It's no secret that this weekend has lost some luster over the last few days. Keyshon Camp backed out of his visit when Chris Wilson left unexpectedly for the Philadelphia Eagles defensive line position. Aaron Dowdell switched his visit from Missouri to Georgia Southern on Thursday. Erik Swenson decided to visit Oklahoma instead of Mizzou. Junior college defensive tackle J.J. Holmes also decided not to visit, but The Chamber believes that was initiated by the Tiger coaches.
One bit of good (perhaps very good) news that PowerMizzou.com was just told is that Joshua Jacobs will visit Columbia this weekend. It was a three team race between Alabama, Oklahoma and Mizzou. Usually in that situation The Chamber would think the Tigers' chances are pretty low, but Ryan Walters did a great job of building the relationship with Jacobs during January.
Walters was one of the first Power 5 coaches to visit Jacobs and he went to see the three-star running back three times. The final visit included Barry Odom, Josh Heupel and Joe Jon Finley. An Oklahoma native and two Sooners to try and woo Jacobs north.
With this being Jacobs' only Power 5 official visit The Chamber feels the Tigers chances have significantly improved.
Mizzou's other visitors this weekend are Tre Williams, Dominic Collins, Albert Okwuegbunam, Brendan Scales and Arkeem Byrd. PowerMizzou.com prides itself on bringing Tiger fans the best possible recruiting coverage on the internet, but there are occasions when visitors make it on campus without us knowing.
It has become difficult to read how the Tigers plan to complete the 2016 class. We know that they want to add another running back and PowerMizzou.com was told something interesting regarding the position this week. Apparently Byrd was the top target the whole time.
It makes sense with him being the first to receive an offer. What made it not so obvious is that Missouri seemed to switch focus very quickly to other backs and recruit them more aggressively. With Crockett in the fold it sounds like Missouri would be perfectly happy with either Byrd, Crawford or Jacobs and might take two of the three.
With Mizzou in Crawford's final two and Jacobs only visiting Columbia and Byrd reportedly the top target it could be a wild finish for the ball carriers.
Wide receiver lost one scholarship player and now has a commitment. Collins commiting doesn't change anything with Chris Black from what PowerMizzou.com has been told. The former Alabama wideout is pretty locked into Mizzou, but the process of transferring can drag out in some instances.
The tight end position appears to have come down to Okwuegbunam and whether the Tigers can flip Scales. The Chamber has received some conflicting reports on Mizzou's chances. Two big developments to watch that could play a factor are what happens with Devin Asiasi and Evan Scales. Evan is Brendan's older brother and plays quarterback for the College of DuPage. The elder Scales has been in touch with Josh Heupel and is evaluating his options.
Offensive line has become as much of a mystery as quarterback and the defense with some targets now out of the picture. Jared Goldwire is still a name we are watching, but it appears he will visit UTEP this weekend. There are a few junior college prospects (Natrell Curtis, Kent Flowers, Da'Keavis Wilmore) that Mizzou could make a run at without a weekend official visit.
Mizzou is still in the picture for Tyler Catalina. Barry Odom, Josh Heupel and Glen Elarbee visited with him and his brother on Wednesday night and PowerMizzou.com was told the visit went very well. A visit will happen, but since Catalina is a fifth year transfer there is more time for him to look around. Mizzou will get a visit in early February.
Defensive line could very well end with the three current commitments. Kobe Jones is wrapping up his visit today and then heads straight to Ole Miss. Mizzou's chances of pulling a kid out of Starkville that has offers to Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Alabama just do not seem high to The Chamber.
Linebacker and safety appear to be done at this time too. Timothy Hart was a possibility, but at this point it does not seem like the Tigers decided to seriously pursue the former Tennessee commit.
The biggest news from this past week was the departure of three players. Maty Mauk, Eddie Printz and Michael Fairchild are gone due to dismissal, transfer and transfer, respectively.
Let's start with Fairchild. The Chamber doesn't think this one was unexpected. I've been told Fairchild "marches to his own drum" and obviously his desire to focus on mechanical engineering was big enough leave football. Fairchild looked like a future solid contributor to the offensive line after his first spring at Missouri in 2014, but since then, he's moved positions and been jumped over on the depth chart. Missouri is obviously still trying to add linemen in this year's class, but we don't think Fairchild's departure is going to cause them to start scrambling for another body at this point.
Now, the biggest two departures are at quarterback. Printz's departure has been a long time coming, since December when he originally spoke to Barry Odom. Odom asked him to think about it some more over the break; when Printz returned, his mind was made up and that was that. A big reason, we were told, as to why Printz made this decision now as opposed to waiting until after spring ball was because he wanted to give Missouri's staff time to bring in new quarterback recruits in this year's class. He didn't want them to be left looking in May for anybody to add depth.
That being said, Mauk's departure may just cause that. Missouri's staff, from whatPowerMizzou.com was told, was already worried about depth issues if Mauk didn't win the job this spring and then took the graduate transfer waiver. Now Missouri has two scholarship quarterbacks. The Chamber is not sure what this means for Marvin Zanders, as we've heard so many conflicting reports about whether he will or will not transfer over the last month. We think this at least means he'll stay with spring ball. From there, it's all about whether Zanders is given a legitimate shot to compete for the job.
Missouri has a few options. They could make one last push at a quarterback before signing day. They could wait until after spring football and see what unsigned junior college quarterbacks are out there. Or, when more transfers pop up following spring ball, they could look for a graduate transfer to add depth. None of this is ideal, but the most important thing is that Missouri has to find someone who is physically ready to play next season, if they don't need to play.
I've asked around about Drew Lock, and how he's doing physically. Lock injured his shoulder against BYU and it bothered him over the final two games.PowerMizzou.com was told his shoulder is 100-percent healthy, he's been throwing just fine, and he's also put on about 8-10 pounds, weighing in around 213-215 pounds since the season is over.
The Tigers are starting to extend walk-on opportunities to 2016 prospects. As you'd expect a few quarterbacks have heard from Mizzou. The players we know have been approached areDawson Downing,Jerney Jones,Emilio Monsivais,Zack Weatherly,Evan ScalesandMason Cunningham. All are weighing scholarship opportunities from smaller schools so nothing is set in stone at this point.
One bit of good (perhaps very good) news that PowerMizzou.com was just told is that Joshua Jacobs will visit Columbia this weekend. It was a three team race between Alabama, Oklahoma and Mizzou. Usually in that situation The Chamber would think the Tigers' chances are pretty low, but Ryan Walters did a great job of building the relationship with Jacobs during January.
Walters was one of the first Power 5 coaches to visit Jacobs and he went to see the three-star running back three times. The final visit included Barry Odom, Josh Heupel and Joe Jon Finley. An Oklahoma native and two Sooners to try and woo Jacobs north.
With this being Jacobs' only Power 5 official visit The Chamber feels the Tigers chances have significantly improved.
Mizzou's other visitors this weekend are Tre Williams, Dominic Collins, Albert Okwuegbunam, Brendan Scales and Arkeem Byrd. PowerMizzou.com prides itself on bringing Tiger fans the best possible recruiting coverage on the internet, but there are occasions when visitors make it on campus without us knowing.
It has become difficult to read how the Tigers plan to complete the 2016 class. We know that they want to add another running back and PowerMizzou.com was told something interesting regarding the position this week. Apparently Byrd was the top target the whole time.
It makes sense with him being the first to receive an offer. What made it not so obvious is that Missouri seemed to switch focus very quickly to other backs and recruit them more aggressively. With Crockett in the fold it sounds like Missouri would be perfectly happy with either Byrd, Crawford or Jacobs and might take two of the three.
With Mizzou in Crawford's final two and Jacobs only visiting Columbia and Byrd reportedly the top target it could be a wild finish for the ball carriers.
Wide receiver lost one scholarship player and now has a commitment. Collins commiting doesn't change anything with Chris Black from what PowerMizzou.com has been told. The former Alabama wideout is pretty locked into Mizzou, but the process of transferring can drag out in some instances.
The tight end position appears to have come down to Okwuegbunam and whether the Tigers can flip Scales. The Chamber has received some conflicting reports on Mizzou's chances. Two big developments to watch that could play a factor are what happens with Devin Asiasi and Evan Scales. Evan is Brendan's older brother and plays quarterback for the College of DuPage. The elder Scales has been in touch with Josh Heupel and is evaluating his options.
Offensive line has become as much of a mystery as quarterback and the defense with some targets now out of the picture. Jared Goldwire is still a name we are watching, but it appears he will visit UTEP this weekend. There are a few junior college prospects (Natrell Curtis, Kent Flowers, Da'Keavis Wilmore) that Mizzou could make a run at without a weekend official visit.
Mizzou is still in the picture for Tyler Catalina. Barry Odom, Josh Heupel and Glen Elarbee visited with him and his brother on Wednesday night and PowerMizzou.com was told the visit went very well. A visit will happen, but since Catalina is a fifth year transfer there is more time for him to look around. Mizzou will get a visit in early February.
Defensive line could very well end with the three current commitments. Kobe Jones is wrapping up his visit today and then heads straight to Ole Miss. Mizzou's chances of pulling a kid out of Starkville that has offers to Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Alabama just do not seem high to The Chamber.
Linebacker and safety appear to be done at this time too. Timothy Hart was a possibility, but at this point it does not seem like the Tigers decided to seriously pursue the former Tennessee commit.
The biggest news from this past week was the departure of three players. Maty Mauk, Eddie Printz and Michael Fairchild are gone due to dismissal, transfer and transfer, respectively.
Let's start with Fairchild. The Chamber doesn't think this one was unexpected. I've been told Fairchild "marches to his own drum" and obviously his desire to focus on mechanical engineering was big enough leave football. Fairchild looked like a future solid contributor to the offensive line after his first spring at Missouri in 2014, but since then, he's moved positions and been jumped over on the depth chart. Missouri is obviously still trying to add linemen in this year's class, but we don't think Fairchild's departure is going to cause them to start scrambling for another body at this point.
Now, the biggest two departures are at quarterback. Printz's departure has been a long time coming, since December when he originally spoke to Barry Odom. Odom asked him to think about it some more over the break; when Printz returned, his mind was made up and that was that. A big reason, we were told, as to why Printz made this decision now as opposed to waiting until after spring ball was because he wanted to give Missouri's staff time to bring in new quarterback recruits in this year's class. He didn't want them to be left looking in May for anybody to add depth.
That being said, Mauk's departure may just cause that. Missouri's staff, from whatPowerMizzou.com was told, was already worried about depth issues if Mauk didn't win the job this spring and then took the graduate transfer waiver. Now Missouri has two scholarship quarterbacks. The Chamber is not sure what this means for Marvin Zanders, as we've heard so many conflicting reports about whether he will or will not transfer over the last month. We think this at least means he'll stay with spring ball. From there, it's all about whether Zanders is given a legitimate shot to compete for the job.
Missouri has a few options. They could make one last push at a quarterback before signing day. They could wait until after spring football and see what unsigned junior college quarterbacks are out there. Or, when more transfers pop up following spring ball, they could look for a graduate transfer to add depth. None of this is ideal, but the most important thing is that Missouri has to find someone who is physically ready to play next season, if they don't need to play.
I've asked around about Drew Lock, and how he's doing physically. Lock injured his shoulder against BYU and it bothered him over the final two games.PowerMizzou.com was told his shoulder is 100-percent healthy, he's been throwing just fine, and he's also put on about 8-10 pounds, weighing in around 213-215 pounds since the season is over.
The Tigers are starting to extend walk-on opportunities to 2016 prospects. As you'd expect a few quarterbacks have heard from Mizzou. The players we know have been approached areDawson Downing,Jerney Jones,Emilio Monsivais,Zack Weatherly,Evan ScalesandMason Cunningham. All are weighing scholarship opportunities from smaller schools so nothing is set in stone at this point.
