We'll have a Chamber on Friday morning. It may be a bit of a repeat. I went out on a limb and guessed you'd all rather have the info I've been able to gather in the last couple of days now than wait until Friday morning. So here's what I've got:
The nation's No. 3 receiver and No. 18 overall player was in Columbia yesterday for what, by our count, is at least his seventh visit to Missouri. On one hand, there's nothing he could possibly learn that he doesn't know. On the other hand, if they'll have you and they want to treat you like a king, why not take advantage of it? But this isn't just a courtesy trip. Missouri is very, very much in the mix here.
Wingo was in town with Mizzou commit and lead recruiter James Madison. By all accounts they got along very well and enjoyed their time. Mizzou WR coach Jacob Peeler draws high praise from those I've talked to as a recruiter and a visit host. Wingo is headed to Tennessee and Texas A&M this week. In the NIL era, you never say never, but it would be surprising if either of those schools was a major factor in this recruitment. These visits were set up a long time ago for the open week in July and Wingo is honoring them, but both have a significant gap to make up.
From everyone we've talked to, it's Texas or Mizzou. Anything else would be a surprise. Missouri offers the close to home, can pay you sooner and probably more in NIL option. Texas offers the name and playing with Arch Manning. The family likes Missouri's staff a lot. If decision day was today, we'd pick Wingo to Mizzou. Decision day is not today. He's said he'll announce on December 20th. There's a pretty good chance he'll know before then. He'll probably take some more visits. But it's going to take a lot to overcome the Tigers or the Longhorns here.
Missouri has also made up significant ground on the No. 1 player in the state and the No. 3 player in the country from everything we've heard. The top three have been Georgia, Oklahoma and Mizzou. We do not believe Nwaneri will go to Georgia. The Bulldogs are the furthest from home and will offer the lowest NIL guarantee according to everything we've heard. He is taking a visit to Oregon this week where KC native Dan Lanning just signed a contract extension. Oregon offers a lot of flash, but it's tough to see him going all the way across the country. We view this as an Oklahoma/Missouri battle. For most of the last year, we've believed Oklahoma was a strong leader. We're not sure if Missouri has pulled even in this race, but they're breathing down the Sooners neck down the stretch.
Speaking of the stretch, the belief was that Nwaneri was going to announce a decision next week. We're hearing that may not be the case. The thinking right now is that a September decision might be more likely. I don't have that officially at this point in time, but a delay would probably benefit Missouri. If he knows where he's going, he'd probably announce it. If he was ready to announce it, logic tells me the program that's been considered the leader would be the place. Don't get me wrong, he may very well end up at Oklahoma. But I'm much less certain about it than I was two or three weeks ago. Don't be shocked if Missouri tries to get Nwaneri to campus one more time before the dead period starts again on Tuesday (coincidentally--or not--Missouri's first fall camp practice is Monday).
Right now, if we had to play a game, our guess in order of likelihood for Wingo and Nwaneri to Mizzou is 1) Either 2) Both 3) Neither. Understand, neither is not impossible. These are hotly contested recruiting battles. Missouri has made up a lot of ground in the race, but there's some distance to go.
We would expect McClellan to take a visit to Missouri this fall. The odds here are longer than on the first two, but they're not nonexistent. Oregon, Ohio State and LSU are major players here. IF Mizzou can start well and get commitments from Nwaneri and Wingo, it would go a long way. We think it's a long shot. But it's not impossible.
Other notes:
We've done some checking and the punter commitment Missouri got last week, Will Safris, is a preferred walk-on. That was not how he presented it to us, but that's the situation. We say that not to downgrade the kid, but to say that Missouri's class officially is at 11 commitments, not 12. We're expecting a class right around 20. We'll run down some of the other major targets in the Chamber on Friday along with any additional information we might pick up on the three major in-state targets mentioned here.
The nation's No. 3 receiver and No. 18 overall player was in Columbia yesterday for what, by our count, is at least his seventh visit to Missouri. On one hand, there's nothing he could possibly learn that he doesn't know. On the other hand, if they'll have you and they want to treat you like a king, why not take advantage of it? But this isn't just a courtesy trip. Missouri is very, very much in the mix here.
Wingo was in town with Mizzou commit and lead recruiter James Madison. By all accounts they got along very well and enjoyed their time. Mizzou WR coach Jacob Peeler draws high praise from those I've talked to as a recruiter and a visit host. Wingo is headed to Tennessee and Texas A&M this week. In the NIL era, you never say never, but it would be surprising if either of those schools was a major factor in this recruitment. These visits were set up a long time ago for the open week in July and Wingo is honoring them, but both have a significant gap to make up.
From everyone we've talked to, it's Texas or Mizzou. Anything else would be a surprise. Missouri offers the close to home, can pay you sooner and probably more in NIL option. Texas offers the name and playing with Arch Manning. The family likes Missouri's staff a lot. If decision day was today, we'd pick Wingo to Mizzou. Decision day is not today. He's said he'll announce on December 20th. There's a pretty good chance he'll know before then. He'll probably take some more visits. But it's going to take a lot to overcome the Tigers or the Longhorns here.
Missouri has also made up significant ground on the No. 1 player in the state and the No. 3 player in the country from everything we've heard. The top three have been Georgia, Oklahoma and Mizzou. We do not believe Nwaneri will go to Georgia. The Bulldogs are the furthest from home and will offer the lowest NIL guarantee according to everything we've heard. He is taking a visit to Oregon this week where KC native Dan Lanning just signed a contract extension. Oregon offers a lot of flash, but it's tough to see him going all the way across the country. We view this as an Oklahoma/Missouri battle. For most of the last year, we've believed Oklahoma was a strong leader. We're not sure if Missouri has pulled even in this race, but they're breathing down the Sooners neck down the stretch.
Speaking of the stretch, the belief was that Nwaneri was going to announce a decision next week. We're hearing that may not be the case. The thinking right now is that a September decision might be more likely. I don't have that officially at this point in time, but a delay would probably benefit Missouri. If he knows where he's going, he'd probably announce it. If he was ready to announce it, logic tells me the program that's been considered the leader would be the place. Don't get me wrong, he may very well end up at Oklahoma. But I'm much less certain about it than I was two or three weeks ago. Don't be shocked if Missouri tries to get Nwaneri to campus one more time before the dead period starts again on Tuesday (coincidentally--or not--Missouri's first fall camp practice is Monday).
Right now, if we had to play a game, our guess in order of likelihood for Wingo and Nwaneri to Mizzou is 1) Either 2) Both 3) Neither. Understand, neither is not impossible. These are hotly contested recruiting battles. Missouri has made up a lot of ground in the race, but there's some distance to go.
We would expect McClellan to take a visit to Missouri this fall. The odds here are longer than on the first two, but they're not nonexistent. Oregon, Ohio State and LSU are major players here. IF Mizzou can start well and get commitments from Nwaneri and Wingo, it would go a long way. We think it's a long shot. But it's not impossible.
Other notes:
We've done some checking and the punter commitment Missouri got last week, Will Safris, is a preferred walk-on. That was not how he presented it to us, but that's the situation. We say that not to downgrade the kid, but to say that Missouri's class officially is at 11 commitments, not 12. We're expecting a class right around 20. We'll run down some of the other major targets in the Chamber on Friday along with any additional information we might pick up on the three major in-state targets mentioned here.
