FOOTBALL RECRUITING
The big news this week is the end of the recruiting dead period on May 31. That means on June 1, prospects will be able to start taking official and unofficial visits. Missouri isn't wasting any time as we've been told the Night at the Zou camp is being planned for June 2. We'll have our entire staff on hand to report on who is in attendance and what goes down there.
The Tigers have a couple official visits already scheduled for the month of June with Dylahn McKinney and CJ Stokes. There are certainly more either already scheduled or in the works. We'll be spending the next few weeks figuring out exactly who those are. As we get visits confirmed you'll be able to keep track of the official visitors here.
***In case you missed any coverage coming out of last week's Rivals Camp in Dallas, here is a link to all the stories we've done so far featuring Missouri targets:
- Dallas Rivals Camp Notebook
- Chris McClellan looking at summer visit
- Nicholas Anderson talks spring visit
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***Like we mentioned last week, it seems Missouri is on the outside looking for both of their top remaining tight end targets in Micah Riley-Ducker and Eli Raridon. We got even more confirmation on that with Raridon this week as he updated his recruiting process with BlueandGold.com. In that article, Raridon mentioned his four current June official dates to Iowa State, Tennessee, Notre Dame, and Iowa - he also mentioned he could possibly save the fifth for a trip to either Arizona State or Cal.
***Missouri appears to also be on the outside looking in when it comes to Lawrence North (Ind.) wide receiver Omar Cooper, Jr. The four-star product out of Indianapolis had spoken highly of Missouri at the beginning of the year, but in an update with Rivals.com analyst Josh Helmholdt earlier this week, Cooper said he's scheduled summer officials to Indiana, Cincinnati, and West Virginia. He also mentioned that schools like Louisville, Nebraska, and Ohio State are showing a lot of interest currently, but haven't extended an offer yet.
***Missouri conducted a virtual visit with Bethany (Okla.) cornerback prospect Jocelyn Malaska on Wednesday evening. While the Tigers haven't extended an offer yet, the three-star prospect said the Tigers were now at the top of his list due to "location, SEC, and a great fan base." Malaska said a trip to Columbia is on the schedule this summer and if an offer does materialize, it's something it seems he would quickly jump on. We'll have more on him over the weekend.
***Lebanon OL Tristan Wilson committed on Wednesday. He's long been considered a Missouri lean, but made things official this week. He's been elusive since his commitment, but we're trying to line up a chance to get down to Lebanon and speak with him in person. We're also planning to talk to DJ Wesolak in Boonville over the weekend and hope to have more soon. He's releasing a top 15 this afternoon and Missouri will certainly be a part of that.
***With a couple of transfers out this week, the frequent question has been "how does that impact the scholarships for this class?" There are two numbers you have to keep in mind.
The first is the 85 overall scholarships allowed. As of today, we have Missouri at 79. In case math isn't your strong suit, that means the Tigers are six under the limit.
But the more important number for the Class of 2021 is 25. That's the number of "initial counters" allowed in a single class. That is manipulated by early enrollees and being able to count some scholarships back a year. But no year can have more than 25 counted toward it initially. From what we've been able to gather, Missouri currently has two or three spots left it could potentially use on transfers or late finds in the 2021 class (players who will get to campus this summer and be on the roster for the 2021 season). That number isn't going to change. It's fixed.
The transfers have more of an impact on the 2022 class and beyond. It's still impossible to predict exactly how many spots Missouri will have because last year didn't count toward anyone's eligibility. Being six under the limit and having Blaze Alldredge come off the books after next year (the returning seniors do not count as scholarship players in 2021 as far as the 85 limit) means Missouri has at least seven spots. There are 16 juniors on the roster right now. Those 16 are all entering their fourth or fifth seasons of college football, but count as juniors because last year didn't count. All 16 would be eligible to return for the 2022 season. If none of them do, and there is no more attrition, Missouri would have 23 spots available for the 2022 class. So it's not hard to see Mizzou getting to a full class of 25 there. But we simply have no idea what players are going to decide on eligibility. Obviously not all 16 are going to return, but some of them very well might. As of today we'd forecast the 2022 class at 23-25 players, but there's simply not going to be any way to know for sure until next season is over and players have made their decisions about whether to return or not. This is going to remain an issue for every program in the country for another three or four years because of the havoc wreaked by the eligibility decision last year.
But, as always, the answer to "how many scholarships do they have?" is "How many do they need?" If they want a guy, there's almost always a way to make room.
The big news this week is the end of the recruiting dead period on May 31. That means on June 1, prospects will be able to start taking official and unofficial visits. Missouri isn't wasting any time as we've been told the Night at the Zou camp is being planned for June 2. We'll have our entire staff on hand to report on who is in attendance and what goes down there.
The Tigers have a couple official visits already scheduled for the month of June with Dylahn McKinney and CJ Stokes. There are certainly more either already scheduled or in the works. We'll be spending the next few weeks figuring out exactly who those are. As we get visits confirmed you'll be able to keep track of the official visitors here.
***In case you missed any coverage coming out of last week's Rivals Camp in Dallas, here is a link to all the stories we've done so far featuring Missouri targets:
- Dallas Rivals Camp Notebook
- Chris McClellan looking at summer visit
- Nicholas Anderson talks spring visit
-
***Like we mentioned last week, it seems Missouri is on the outside looking for both of their top remaining tight end targets in Micah Riley-Ducker and Eli Raridon. We got even more confirmation on that with Raridon this week as he updated his recruiting process with BlueandGold.com. In that article, Raridon mentioned his four current June official dates to Iowa State, Tennessee, Notre Dame, and Iowa - he also mentioned he could possibly save the fifth for a trip to either Arizona State or Cal.
***Missouri appears to also be on the outside looking in when it comes to Lawrence North (Ind.) wide receiver Omar Cooper, Jr. The four-star product out of Indianapolis had spoken highly of Missouri at the beginning of the year, but in an update with Rivals.com analyst Josh Helmholdt earlier this week, Cooper said he's scheduled summer officials to Indiana, Cincinnati, and West Virginia. He also mentioned that schools like Louisville, Nebraska, and Ohio State are showing a lot of interest currently, but haven't extended an offer yet.
***Missouri conducted a virtual visit with Bethany (Okla.) cornerback prospect Jocelyn Malaska on Wednesday evening. While the Tigers haven't extended an offer yet, the three-star prospect said the Tigers were now at the top of his list due to "location, SEC, and a great fan base." Malaska said a trip to Columbia is on the schedule this summer and if an offer does materialize, it's something it seems he would quickly jump on. We'll have more on him over the weekend.
***Lebanon OL Tristan Wilson committed on Wednesday. He's long been considered a Missouri lean, but made things official this week. He's been elusive since his commitment, but we're trying to line up a chance to get down to Lebanon and speak with him in person. We're also planning to talk to DJ Wesolak in Boonville over the weekend and hope to have more soon. He's releasing a top 15 this afternoon and Missouri will certainly be a part of that.
***With a couple of transfers out this week, the frequent question has been "how does that impact the scholarships for this class?" There are two numbers you have to keep in mind.
The first is the 85 overall scholarships allowed. As of today, we have Missouri at 79. In case math isn't your strong suit, that means the Tigers are six under the limit.
But the more important number for the Class of 2021 is 25. That's the number of "initial counters" allowed in a single class. That is manipulated by early enrollees and being able to count some scholarships back a year. But no year can have more than 25 counted toward it initially. From what we've been able to gather, Missouri currently has two or three spots left it could potentially use on transfers or late finds in the 2021 class (players who will get to campus this summer and be on the roster for the 2021 season). That number isn't going to change. It's fixed.
The transfers have more of an impact on the 2022 class and beyond. It's still impossible to predict exactly how many spots Missouri will have because last year didn't count toward anyone's eligibility. Being six under the limit and having Blaze Alldredge come off the books after next year (the returning seniors do not count as scholarship players in 2021 as far as the 85 limit) means Missouri has at least seven spots. There are 16 juniors on the roster right now. Those 16 are all entering their fourth or fifth seasons of college football, but count as juniors because last year didn't count. All 16 would be eligible to return for the 2022 season. If none of them do, and there is no more attrition, Missouri would have 23 spots available for the 2022 class. So it's not hard to see Mizzou getting to a full class of 25 there. But we simply have no idea what players are going to decide on eligibility. Obviously not all 16 are going to return, but some of them very well might. As of today we'd forecast the 2022 class at 23-25 players, but there's simply not going to be any way to know for sure until next season is over and players have made their decisions about whether to return or not. This is going to remain an issue for every program in the country for another three or four years because of the havoc wreaked by the eligibility decision last year.
But, as always, the answer to "how many scholarships do they have?" is "How many do they need?" If they want a guy, there's almost always a way to make room.
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