We are proud to welcome Will Garrett, Agency Sales Manager of Missouri Farm Bureau Insurance as our partner and sponsor. When you’re looking for in-depth analysis of everything happening at Mizzou, Monday Morning Thoughts is the place to go. When you’re looking for an in-depth review of your insurance policies, Will Garrett is who you need. Born and raised a Tiger fan, Will is proud of his hometown and takes pride in protecting his community, and the people in it. The time to prepare for tomorrow is today. Find Will in his office just south of Faurot Field! Click here to get in touch with Will and start the process.
1) In last week's Ten Thoughts I promised you a big week. Fortunately for you--and probably even more fortunately for me--that happened. In case you're one of those that doesn't get the full value of your exorbitant $9.95 a month, here's a quick recap of the news:
Thursday: 2024 PG T.O. Barrett commits
Friday: In-state ATH Jude James starts the avalanche
Friday: Georgia ATH Jackson Hancock jumps in
Saturday: Mizzou adds Alabama ATH Cam Dooley
Sunday: Florida DT Justin Bodford keeps it rolling
James told us he'll either play tight end or STAR. Hancock seems likely to be a safety. Dooley is a defensive back who could easily grown into the STAR position. Bodford is a straight defensive tackle.
2) Missouri went into its Gold Rush weekend just ten days ago with three commits. The Tigers now have seven. The star power hasn't yet hit in the class. The seven commitments are all three-stars according to Rivals.com. The late week flurry did move Mizzou's class up from 88th to 74th over the course of the weekend. Obviously they're going to finish much higher than that.
For now, Mizzou's class is 16th in the SEC (we're just including Oklahoma and Texas as SEC teams at this point because every player in this class will be a freshman in the SEC, not the Big 12). The next closest SEC teams are Auburn at 55 and Kentucky at 46 (for reference, two weeks ago, the Cats were right there with Mizzou with only 2 commits and they now have 12). The biggest reason Missouri's class is lagging right now is simple numbers. Auburn has only 8 commitments. Every other team in the league has at least 11. Of the 73 teams ranked ahead of Mizzou, 72 of them have more commitments (Kansas State also has 7 and is at 70). In other words, there's no reason to panic that Missouri is currently 74th in the team rankings. That's going to rise.
However, there's a ceiling to where this class will end up. As we mentioned, the Tigers do not currently have any four-star or higher commitments. They're still chasing a couple five-stars in Ryan Wingo and Williams Nwaneri. They'll get some four-stars (more on that in a minute). Here are the number of four-star and up commits for the rest of the SEC right now:
Georgia: 18 (1st)
Florida: 12 (5th)
LSU: 9 (8th)
Texas A&M: 11 (11th)
Tennessee: 11 (14th)
Ole Miss: 5 (16th)
Mississippi State: 5 (24th)
Arkansas: 8 (25th)
Texas: 8 (29th)
Alabama: 7 (30th)
South Carolina: 8 (31st)
Oklahoma: 6 (34th)
Vanderbilt: 0 (37th)
Kentucky: 2 (46th)
Auburn: 6 (55th)
So 13 of the 16 teams already have at least five four-stars or better committed. That's the goal, in my opinion. You need to average five "blue-chippers" per class or more in this league. You can make up talent deficits. You can not make up talent deserts. If you're going to be competitive, you're going to need to get in that range of having five or more four-stars. Eli Drinkwitz's first three classes averaged 5.67 four-stars or better per year.
3) The good news is that Missouri won't have zero for much longer. In fact, we think it's a matter of hours.
Four-star LB Nick Rodriguez is announcing at 11 a.m. today. We believe Missouri is in very good shape.
Four-star WR James Madison is announcing at noon on Tuesday. While it's not a sure thing, what we've heard over the last few days is definitely positive for Missouri.
Four-star LB Brian Huff is announcing on July 12. We believe Missouri to be the favorite.
So nine days from now, Mizzou will probably have three four-stars on the commit list and be in that 35-40 range in the overall class ranking. It still needs to go up from there, but it's far less panic attack inducing for fans than where the Tigers have spent the first few months of the recruiting cycle.
Other announcements on the way:
Cameron Keys: Tuesday between noon and 2. We like Mizzou.
Cole McConathy: Thursday. It's Mizzou or Louisville and we don't know which.
Darrion Dupree: Wednesday. We expect this to be Wisconsin.
Johann Cardenas: Wednesday. Either Mizzou or Vandy. Not sure yet.
4) A handful of official visitors have committed elsewhere recently. Here's the rundown:
Gavin Hoffman to Iowa
Ziron Brown to Stanford
Mason Carter to Vanderbilt
William Echoles to Ole Miss
Jeremiah Beasley to Michigan
That leaves just five June visitors who have not committed anywhere and do not have announcements scheduled. They are:
Justin Logan: With Mizzou likely to get two linebackers in the next ten days, we aren't sure Logan is still a take.
Dre Kirkpatrick: We don't have any other visits on record for Kirkpatrick this month. We believe Missouri is in good shape.
Elias Williams: He has said he's waiting until September. We'll see if it lasts that long. He visited UCF, Mizzou, Indiana and Kansas.
Williams Nwaneri: Oklahoma, Georgia and Tennessee are the competition. We aren't writing it off, but don't feel great.
Ryan Wingo: Texas seems the biggest threat, but he also visited Michigan and Georgia and told us he isn't likely to make a decision before the season starts.
5) On the basketball side, the staff was at the NBA Top 100 camp last week. Here are the players we believe they were watching closely. With Barrett on board, Missouri probably has three or four high school spots left in the 2024 class. Strictly my opinion, the top targets would be Marcus Allen, Annor Boateng, Dallas Thomas, Travis Perry and Peyton Marshall.
Last edited:
