Was gonna put this in the Chamber, but we try to keep that recruiting centric. Had some conversations with various people while I was covering camp yesterday. Here are a few tidbits I picked up:
*There's almost no way Brett Norfleet doesn't play this season. He has to. Ready or not.
*At least one of the freshman receivers almost certainly plays. The early favorite would be Josh Manning.
*I don't know who the starting quarterback is going to be. I don't think anybody does. But the way you look at quarterbacks and recruiting has completely changed because of the portal. I saw a list of 12 Heisman hopefuls the other day and half of the top 12 betting favorites right now are transfer quarterbacks. If a guy's not starting, you pretty much have to count on losing him at this point. Missouri is no different.
You've got Jake Garcia, Brady Cook and Sam Horn. If Cook or Horn wins the starting job, Garcia is probably the backup and the third guy leaves. Probably not until after the season because even if you're a grad transfer, there's no advantage to transferring in September, but the odd man out probably leaves. If Garcia wins the job, you look at the chance that both Horn and Cook transfer after the season. Which is why you have to take a high school QB every year and maybe a transfer QB just about every year.
Horn's baseball adds a different wrinkle here. He was better on the mound in his brief stint than absolutely anyone expected. It was known he was good, but nobody expected him to go out and throw 98 right away. That opened a TON of eyes. Which leads to something I've heard a few times in the last few weeks: If Sam Horn is not Missouri's starting quarterback this year, there's probably a better than 50/50 chance he's just done with football. There's a lot of talk that in two years, Horn is in great position to be a first round draft pick in Major League Baseball. If he doesn't win the job this year, there's a lot of belief that he'll turn all of his attention to that sport.
None of this should incite panic. Honestly, none of it should really even surprise you guys. It's mostly common sense. Garcia is pretty much locked in because he's already transferred and would need a waiver to do so again. Missouri has Dylan Liable, who I have a hard time seeing with a legit chance to be the starter, but probably can at least be your backup if you find yourself in a situation where there's only one experienced QB on the roster. You'll add Gabarri Johnson and the hope is obviously that he's the next guy behind whoever ends up starting this year. They'll probably take another high school guy, though I think at this point the likelihood is it's more of a developmental guy who would take 2-3 years before you're really considering him a contender to start. But whether it's this spring or next spring, I think you're almost certainly looking at another transfer quarterback. It's what the position demands these days. There's so much movement, you're almost looking at the portal every single year, if not for a starter, at least for a guy that can give you some depth.
- Finally, trust me when I tell you that absolutely everyone understands the urgency and the importance to have a winning season this year. There's no question about that. I think there's optimism in the program that Missouri has the pieces to do that, but they absolutely know it has to happen.
*There's almost no way Brett Norfleet doesn't play this season. He has to. Ready or not.
*At least one of the freshman receivers almost certainly plays. The early favorite would be Josh Manning.
*I don't know who the starting quarterback is going to be. I don't think anybody does. But the way you look at quarterbacks and recruiting has completely changed because of the portal. I saw a list of 12 Heisman hopefuls the other day and half of the top 12 betting favorites right now are transfer quarterbacks. If a guy's not starting, you pretty much have to count on losing him at this point. Missouri is no different.
You've got Jake Garcia, Brady Cook and Sam Horn. If Cook or Horn wins the starting job, Garcia is probably the backup and the third guy leaves. Probably not until after the season because even if you're a grad transfer, there's no advantage to transferring in September, but the odd man out probably leaves. If Garcia wins the job, you look at the chance that both Horn and Cook transfer after the season. Which is why you have to take a high school QB every year and maybe a transfer QB just about every year.
Horn's baseball adds a different wrinkle here. He was better on the mound in his brief stint than absolutely anyone expected. It was known he was good, but nobody expected him to go out and throw 98 right away. That opened a TON of eyes. Which leads to something I've heard a few times in the last few weeks: If Sam Horn is not Missouri's starting quarterback this year, there's probably a better than 50/50 chance he's just done with football. There's a lot of talk that in two years, Horn is in great position to be a first round draft pick in Major League Baseball. If he doesn't win the job this year, there's a lot of belief that he'll turn all of his attention to that sport.
None of this should incite panic. Honestly, none of it should really even surprise you guys. It's mostly common sense. Garcia is pretty much locked in because he's already transferred and would need a waiver to do so again. Missouri has Dylan Liable, who I have a hard time seeing with a legit chance to be the starter, but probably can at least be your backup if you find yourself in a situation where there's only one experienced QB on the roster. You'll add Gabarri Johnson and the hope is obviously that he's the next guy behind whoever ends up starting this year. They'll probably take another high school guy, though I think at this point the likelihood is it's more of a developmental guy who would take 2-3 years before you're really considering him a contender to start. But whether it's this spring or next spring, I think you're almost certainly looking at another transfer quarterback. It's what the position demands these days. There's so much movement, you're almost looking at the portal every single year, if not for a starter, at least for a guy that can give you some depth.
- Finally, trust me when I tell you that absolutely everyone understands the urgency and the importance to have a winning season this year. There's no question about that. I think there's optimism in the program that Missouri has the pieces to do that, but they absolutely know it has to happen.
