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Alex Patton quietly arose to a top cornerback target for Missouri.

The Class of 2027 defensive back visited the Tigers twice since he received his first Power Four offer from the Tigers in late October. Patton visited Missouri for the first time in November, filing into a sold-out visitor section for the Oklahoma game.

"I loved the atmosphere," Patton said. "It was amazing. I was my first going to a big college game. I like the fans, and I like the tradition."

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Even with a packed contingent of prospective athletes, the Tigers made it a priority to get Patton a few minutes with cornerbacks coach Al Pogue. Patton liked Pogue's defensive schemes, while also crediting the staffer for keeping him entertained with his humor.

Patton returned for Junior Day on March 8 to watch a spring practice. The 5-foot-11, 165-pound corner improved on his zone coverage knowledge this past season and got to learn even more during his trip to Columbia.

"I like the film room," Patton said. "I like how the coaches are making it understandable. It was pretty easy."

The speedy cornerback totaled one interception, six pass deflections, 23 tackles and one blocked field goal during his sophomore season at Aledo (Tex.) High. Patton, who has received nine offers through his sophomore year, made his most recent unofficial visit April 5 to Duke.

The Portal windows are closed, or about to close, and we are helping you close out the Spring Portal season in this week’s Friday File.

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For the first time in more than a decade, the Missouri Tigers have a top-10 pick.

Missouri is among the teams to contact Kentucky transfer guard Travis Perry, per his agency. Perry, a four-star in the 2024 class, started four of his 31 games this past season.

He scored three points in seven minutes against the Tigers on March 8.

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Xavier Loyd trusted his gut.

Instead of accepting a scholarship from an Ivy League or FCS program, he walked on at Kansas State. The transfer portal opened a new opportunity a few years later, and he ran with it, landing at Illinois State and boosting his value into the eyes of the SEC.

With Power Four schools buzzing his phone, Loyd chose Missouri and committed Saturday after his visit. The Blue Springs (Mo.) High product returned to his home state with one season of eligibility remaining, and his community backed his decision.

"I'm just proud that I can use Xavier Loyd as an example of a guy who bided his time," Jed Paulsen said, "went through the process, kept developing, kept getting better, trusted the process, and now, he's getting the fruits of all his hard work."

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Paulsen, the head coach of Blue Springs, served as the offensive line coach during Loyd's high school career. Yet while Loyd never got the opportunity to stay in Missouri for football after high school, his choice to return to his home state defined the loyalty aspect that Paulsen has preached to his athletes.

"I use the hashtag homegrown here all the time," Paulsen said. "I want our guys to stay local. I value loyalty. I think loyalty is something we're missing in college athletics today. ... I think the fact that he can come back home and finish his career at Mizzou is just an awesome thing for Xavier."

Loyd played with a chip on his shoulder, choosing to take a development route in college. He, most importantly in the eyes of his coaches, never listed to those who told him he couldn't make it.

"He's finally getting to play at Mizzou," Paulsen said. "I think that's what his dream always was. It was to play here at home, play for Mizzou, be in the SEC and show what he's all about."

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Loyd excelled at 50/50 balls in high school. No matter the placement of the football, he used his height to his advantage, seamlessly coming down with every high-pointed pass in his direction.

"He came up big, time after time after time in crucial moments," Paulsen said. "When we had to have it, as a third down in a big game, we knew we were going to Xavier Loyd. ... The guy just has the ability to go up and track footballs and compete for them and bring those down."

Loyd's parents pushed him to not only be a good person on the field but also off it. His charisma made him a likable person around campus by his coaches, peers and teachers, and even years after high school, his close friends still follow his football career, recently visiting him for his spring game at Illinois State.

"In the hallways, he was a leader," Paulsen said. "He's just that leader that brings people together. He's just a super good human being, great morals and a very hard worker. Xavier Loyd is a guy you want to root for. He makes it easy to root for him."

The Tigers announced the fifth new member of the Mizzou Athletics Hall of Fame with three-year basketball star Kareem Rush.

New Missouri tight end Gavin Hoffman shares a great aunt with fellow Tigers pass-catcher Brett Norfleet:

"We're not related, but somehow we have the same great aunt through marriage or something."

Click to expand...

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Making his rounds for in-home visits, Derham Cato wanted to see Evan Jacobson again.

Following three prior visits and an in-school meeting with Cato, Jacobson got his family to spend more personal time with the Tigers tight ends coach Wednesday.

"My family and I really enjoyed the time with Coach Cato," Jacobson said. "We've been around him a ton, I have a great relationship with him and my parents really enjoyed him as well."

The Class of 2026 three-star tight end reassured he will be taking an official visit to Missouri, but he chose not to make the date public yet. Cato also got to see Jacobson work out Wednesday.

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I spoke with Jacob Infante of Windy City Gridiron to get a feel for what to expect starting at 7 p.m. tonight when the NFL draft kicks off. Here's a Q&A with him about the Tiger prospects.

Bright side, Sam Horn pitched well in his debut back from Tommy John. But not much else went right for the Tigers against the Bears.

With the portal closed, I decided to review and grade how I think the Tigers did so far. There are still two spots to fill, and depending on who fills them, the grade could definitely go up, but there aren't many game changers left on the board and from what we know, the Tigers aren't connected to them.

The Tigers announced the signing of their first portal commitment.

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Before making his Missouri official visit June 6-8, Camden Jensen welcomed an in-home visit from Tigers tight ends coach Derham Cato.

Jensen, a four-star in the 2026 class, visited Missouri ahead of his junior season at Littleton (Colo.) Heritage. Contact remained strong as Cato took over for Erik Link, and Missouri landed in Jensen's Top 7.

"He talked about some things to expect on the OV," Jensen said of Cato, "walked us through the schedule."

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Jensen visited with his father and grandfather last summer. With Cato in his home, Jensen introduced more of his relatives to the staffer.

"My family really likes Coach Cato," Jensen said. "He's very, very smart in football terms, and he was very polite."

Before officially entering the transfer portal, Gavin Hoffman returned to a familiar domain. He stepped through the doors of TopSpeed Sports Performance, began his warmup and instantly received a quick question on his future.

"I looked at him, and I was like, 'So heading to Mizzou, huh?'" Joseph Potts said. "And he kind of chuckled."

Hoffman, a Class of 2024 three-star from Overland Park (Kans.) Blue Valley Northwest, announced his intentions of entering the portal April 3 from Iowa. By the time he officially entered this past Wednesday, he received an "overwhelming" amount of interest, but one school separated itself: Missouri.

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During his high school recruiting process, Hoffman picked up his first Power Five offer from the Tigers. Head coach Eli Drinkwitz extended the scholarship after a camp in June 2023, and from there, Hoffman's recruitment surged rapidly ahead of official visits.

Potts, the founder of TopSpeed Sports Performance, knew Hoffman's potential. He saw it develop first hand in his own facility, fielding interest from top schools across the region, and once Hoffman posted his skills training results at a Missouri camp, he received high praise from his trainer.

"This is NFL caliber athleticism," Potts wrote June 1, 2023. "So for you coaches I've spoken to the last few weeks that kept saying 'we can't offer till see see him in camp' - here's the type of athlete you'd be offering."

Collegiate coaches got the message.


Arkansas, Arizona State, Illinois, Iowa, Purdue and Texas Tech all offered the rising talent within the week. Before the end of the month, Hoffman took official visits to see the Tigers, Sun Devils and Hawkeyes, ultimately committing to Iowa.

"Iowa, with their recent history of success developing tight ends, really stood out," Potts said. "And then obviously Abdul Hodge, their new tight end coach, he and I go way back. ... He reached out several times and was like, 'Hey, man, I really, really like this Hoffman guy.' And as the conversation evolved, it just became a good fit."

In his one season with the Hawkeyes, Hoffman learned under NFL Draft prospect Luke Lachey. Although not appearing in any games, Hoffman, who entered the portal with four years of eligibility, didn't lose a step.

"He's come back recently and trained during the breaks," Potts said. "He's continued to add a lot of mass. I think he was 245-248 pounds, still fast, still explosive, maybe not quite as much as he had been there in high school, but the fact that it was there period, it tells you that that quality still exists. And it's probably just a matter of he maybe put on a bit too much too fast."

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In a basketball family, one that features 2025 Mizzou Hall of Famer Sophie Cunningham, Hoffman naturally gravitated to the hardwood, but he received advice that he could be either undersized in basketball or be a fantastic tight end his junior year.

But when Hoffman first signed up for training, giving his primary attention to football, he received worries about his size. Potts spoke to national recruiting analysts, and Hoffman's 207 pouns didn't bode well in their minds.

"He needed that hypertrophy element," Potts said. "We had to do everything under the sun. We had to do high volume, low volume, to stimulate the different muscle fiber types, because we were looking for a lot of mass in a short amount of time."

Out of the gate, he didn't have much high profile interest because of his lack of weight in his 6-foot-5 frame, but he responded well to his speed of movement training, showing his weight gain while camping at Missouri.

"But once he popped off with that size, explosion, speed combination," Potts said, "things really took off for him."

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Hoffman entered the spring transfer window after a realization he might not provide much impact this upcoming season. Hodge and other Iowa staffers weren't happy to see him leave.

Now a redshirt freshman, Hoffman will enter a position group at Missouri with three returners -- Jordon Harris, Jude James and Brett Norfleet -- and two additions -- transfer Vince Brown II and freshman Dakotah Terrell.

"They've got that history as well," Potts said about tight ends at Missouri, "maybe not as regally as Iowa, but it's still something in the minds of NFL personnel. I think NIL might have played a role as well. With him being a bit more local to the KC metro, that might be something that appeals more to opportunity there in Columbia than it might have in Iowa City."

The Tigers added a new offensive lineman yesterday, so let's take a look into his deeper stats to see where he fits in.

The portal closed at midnight (though schools have until Thursday night to complete paperwork) so let’s run through another wish list of available options I think would help the Tigers fill out the roster.

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@Adam Gorney: The Lee’s Summit (Mo.) North three-star was ranked as an offensive guard which is interesting because the one concern NFL teams might have with Membou is that he doesn’t have traditional offensive tackle height at just over 6-foot-4 and 332 pounds. But Membou has exceptionally long arms (82-inch wingspan) and great body control.

At the high school level, though, Membou needed to hit the weight room – numerous coaching staffs told him that – but Missouri took a shot and it paid off big.

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Brett Gordon immediately noted the raw talent in Gavin Sidwar's game.

He saw it on display through the quarterback's first two seasons at Wyndmoor (Pa.) La Salle College High School, but when Gordon was appointed head coach ahead of Sidwar's junior year, he knew what his pupil needed to work on.

When they first met in January 2024, the two got to work right away with the mental aspect of the game. Gordon wanted Sidwar to understand his vision in their tandem, realizing how much of the offense will be dictated by the play of the quarterback.

"Not only has he grown physically, but he's grown emotionally from a maturity standpoint," Gordon said. "Watching him take his game to the next level mentally, for me as a coach, has been has been a lot of fun to watch."

After their first scrimmage ahead of the 2024 season, Gordon saw enhanced accuracy and decision making from Sidwar. He felt the demand of the quarterback in his offense would most prepare Sidwar for an opportunity at the next level.

That was on display in Sidwar's junior season, as the Class of 2026 signal-caller passed for 2,747 yards and 31 touchdowns on a 69% completion rate.

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Sidwar, who verbally committed to Missouri on Friday, impressed Tigers offensive coordinator Kirby Moore not only with his stats but also his football knowledge of route concepts, progressions, defensive identifications and pass protections.

"It was apparent to me very quickly that he had a very high football IQ," Gordon said.

In Gordon's mind, anticipation has always been the hardest thing to teach quarterbacks. He's seen uber talented athletes with strong arms not progress and transition to college or the NFL.

"In my estimation, the things that are most important for a quarterback at any level, Gavin excels at both," Gordon said, "which is the ability to process information very quickly and then be able to have a quick release and get the ball out accurately. He does that as well as any high school player I've ever seen."

Moore worked out with Sidwar in January, when the Tigers offered the former Rutgers commit. Sidwar, a four-star, visited Missouri's campus this past week, after his previous trip was canceled due to weather, and made up his mind on his future.

"I wouldn't say it was a big surprise," Gordon said. "The more coaches I talked to, the more I got to understand how Kirby operates and what he was looking for, I wasn't surprised, especially down here towards the end. Because he was very apparent the appreciation that he had for Gavin, his development mentally."

Missouri proved to align its vision with Sidwar's specific skills, and with the Tigers having two other Pennsylvania quarterback products in Beau Pribula and Matt Zollers, it only strengthened the pipeline.

"Jack's a great guy," Gordon said of Missouri assistant offensive line coach and Pennsylvania recruiter Jack Abercrombie. "He's been pretty active with a couple of our players here over the past couple months. There's familiarity there.

"I think the part that often has gotten overlooked just because of all the moving and shaking within conferences is Missouri's SEC football. Pennsylvania kids get a chance to go play in the best conference in college football. I think it's pretty special."

Sam Horn is done after one inning. He gave up one hit and struck out one batter.

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Missouri added more competition to the offensive line group Tuesday.

Florida State transfer offensive lineman Jaylen Early committed to the Tigers after his Monday visit. The 6-foot-4, 297-pound redshirt junior entered the spring portal window with two years of eligibility remaining.

Early showed his versatility this past season, playing right tackle, left tackle and right guard as the Seminoles started nine different combinations on the offensive line looking for a solution.

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Early struggled at times in pass blocking this past season, allowing multiple pressures and hurries in eight games, plus two sacks in somewhat limited opportunities. He was an elite run blocker from the right tackle spot, though struggled with it at the other positions.

Early could join the competition at right guard alongside Logan Reichert when he returns from injury, or he could join a rotation of backups at the tackle spots as Wake Forest transfer Keagen Trost looked to have established himself as the starting right tackle.

Early was also recruited out of high school by former Houston offensive line coach Brandon Jones, who now serves the same position at Missouri.

Mizzou announced the second member of this year's Mizzou Athletics Hall of Fame class in football standout, and current special teams analyst, Brock Olivo.

As Jason Dowell prepped for his final weeks of high school, he received word he won't be the only person in his family bound for Missouri.

Shannon Dowell, Jason's cousin, announced her transfer commitment to the women's basketball program Tuesday. Jason, a four-star defensive tackle in the 2025 class, inked his letter of intent in December, and now knowing his cousin will also be enrolled at Missouri, he couldn't be more excited.

"Having a family member that's as good as how she is at her sport, that's such a dope feeling," Jason said. "It's really motivating seeing someone, of course, that's from your family, your heritage. ... I expect her to go to the WNBA the way she's been rocking. If she keeps everything going, she'll be perfectly fine."

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Jason got back to campus in early March with fellow signee Jack Lange. The two checked off pre-enrollment tasks while also taking in a practice to get a feel for the competition on the defensive line this upcoming season.

"It's also something that you can gain confidence from," Jason said. "Just go up there and see who you have to compete against, and I feel as though me going up there again, seeing what I saw, it's amazing. And I just can't wait to get there and start competing."

Finishing out his senior year at Belleville (Ill.) Althoff, Jason also wrapped up his wrestling career, and although he ended his season short of his goal in the state championship, he still learned more about himself, not only in wrestling, but about himself compared to the past few years.

Jason got into wrestling through his friend and current Missouri cornerback Nicholas Deloach Jr. The Illinois products, who met in middle school, will reunite next month, while also having another close friend, Chase Crawford, compete in track and field.

"He's such a good role model to me," Jason said of Deloach. "He's quiet. He's laid back. ... I can't thank him enough for being my friend. I love that guy truly."

There were times in his high school career where Jason considered quitting sports, but he leaned into his faith to appreciate his athletic gifts. He embraced his roles in baseball, football and wrestling to better not only his own play but also those around him.

"That's exactly what He wants me to do," Jason said, "and I'm just going to continue to walk in it for as long until He calls me to something else. ... I don't deserve any of it, but I will continue to use it, build his name and his glory, because at the end of the day, this isn't about me. My life isn't about me. It's about Him."

Jason also learned to embrace giving back to the next generation of athletes this past year. He saw others brush off autographs, conversations and photos due to the hectic environments after competitions.

"I never want to be that guy, no matter if I had a great day, had a bad day, I won or lost," Jason said. "At the end of the day, we're a form entertainment. ... For people to have the willingness to come up to us and ask about us, want a picture or an autograph, why would I not do that?"

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Dowell, who finished his recruitment ranked No. 13 in Illinois, will enroll at Missouri this summer.

"I'm just mainly focused on having fun, being a kid for these next one or two months I have," Jason said, "because I know as soon as I get there, I'm in the ground, running, and I'm going to keep my eyes focused on the goal that God has for me."

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As Kevin Sullivan filled out, so did his offer sheet.

More colleges came his way after his junior season, including Missouri, one of the 12 programs to offer the Class of 2026 three-star tight end during the NCAA Contact Period in January.

From Kansas City (Mo.) Rockhurst, Sullivan added the Tigers to his official visit list, planning to wrap up the summer session June 20-22 at Missouri, and what got him on the radar of the staff was what he accomplished at 6-foot-6, 230 pounds.

"If you look back to 2024, 2023, he would still look like that young, wiry kid that you could tell was going to be a good athlete," Jake Owens said, "but he just needed a few years to fill into that frame. Over the past couple of years, he wasn't pushing 210, 215, maybe even 200 pounds, if you look back three years from now."

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Owens, a consultant at TopSpeed Sports Performance, watched that development firsthand over the past year. He saw Sullivan morph into a Power Four tight end prospect, one that now ranks as the No. 10 recruit in Missouri.

"He's like a power forward playing tight end," Owens said. "I don't think in any way he's a finished product, as he is just now starting to fill into that frame. I'm really excited for him over the next two years."

As he takes advantage of his already growing size, Sullivan will now turn his focus to his readiness for the next level, either with early enrollment in January or during the summer after finishing his senior year of high school.

"It's going to be accelerated properties," Owens said, "to where we turn this good frame into -- not saying that he's not a good athlete already -- but to the point of where he can step into an SEC role and actually give Mizzou snaps or a school like that."

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At a position that requires development, no matter the size and skill one enters a program with, there's sometimes an expectation of not contributing much as a freshman. So when it comes to picking the best fit, prep tight ends look for that opportunity to keep building.

"I would say for a lot of these guys, it's going to be development first," Owens said. "The versatility and then also learning how to use that frame to be that nasty tight end that everybody's looking for. Because, as you probably know, all the tight ends want to be Travis Kelce now, just catch the football."

Owens has seen more Kansas City athletes play premium positions over the past decade. Sullivan, who uses his basketball background to his advantage, plays for Missouri Sports Hall of Famer Kelly Donohoe at Rockhurst.

"For me, that's so important for somebody like Kevin," Owens said, "who has the frame, who has the size, who has the athletic ability, to then learn the damn game of football, so when you step on campus, you're ready to actually play."

Sullivan, who visited Missouri for Junior Days in January and March, will return in June, looking to further a relationship with tight ends coach Derham Cato. The Kansas City product will also officially visit Kansas (May 30), Iowa State (June 6) and Vanderbilt (June 14).

April has become one of the busiest months of the offseason in terms of recruiting news, and Rivals national analyst @Greg Smith has all the latest buzz from the Midwest.

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The elite 2027 receiver was back in Iowa City to check out the Hawkeyes over the weekend and it went well. It stood out to him that the offense looked different than in previous years and they threw the ball downfield more than he thought they would.

Iowa is in the mix for Burrell but he wants to see how the passing game progresses. Michigan, Missouri, Notre Dame and Wisconsin are some of the other programs involved.

More from Burrell's March visit to Missouri: