 23rd. The three-star prospect will be at Pitt this weekend for his first June official. The Panthers were one of the first power five programs to offer Jackson back in summer of last year, so he's had a relationship with that staff for quite a while. So, that is something to watch.
- With Jackson now on the visit list, he is now the 11th confirmed official visitor for Missouri for their big June 23rd weekend.
- Some other expected Missouri official visitors that will be on other visits this weekend include:
Ryan Wingo - Georgia
Williams Nwaneri - Georgia
Brian Huff - UCF
Cole McConathy - Louisville
James Madison - Louisville
Darrion Dupree - Wisconsin
- Something to watch with Brian Huff, we've been told that instead of an official with Notre Dame on June 16th that he will now visit the home state team Arkansas instead. So, that is a situation to keep an eye on.
- Missouri will be one of many schools that will have coaches at the Lindenwood Mega Camp today, so more evaluations will be taking place and more offers will likely be extended as well. The staff will also have representatives at mega camps at SMU and TCU and camps at South Alabama and Troy this weekend. Because of that, Missouri is not hosting official visitors this weekend. They're loading up next weekend and June 23-25.
- The Tigers held their first on campus elite camp on Friday. There were a ton of attendees, but the only player to earn an offer was Blue Valley Northwest tight end Gavin Hoffman. Hoffman put up excellent combine numbers and was the standout at the camp. He's also Sophie Cunningham's cousin. We've got him on commit watch.
- The big news to come out of camp was CBC wide receiver Jeremiah McClellan telling us he'll take an official visit to Missouri. He's already got visits to LSU (today through Sunday), Ohio State (next weekend), Tennessee (June 16-18) and Oregon (June 23-25) this month. So he told us the visit to Missouri is likely to happen during the season.
"I know I'm definitely going to get back up here for an OV. They've been telling me how much I need to come up here."
McClellan spent most of the day talking with St. Louis players like Marvin Burks, Luther Burden and Mookie Cooper. He's been building relationships with Eli Drinkwitz, Kirby Moore and Jacob Peeler throughout the process and was on campus Monday for an unofficial visit.
"We went straight to tour the facilities, then after that we watched a new video, like a recruit video," he said. "Then sat down with Coach Drink for a little bit, talked with Coach Peeler and Coach Moore for a little bit after that. Then we went to Coach Drink's house, played basketball with Luther and all of them."
We'd still say the chances with McLellan are tough. He's got four other official visits scheduled. It's good he's still listening, it's good that he's got friends on the team. Missouri is still alive. It won't be easy.
Stay tuned for any updates.
