In the midst of fall camp, The Chamber is back. We'll start with Pete on the recruiting trail and apologize in advance for the names not being linked to the profiles in the database this week. Busy times these days, trying to get this all done before practice this morning:
With Justin McCay softly committing, then firmly committing to OU, there are three big fish left for Missouri: Marcus Lucas, Nick Demien and Kony Ealy. If the Tigers land two of the three, this becomes a very successful class. If they land all three, this has the chance to be the most talented class in Gary Pinkel's tenure.
After those three, Missouri takes best available. There seem to be two more four-star recruits that the Tigers have a legitimate shot with: DE C.J. Olaniyan and WR Dyjuan Lewis. Lewis' intentions are a little murkier, because he was supposed to visit but then had to cancel. However, it seems like Missouri is at least somewhere on his radar.
Olaniyan is another story. His cell phone hadn't been working for the past week or so, but I finally managed to reach him on Thursday night. He confirmed that he did visit Missouri last Tuesday.
"It was good," Olaniyan said. "I got a chance to meet a lot of coaches, see the facilities, meet a lot of the players, so it was nice."
Olaniyan isn't a big talker, but he said Missouri ranks right up there as one of his best visits. He's? been to Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State and Iowa, so that's some pretty good company. However, he said he's not ready to name favorites. He does have a timeline, though.
"I'll probably decide by the middle of the season," he said.
If Missouri can land Olaniyan or Ealy, that'll solidify this class. I think the Tigers have more of a shot with Ealy, but right now, Georgia Tech does seem to be the team to beat. Not sure why, but Ealy likes the Yellow Jackets. Missouri is right there, though.
Lucas and Demien have been MIA lately. Demien hasn't returned any calls in the past two weeks, and Lucas has been equally difficult to reach. At this point, both seem likely to become Tigers. Most likely, it would be Demien first, then Lucas sometime during the season.
Still no updates on other DTs, unfortunately. Chris Littlehead's phone has been turned off for two weeks now. Dominique Jones hasn't gotten back to me in over a month. So, we'll see what shapes up there.
I hope to have an update on RB/ATH Henry Josey this weekend. He couldn't talk Thursday night, but I'll post as soon as I hear from him.
*I'll get to both hoops recruiting and the football team in a minute, but just a quick note from me on the football recruiting about Justin McCay. First of all, very surprised this went down when it did. He had said all along he was going to take visits. Something tells me McCay was probably told Oklahoma didn't have much room left and if he wanted to jump in, he'd better do it. Nothing wrong with that at all, teams do it all the time. And it worked, so good move. But he committed on the radio before he told the coaches, he hadn't called the Kansas State coaches to let them know he wasn't considering them anymore (according to the last article on him) and from all I can tell, he hasn't actually called any of the other staffs recruiting him to let him know he's going to be a Sooner. Just a strange, strange deal there.
*All right, now the hoops recruiting stuff. Admittedly, it takes a back seat for two or three weeks during camp, but I still keep my ear out. Here's what I'm hearing:
Missouri seems to be content to let Trevor Releford go elsewhere without offering. At this point, I think that somewhere's going to be Oklahoma. Jeff Capel really likes him and he's friends with McCay which isn't the deciding factor, but sure doesn't hurt.
It's not my place to judge whether this was the right move or not, but Missouri seems to have put all its eggs in Phil Pressey's basket. And I hear they're in pretty good shape. Phil doesn't really like to pick up the phone and even when someone does get in touch with him, he doesn't give much away, so it's tough to gage other than what you hear behind the scenes. And what I hear is that Missouri is definitely in Pressey's top two or three.
It would be a big get for the Tigers, but honestly, if they don't land a point guard in this class, they'll survive. They've already got Miguel Paul and Mike Dixon waiting in the wings to start. They're fine if they don't get a point guard this year. But if they get Pressey it's big, and I think more so for perception than what it does for the team. By that, I mean that there's still a perception Anderson isn't a great recruiter. Well, Pressey's been his top target for two years. He's not a local kid like Dixon. If he can go out and land this one over some of the best programs in America, I think you can put to bed the myth that he can't recruit (though I'm sure someone will find reasons it's still true).
As far as the rest of the class, I think Rickey Scott and Justin Jackson are strong candidates. I think the Tigers are out of the Tarik Black sweepstakes. They need some size in this class and Jackson offers that. It would be great to add a second forward, but the fact is, you take the best available players. Scott is one of them and if he wants to commit, I think you've got to take him and sort it out later.
One last note on hoops recruiting: Everything I hear leads me to believe that Missouri is really making up ground on Bradley Beal. I'm not saying it's making up enough to get him (I doubt it), but they're making a push. And I really think Beal likes Anderson and Missouri. But there seem to be people around him that want him to get further away from home. I don't know why, but that's what I'm hearing.
*Let's turn finally to the football team. For the most part, what I see and hear is in my practice reports, but I'll just throw out a few more tidbits:
I'm really interested to see what happens at the quarterback position. We know (even if nobody will say it) that Blaine Gabbert is going to start. But what happens behind him is really intriguing. I think ideally that you'd like to play either Blaine Dalton or Ashton Glaser this year. The main reason is that if you don't, I think you have to expect one of them to transfer down the road. You'd like to split the classes up, but I don't know if you can do it. Both have been better than they were in the spring (which you'd hope because frankly neither looked like he belonged on a Division One football field in the spring), but both are still clearly behind Jimmy Costello.
I asked David Yost yesterday if things like that ever affect the determination of whether a kid plays. He said no. He said they might talk about it in the meeting rooms, but the decision is made independent of those factors and is based only on whether the coaches think he's good enough to help Missouri win this year.
Again, I think in a perfect world, one of the freshmen would win the No. 2 spot. I just don't know if it's going to happen.
*Speaking of quarterbacks, I'm doing a story on Gabbert for St. Louis Sports Magazine next month. First off, a quote you'll enjoy. I asked him if this team was pissed off:
“Yeah. Nobody's giving us a chance in this world,” he said. “We're out here having fun because when you're having fun you get better. But when the time comes, it's no BS, we're gonna take their respect.”
Also spent about 25 minutes talking to Blaine's dad the other night. I've had a lot of good discussions with him about recruiting and the process over the years, and he said something to me that he's said before. I think you all should read it, just for a little dose of perspective:
“You never really understand the process until you go through it,” Chuck Gabbert said. “He experienced things that in my opinion no 17, 18 year old kid needs to experience. Take that one step further, I would say 98% of adults never probably experience what he had to as a 17 year old kid.”
Trust me, I understand WHY people get so wrapped up in it all, and to some extent I'm glad they do because it pays my salary, but every now and again, someone's got to remind us (myself included) that these are kids.
*Freshmen that will play: Donovan Bonner is a no doubter. He's Weatherspoon II. I'm not saying he'll be that good, but he committed to a mid-major school before picking up a Tiger offer and changing. He was a two-star kid out of Texas that just kind of flew under the radar. Then he showed up on campus about 25 pounds heavier than when the Tigers signed him and just started making play after play after play.
Kendial Lawrence is also an obvious one. He is making a play every day. He needs to hold on to the ball a little better, but he'll play.
I still think L'Damian Washington sees time. Yes, he's skinny. So what? Jared Perry came to campus at 147 and he played.
Jasper Simmons and Jarell Harrison will both play.
I think you'd love to get T.J. Moe on the field because he can just do so many things (including run some plays at quarterback), but he has to be healthy enough to practice first. Right now, that seems to be taking a lot longer than anyone thought.
With Justin McCay softly committing, then firmly committing to OU, there are three big fish left for Missouri: Marcus Lucas, Nick Demien and Kony Ealy. If the Tigers land two of the three, this becomes a very successful class. If they land all three, this has the chance to be the most talented class in Gary Pinkel's tenure.
After those three, Missouri takes best available. There seem to be two more four-star recruits that the Tigers have a legitimate shot with: DE C.J. Olaniyan and WR Dyjuan Lewis. Lewis' intentions are a little murkier, because he was supposed to visit but then had to cancel. However, it seems like Missouri is at least somewhere on his radar.
Olaniyan is another story. His cell phone hadn't been working for the past week or so, but I finally managed to reach him on Thursday night. He confirmed that he did visit Missouri last Tuesday.
"It was good," Olaniyan said. "I got a chance to meet a lot of coaches, see the facilities, meet a lot of the players, so it was nice."
Olaniyan isn't a big talker, but he said Missouri ranks right up there as one of his best visits. He's? been to Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State and Iowa, so that's some pretty good company. However, he said he's not ready to name favorites. He does have a timeline, though.
"I'll probably decide by the middle of the season," he said.
If Missouri can land Olaniyan or Ealy, that'll solidify this class. I think the Tigers have more of a shot with Ealy, but right now, Georgia Tech does seem to be the team to beat. Not sure why, but Ealy likes the Yellow Jackets. Missouri is right there, though.
Lucas and Demien have been MIA lately. Demien hasn't returned any calls in the past two weeks, and Lucas has been equally difficult to reach. At this point, both seem likely to become Tigers. Most likely, it would be Demien first, then Lucas sometime during the season.
Still no updates on other DTs, unfortunately. Chris Littlehead's phone has been turned off for two weeks now. Dominique Jones hasn't gotten back to me in over a month. So, we'll see what shapes up there.
I hope to have an update on RB/ATH Henry Josey this weekend. He couldn't talk Thursday night, but I'll post as soon as I hear from him.
*I'll get to both hoops recruiting and the football team in a minute, but just a quick note from me on the football recruiting about Justin McCay. First of all, very surprised this went down when it did. He had said all along he was going to take visits. Something tells me McCay was probably told Oklahoma didn't have much room left and if he wanted to jump in, he'd better do it. Nothing wrong with that at all, teams do it all the time. And it worked, so good move. But he committed on the radio before he told the coaches, he hadn't called the Kansas State coaches to let them know he wasn't considering them anymore (according to the last article on him) and from all I can tell, he hasn't actually called any of the other staffs recruiting him to let him know he's going to be a Sooner. Just a strange, strange deal there.
*All right, now the hoops recruiting stuff. Admittedly, it takes a back seat for two or three weeks during camp, but I still keep my ear out. Here's what I'm hearing:
Missouri seems to be content to let Trevor Releford go elsewhere without offering. At this point, I think that somewhere's going to be Oklahoma. Jeff Capel really likes him and he's friends with McCay which isn't the deciding factor, but sure doesn't hurt.
It's not my place to judge whether this was the right move or not, but Missouri seems to have put all its eggs in Phil Pressey's basket. And I hear they're in pretty good shape. Phil doesn't really like to pick up the phone and even when someone does get in touch with him, he doesn't give much away, so it's tough to gage other than what you hear behind the scenes. And what I hear is that Missouri is definitely in Pressey's top two or three.
It would be a big get for the Tigers, but honestly, if they don't land a point guard in this class, they'll survive. They've already got Miguel Paul and Mike Dixon waiting in the wings to start. They're fine if they don't get a point guard this year. But if they get Pressey it's big, and I think more so for perception than what it does for the team. By that, I mean that there's still a perception Anderson isn't a great recruiter. Well, Pressey's been his top target for two years. He's not a local kid like Dixon. If he can go out and land this one over some of the best programs in America, I think you can put to bed the myth that he can't recruit (though I'm sure someone will find reasons it's still true).
As far as the rest of the class, I think Rickey Scott and Justin Jackson are strong candidates. I think the Tigers are out of the Tarik Black sweepstakes. They need some size in this class and Jackson offers that. It would be great to add a second forward, but the fact is, you take the best available players. Scott is one of them and if he wants to commit, I think you've got to take him and sort it out later.
One last note on hoops recruiting: Everything I hear leads me to believe that Missouri is really making up ground on Bradley Beal. I'm not saying it's making up enough to get him (I doubt it), but they're making a push. And I really think Beal likes Anderson and Missouri. But there seem to be people around him that want him to get further away from home. I don't know why, but that's what I'm hearing.
*Let's turn finally to the football team. For the most part, what I see and hear is in my practice reports, but I'll just throw out a few more tidbits:
I'm really interested to see what happens at the quarterback position. We know (even if nobody will say it) that Blaine Gabbert is going to start. But what happens behind him is really intriguing. I think ideally that you'd like to play either Blaine Dalton or Ashton Glaser this year. The main reason is that if you don't, I think you have to expect one of them to transfer down the road. You'd like to split the classes up, but I don't know if you can do it. Both have been better than they were in the spring (which you'd hope because frankly neither looked like he belonged on a Division One football field in the spring), but both are still clearly behind Jimmy Costello.
I asked David Yost yesterday if things like that ever affect the determination of whether a kid plays. He said no. He said they might talk about it in the meeting rooms, but the decision is made independent of those factors and is based only on whether the coaches think he's good enough to help Missouri win this year.
Again, I think in a perfect world, one of the freshmen would win the No. 2 spot. I just don't know if it's going to happen.
*Speaking of quarterbacks, I'm doing a story on Gabbert for St. Louis Sports Magazine next month. First off, a quote you'll enjoy. I asked him if this team was pissed off:
“Yeah. Nobody's giving us a chance in this world,” he said. “We're out here having fun because when you're having fun you get better. But when the time comes, it's no BS, we're gonna take their respect.”
Also spent about 25 minutes talking to Blaine's dad the other night. I've had a lot of good discussions with him about recruiting and the process over the years, and he said something to me that he's said before. I think you all should read it, just for a little dose of perspective:
“You never really understand the process until you go through it,” Chuck Gabbert said. “He experienced things that in my opinion no 17, 18 year old kid needs to experience. Take that one step further, I would say 98% of adults never probably experience what he had to as a 17 year old kid.”
Trust me, I understand WHY people get so wrapped up in it all, and to some extent I'm glad they do because it pays my salary, but every now and again, someone's got to remind us (myself included) that these are kids.
*Freshmen that will play: Donovan Bonner is a no doubter. He's Weatherspoon II. I'm not saying he'll be that good, but he committed to a mid-major school before picking up a Tiger offer and changing. He was a two-star kid out of Texas that just kind of flew under the radar. Then he showed up on campus about 25 pounds heavier than when the Tigers signed him and just started making play after play after play.
Kendial Lawrence is also an obvious one. He is making a play every day. He needs to hold on to the ball a little better, but he'll play.
I still think L'Damian Washington sees time. Yes, he's skinny. So what? Jared Perry came to campus at 147 and he played.
Jasper Simmons and Jarell Harrison will both play.
I think you'd love to get T.J. Moe on the field because he can just do so many things (including run some plays at quarterback), but he has to be healthy enough to practice first. Right now, that seems to be taking a lot longer than anyone thought.
