Tiger fans thank your deity of choice. Football recruiting is about to get rolling again after what amounts to a month long pre-season moratorium. High school seasons get going all across the country this weekend and with the calendar turning to September coaches can watch those games starting tonight. In The Chamber's opinion it's about time Brian Austin had something to do.
Before we get to the previously mentioned slacker we have a few notes from the grandfather, Gabriel DeArmond.
Nate Peat currently has 504 yards and five touchdowns in two games. More offers are going to come. But right now it's Mizzou and Missouri State. And that's it. Some schools are probably a bit wary of Peat's size. He's only 5-7, 165 right now. And at that size, he doesn't have speed that absolutely blows you away. We aren't saying he's slow, but he isn't a 4.3 guy or anything and sometimes at that size, schools want to see 4.3. But he's plenty fast and shifty. Expect more offers to come. It will be interesting to see who. Obviously A.J. Ofodile has a strong connection here. Got to think the Tigers have a great shot.
Now on to the team. Had two different people tell me this week they'd been told Larry Rountree is better at this point in time than Damarea Crockett was at this time a year ago. Okay, then.
There should be much more distribution in the receiving corps. When you ask about receivers, Johnathon Johnson always comes up first. Dimetrios Mason and Richaud Floyd are next. There were times last year where I don't think Drew Lock ever even considered anyone besides J'Mon Moore. I think that changes this year. He's got confidence in a lot more people.
Next up The Chamber presents Alex Schiffer (without any comment this week).
We can start this week off with a small nugget.
Missouri missed the cut for 2018 five-star Andrew Nembhard. I never expected them to be a player for him so he made my life easier.
Now to the elephant in the room…..Torrence Watson.
I was completely caught off guard when he announced he was decommitting from Ohio State. But I think everyone should be careful getting excited from this.
Disclaimer: We don’t know what happened with Watson and whether the decommittment was truly Watson’s choice. It’s going to take a couple weeks to see how this plays out.
As for the actual Watson sweepstakes I’m told Missouri would be in great shape should they jump back in. But I’ve been told this from the beginning: DON’T. SLEEP. ON. SLU. Travis Ford is very much a player in this and if he pulls the right strings I’m told he could make quick work of this. If Missouri does get involved this will be interesting to follow. But until we know more about Watson’s situation I would just say be cautiously optimistic.
Now to some other things.
Still trying to chase down Alex Lomax, Jairus Hamilton and KJ Hymes.
Am told that Lomax plans to take an official visit to Missouri, but he has yet to set a date. He is still very much in the mix for Missouri.
I wrote about Mario McKinney and Terrence Hargrove this week. One I have good news on the other not so much.
Hargrove pretty much made it seem like he’s a Kansas lock if they offer him. He was at Missouri this summer but doesn’t seem interested in coming back anytime soon. I think Jeremiah Tilmon is Missouri’s best shot at getting him. He said his parents are like a set of parents for Tilmon. He already seems to be in their ear so maybe that leads somewhere. The real question is how interested is Kansas in Hargrove. If they’re not interested then things change completely.
Side note on Hargrove: Props to him. He said he doesn’t want to play for bigger AAU teams out of loyalty. Good for him. I think it’s cool that he’s stuck with the first guy that took a shot at him and has helped develop a lot of his game over the years. It’s crazy to call that a throwback but that’s the AAU culture we currently live in. For those interested in learning more about AAU culture, I recommend you ask Gabe. (That was a joke.)
As for McKinney, Missouri continues to be in great shape with him.
This week I’ve tried to learn who is tight with who for the 2019 kids since there’s so many in the area. I can’t speak for the KC side of all this yet but on the STL side it appears McKinney and E.J. Liddell are the leaders in the area. They seem to know everyone. Mckinney said he’s friendly with Marcedus Leech, Liddell, Yuri Collins and Francis Okoro. Hargrove said he’s friendly with Liddell.
I’m trying to see who are the guys that will follow the others should they commit to Missouri. I think if Missouri can land Liddell and/or McKinney early on then this has the chance to be a very special class especially in terms of local talent. I’m not saying it won’t be if they don’t get either, but from my research this week it seems like those are two guys who others will follow.
Finally, there’s been a lot of talk this week about the chances of flipping Carte’Are Gordon and Courtney Ramey.
I’ll say this, I think the chances of flipping Ramey are lower than Gordon. I just can’t see him backing off Louisville given Rick Pitino’s history with point guards and the strength of the ACC right now.
BUT Ramey’s dad told me in January that if Missouri replaced Kim Anderson with someone he had a long standing relationship with then maybe there would be a chance they’d listen. I assume Ramey knows Cuonzo given the STL connection. So maybe there’s a chance, but I wouldn’t put the odds very high. If he does it it would be absurd, but Martin has showed at AAU tournaments that Alex Lomax is a priority. This team does not need a to take a point guard for this class. It’s a luxury not a need. I’d be surprised if Ramey flips given the amount of bodies Missouri has at point guard. He would be in contention for immediate playing time and would to battle with Terrence Phillips and Blake Harris among others. I just don’t see it.
As for Gordon, Missouri could use another body down low and should they flip him I can’t think of a more formidable front line than Tilmon, Jontay and Gordon. Jesus that would be tough to stop.
If Missouri were to pull this off, it would be one of the most shocking recruiting moves I’ve ever seen. I say that because we have no evidence to suggest that he’s on their radar. Obviously we’ve been wrong before. But every time we’ve spoken to him he has said he hasn’t heard much from them. Additionally, he has switched AAU teams two or three times this year, which is a bit of a red flag. Have to wonder what the deal is there. But Gordon flipping would make sense as a surprise since he’s seen the campus already and knows most of the team. The coaching staff is really the only thing I can’t speak to here. And that happens to be the key to all of this. So I guess in conclusion it’s possible, I just have no evidence to go off that suggests it will happen. But Gordon has always shown more interest in Missouri than Ramey. Hence why I put his odds higher.
Before we get to the previously mentioned slacker we have a few notes from the grandfather, Gabriel DeArmond.
Nate Peat currently has 504 yards and five touchdowns in two games. More offers are going to come. But right now it's Mizzou and Missouri State. And that's it. Some schools are probably a bit wary of Peat's size. He's only 5-7, 165 right now. And at that size, he doesn't have speed that absolutely blows you away. We aren't saying he's slow, but he isn't a 4.3 guy or anything and sometimes at that size, schools want to see 4.3. But he's plenty fast and shifty. Expect more offers to come. It will be interesting to see who. Obviously A.J. Ofodile has a strong connection here. Got to think the Tigers have a great shot.
Now on to the team. Had two different people tell me this week they'd been told Larry Rountree is better at this point in time than Damarea Crockett was at this time a year ago. Okay, then.
There should be much more distribution in the receiving corps. When you ask about receivers, Johnathon Johnson always comes up first. Dimetrios Mason and Richaud Floyd are next. There were times last year where I don't think Drew Lock ever even considered anyone besides J'Mon Moore. I think that changes this year. He's got confidence in a lot more people.
Next up The Chamber presents Alex Schiffer (without any comment this week).
We can start this week off with a small nugget.
Missouri missed the cut for 2018 five-star Andrew Nembhard. I never expected them to be a player for him so he made my life easier.
Now to the elephant in the room…..Torrence Watson.
I was completely caught off guard when he announced he was decommitting from Ohio State. But I think everyone should be careful getting excited from this.
Disclaimer: We don’t know what happened with Watson and whether the decommittment was truly Watson’s choice. It’s going to take a couple weeks to see how this plays out.
As for the actual Watson sweepstakes I’m told Missouri would be in great shape should they jump back in. But I’ve been told this from the beginning: DON’T. SLEEP. ON. SLU. Travis Ford is very much a player in this and if he pulls the right strings I’m told he could make quick work of this. If Missouri does get involved this will be interesting to follow. But until we know more about Watson’s situation I would just say be cautiously optimistic.
Now to some other things.
Still trying to chase down Alex Lomax, Jairus Hamilton and KJ Hymes.
Am told that Lomax plans to take an official visit to Missouri, but he has yet to set a date. He is still very much in the mix for Missouri.
I wrote about Mario McKinney and Terrence Hargrove this week. One I have good news on the other not so much.
Hargrove pretty much made it seem like he’s a Kansas lock if they offer him. He was at Missouri this summer but doesn’t seem interested in coming back anytime soon. I think Jeremiah Tilmon is Missouri’s best shot at getting him. He said his parents are like a set of parents for Tilmon. He already seems to be in their ear so maybe that leads somewhere. The real question is how interested is Kansas in Hargrove. If they’re not interested then things change completely.
Side note on Hargrove: Props to him. He said he doesn’t want to play for bigger AAU teams out of loyalty. Good for him. I think it’s cool that he’s stuck with the first guy that took a shot at him and has helped develop a lot of his game over the years. It’s crazy to call that a throwback but that’s the AAU culture we currently live in. For those interested in learning more about AAU culture, I recommend you ask Gabe. (That was a joke.)
As for McKinney, Missouri continues to be in great shape with him.
This week I’ve tried to learn who is tight with who for the 2019 kids since there’s so many in the area. I can’t speak for the KC side of all this yet but on the STL side it appears McKinney and E.J. Liddell are the leaders in the area. They seem to know everyone. Mckinney said he’s friendly with Marcedus Leech, Liddell, Yuri Collins and Francis Okoro. Hargrove said he’s friendly with Liddell.
I’m trying to see who are the guys that will follow the others should they commit to Missouri. I think if Missouri can land Liddell and/or McKinney early on then this has the chance to be a very special class especially in terms of local talent. I’m not saying it won’t be if they don’t get either, but from my research this week it seems like those are two guys who others will follow.
Finally, there’s been a lot of talk this week about the chances of flipping Carte’Are Gordon and Courtney Ramey.
I’ll say this, I think the chances of flipping Ramey are lower than Gordon. I just can’t see him backing off Louisville given Rick Pitino’s history with point guards and the strength of the ACC right now.
BUT Ramey’s dad told me in January that if Missouri replaced Kim Anderson with someone he had a long standing relationship with then maybe there would be a chance they’d listen. I assume Ramey knows Cuonzo given the STL connection. So maybe there’s a chance, but I wouldn’t put the odds very high. If he does it it would be absurd, but Martin has showed at AAU tournaments that Alex Lomax is a priority. This team does not need a to take a point guard for this class. It’s a luxury not a need. I’d be surprised if Ramey flips given the amount of bodies Missouri has at point guard. He would be in contention for immediate playing time and would to battle with Terrence Phillips and Blake Harris among others. I just don’t see it.
As for Gordon, Missouri could use another body down low and should they flip him I can’t think of a more formidable front line than Tilmon, Jontay and Gordon. Jesus that would be tough to stop.
If Missouri were to pull this off, it would be one of the most shocking recruiting moves I’ve ever seen. I say that because we have no evidence to suggest that he’s on their radar. Obviously we’ve been wrong before. But every time we’ve spoken to him he has said he hasn’t heard much from them. Additionally, he has switched AAU teams two or three times this year, which is a bit of a red flag. Have to wonder what the deal is there. But Gordon flipping would make sense as a surprise since he’s seen the campus already and knows most of the team. The coaching staff is really the only thing I can’t speak to here. And that happens to be the key to all of this. So I guess in conclusion it’s possible, I just have no evidence to go off that suggests it will happen. But Gordon has always shown more interest in Missouri than Ramey. Hence why I put his odds higher.
