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FOOTBALL RECRUITING
*So you may have heard four-star top 125 defensive lineman Tionne Gray decommitted and switched to Oregon yesterday. He had taken at least four unofficial visits to Missouri (that's what we've got listed, but it seemed like more). He was in Eugene for a day and a half and flipped. It happens. This one was a surprise though, no question about it. Missouri will continue to recruit him. Maybe the Tigers will flip him back, maybe not. Nobody from Rivals has been able to get in touch with Gray to get any sort of a comment about what led to the flip. The flip leaves Missouri's class with three commitments as of right now.
*The Tigers have one official visitor in town this weekend. Houston interior OL Cam'Ron Johnson was set to arrive on an official visit last night and will be here until some time on Saturday. Mizzou recently hired Johnson's position coach at Houston last year, Brandon Jones. So far as we know, he hasn't taken any other visits, but he's been pretty much silent throughout the recruiting process, so that may not be factual. We'd certainly put Johnson on commit watch this weekend.
*Last week's visitor, Florida State DE Derrick McLendon, hasn't returned any messages since the trip. He visited South Carolina before Mizzou and there is talk of a Colorado visit and Georgia Tech involvement. We're not sure where things stand with him honestly.
*The portal opens tomorrow. So far, Bobby Lawrence, Luke Griffin and Gavin McKay have announced their intentions to enter it. There will be more. We'd certainly expect some attrition at running back. There are still some reserves on the offensive and defensive lines and maybe even linebacker who could head out. We don't expect any transfers of players who we would project to see the field in 2023 in this window. As of today, the Tigers are either right at the limit of 85 scholarship players or possibly one over (counting the three pending transfers as already gone). They'll need to clear out at least three or four more to pursue offensive line, defensive end, tight end and potentially running back in the portal between now and the first week of June.
BASKETBALL RECRUITING
*We are expecting three official visitors in town this weekend.
Curt Lewis signed with Missouri already. He just wasn't able to take his official visit during the season so he'll be here this weekend.
Iowa State shooting guard Caleb Grill is set to be at Mizzou today and tomorrow and then head to West Virginia from Sunday to Tuesday. Getting the first visit is a good thing here. There's a decent chance he doesn't make the second visit. From what we've heard, a commitment while he's in Columbia is certainly possible. But he does have the trip to Morgantown scheduled as of right now. If he takes that trip, obviously Missouri's chances of landing him go down. Our read: If he doesn't commit this weekend, we'd favor West Virginia. But we think there's a decent chance he commits while he's in town.
Indiana wing/guard Tamar Bates is expected to be here as well. Bates was thought to be a MIchigan lean when he entered the portal, but the Wolverines are no longer involved. Kansas State is the other team rumored for the KCK native. Bates hasn't talked to anybody that we know of since entering the portal. Getting him on campus indicates to us that the Tigers are a strong leader in his recruitment.
*We'd set the over/under on commitments by the end of the weekend at 1.5. We feel stronger about Gates than Grill, but Missouri certainly could land both of them. We know there are some of you asking two questions. We'll address those in order:
1) How does Missouri have room? The bottom line is they'll figure it out. It's clear Dennis Gates' approach is to sign as many players as he thinks can help him win and sort it out later. He told us yesterday we have to quit thinking in terms of 13 scholarships. Those rules don't apply because coaches are finding ways to circumvent them:
"You cannot any longer assume that players are just operating under 13 scholarships," Gates said. "There were several walk-ons this season alone that you guys don't know was walk-ons on other rosters. But they would easily be considered, man, that's a scholarship guy. So you have to operate in your mind not just under 13 because certain kids are qualifying for in-state tuition and some kids are now able to pay their own way so you can't operate and assume that rosters are capped at 13 kids because ultimately there's ingenuity into building rosters more than ever before and you can't count the way that we all have been counting previously."
Gates is going to collect talent and worry about how the numbers work later. He'll make them work.
2) Is Missouri just not going to have anyone other than Aidan Shaw on the roster who is taller than 6-7? No. They'll add at least one big in the portal.
"We're not done recruiting, we're gonna continue to recruit and ultimately we have to do so not just from that guard perspective, but also viable bigs and post players that we're looking to bring in," Gates said.
He said they've already passed on some size in the portal because they didn't think it was the right fit.
Gates: "It's not just getting size, it's the right size. Having the right people in your locker room to fit your style of play. I'm not changing my style of play. We're going to get better and tweak it to the individual, but I'm still trying to lead the country in three-point shooting, I'm still trying to lead the country in positive assist to turnover ratio. There's certain things that even you guys asked this time last year. I still want to put pressure offensively and defensively. You've still got to find the right guys. We had the right guys in the locker room last year, we have to make sure we have the right guys in the locker room this year. Just because it's size, it has to be the right size."
The two big guys we're most closely following right now are Jamarion Sharp and Kadin Shedrick. Sharp is exploring the NBA. So his timeline could stretch out. If he decides to come back to college and Missouri has room to add him, the Tigers will certainly be at or near the top of the list. But they won't simply wait for him. They can't afford to do that. Shedrick has a top five of Xavier, Mizzou, Kansas State, Duke and Texas. He had visits scheduled to Mizzou and Texas on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. Joe Tipton of on3 Sports reported yesterday that Shedrick was changing his visit schedule due to personal matters, but there has been no revised visit schedule put out. We aren't sure right now if he's planning more visits, fewer visits or the same visits just on different days. We're working to find out.
*The bottom line: We think Missouri adds three more players in the portal. Bates is likely one. Grill could be one, but if not they may look for another wing or big man. The third will be a big man. And even if they get Bates, Grill and a big man, they could still look to add another player. The rules we're all used to in building a roster no longer apply. Here are the deadlines you need to know:
April 23: Deadline to declare for the NBA Draft for underclassmen
May 11: Deadline to enter the portal
May 31: Deadline to withdraw from the NBA Draft
Stay tuned as always.
