Most of our focus has been on covering the basketball coaching search recently, but there are still a few other things going on in the Mizzou sports world. Here is a rundown of what PowerMIzzou.com has been hearing recently.
- As was posted on the board yesterday by Brian Austin, 2018 Lutheran North (Mo.) prospects Ronnie Perkins and Devin Ruffin were at Mizzou's second spring practice. As most should know Ronnie is the younger brother of Missouri starting safety Ronnell Perkins. The younger Perkins is a defensive end and a part of the Tiger Ten. PowerMizzou.com has been told on multiple occasions that Ronnie Perkins has the most upside of any of the 2018 defensive lineman from Missouri.
Ruffin has three Power Five offers at this point. Mizzou will likely take two linebackers in this class, so the Tiger coaches are keeping close tabs on the three-star prospect. A strong camp performance could go a long way for the inside linebacker.
Both players were greeted by Barry Odom, DeMontie Cross, Brick Haley, Cornell Ford, Will Franklin, and several other analysts and graduate assistants. It was Perkins first chance to see Haley coach.
- In addition to the Lutheran North duo at practice yesterday was Camdenton (Mo.) offensive lineman Grant Norton. He reached out to Gabe DeArmond to inform him of the visit. Norton is a huge Missouri fan (even asked Gabe what he thought the chances were for Mizzou to beat Ole Miss). He'd love an offer from Missouri. His chances of getting one? We don't know. Sounds like he's a guy Missouri would definitely want to see in camp and maybe even a little bit as a senior before pulling the trigger, but that's just a guess at this point in time. He told Gabe "we're talking business next Saturday."
- Next Saturday is the "Junior Day" Mizzou is having. We put that in quotations because from what we can gather this staff isn't going to do junior day quite like the old one did. Gary Pinkel's staff would bring in 50-100 guys, parade them all around together and have an event. Out of those 50-100, there probably weren't ever more than 10-15 that the Tigers were truly targeting as recruits. It was kind of like the one day camps. They'd bring in a bunch of kids but only really be interested in 5-10% of them.
The problem with that approach is that you still have to put time and energy into the other 90-95% and make them feel welcome. You devote a little extra time to the elite guys, but you can't truly make them feel elite. This staff wants to bring kids in on individual or smaller group unofficial visits. The reason they did the Tiger Ten day was so that all those kids could feel truly special. You can't do that with a kid at a junior day. And worst case scenario is that a kid who you should give the red carpet treatment slips through the cracks because you're trying to cater to 100 kids and you just kind of miss one.
So they'll have a junior day next weekend, but we think it's mostly going to be in-state kids or kids who are within an easy drive. And we don't think its going to be a situation where there are a ton of elite kids. It might be more guys that they're looking at that next level of "should we offer" rather than guys that already have offers. We'll see what we can confirm in terms of names over the next week.
- Recent visitor and offer recipient Nick Lewis has seen his recruitment pick up since Mizzou became his first offer. Paul Maharry checked in with the three-star prospect this week when reports surfaced that Florida schools were his dream offers. Lewis said that wasn't the case. Instead he mentioned Oregon and UCLA. He grew up watching both teams and wants to get away from home for college. Missouri fits that requirement nicely and would allow him to play games close to home on occasion.
- James Foster is scheduled to visit Missouri this weekend. It's his third attempt at visiting Mizzou. We are checking with him to confirm the visit is still happening just because of the previous issues. We haven't heard anything to indicate he won't make it this time around. It's not crazy to think a strong showing by Mizzou on the visit could lead to a commitment. Foster released his top schools recenltly and had the Tigers as his No. 1 option. No. 2 was Georgia and he visited them a few weeks back so he has the information he needs to make a good comparison of the two programs.
- As was posted on the board yesterday by Brian Austin, 2018 Lutheran North (Mo.) prospects Ronnie Perkins and Devin Ruffin were at Mizzou's second spring practice. As most should know Ronnie is the younger brother of Missouri starting safety Ronnell Perkins. The younger Perkins is a defensive end and a part of the Tiger Ten. PowerMizzou.com has been told on multiple occasions that Ronnie Perkins has the most upside of any of the 2018 defensive lineman from Missouri.
Ruffin has three Power Five offers at this point. Mizzou will likely take two linebackers in this class, so the Tiger coaches are keeping close tabs on the three-star prospect. A strong camp performance could go a long way for the inside linebacker.
Both players were greeted by Barry Odom, DeMontie Cross, Brick Haley, Cornell Ford, Will Franklin, and several other analysts and graduate assistants. It was Perkins first chance to see Haley coach.
- In addition to the Lutheran North duo at practice yesterday was Camdenton (Mo.) offensive lineman Grant Norton. He reached out to Gabe DeArmond to inform him of the visit. Norton is a huge Missouri fan (even asked Gabe what he thought the chances were for Mizzou to beat Ole Miss). He'd love an offer from Missouri. His chances of getting one? We don't know. Sounds like he's a guy Missouri would definitely want to see in camp and maybe even a little bit as a senior before pulling the trigger, but that's just a guess at this point in time. He told Gabe "we're talking business next Saturday."
- Next Saturday is the "Junior Day" Mizzou is having. We put that in quotations because from what we can gather this staff isn't going to do junior day quite like the old one did. Gary Pinkel's staff would bring in 50-100 guys, parade them all around together and have an event. Out of those 50-100, there probably weren't ever more than 10-15 that the Tigers were truly targeting as recruits. It was kind of like the one day camps. They'd bring in a bunch of kids but only really be interested in 5-10% of them.
The problem with that approach is that you still have to put time and energy into the other 90-95% and make them feel welcome. You devote a little extra time to the elite guys, but you can't truly make them feel elite. This staff wants to bring kids in on individual or smaller group unofficial visits. The reason they did the Tiger Ten day was so that all those kids could feel truly special. You can't do that with a kid at a junior day. And worst case scenario is that a kid who you should give the red carpet treatment slips through the cracks because you're trying to cater to 100 kids and you just kind of miss one.
So they'll have a junior day next weekend, but we think it's mostly going to be in-state kids or kids who are within an easy drive. And we don't think its going to be a situation where there are a ton of elite kids. It might be more guys that they're looking at that next level of "should we offer" rather than guys that already have offers. We'll see what we can confirm in terms of names over the next week.
- Recent visitor and offer recipient Nick Lewis has seen his recruitment pick up since Mizzou became his first offer. Paul Maharry checked in with the three-star prospect this week when reports surfaced that Florida schools were his dream offers. Lewis said that wasn't the case. Instead he mentioned Oregon and UCLA. He grew up watching both teams and wants to get away from home for college. Missouri fits that requirement nicely and would allow him to play games close to home on occasion.
- James Foster is scheduled to visit Missouri this weekend. It's his third attempt at visiting Mizzou. We are checking with him to confirm the visit is still happening just because of the previous issues. We haven't heard anything to indicate he won't make it this time around. It's not crazy to think a strong showing by Mizzou on the visit could lead to a commitment. Foster released his top schools recenltly and had the Tigers as his No. 1 option. No. 2 was Georgia and he visited them a few weeks back so he has the information he needs to make a good comparison of the two programs.
