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BASKETBALL RECRUITING
Couple of quick nuggets before we get into the meat of this week's report.
*Can confirm that Annor Boateng was in town last weekend. From what we hear, it went well (you almost never hear otherwise). We are supposed to talk with Boateng on Sunday. Should have some more information for you all then.
*As has been reported, Kris Parker was unable to make the visit due to a minor injury. We'll try to find out when/if that's rescheduled. Parker was originally going to make a commitment on December 12 but had previously pushed that back.
*The only player we know is coming to town for tomorrow's game is Charleston 2025 guard PJ Farmer. Farmer is up to seven offers and has been to Mizzou multiple times already. There very well may be a few other guys in town, but we do not believe this is a major visit weekend at all. The focus of the staff is on the season and winning the game, not on entertaining prospects during the day.
FOOTBALL RECRUITING
*You can start out by reading Sean Williams' report on the latest from the transfer portal.
*As Sean stated, the only transfer visitor we are expecting in town this weekend is Florida cornerback Avery Helm. Helm has a brother who graduated from Mizzou in 2019. He got an in-home visit from the staff this week, along with Utah and TCU. Good sign that the Tigers are getting the first visit probably. The family is already pretty familiar with the campus and the school. We are told that next weekend is the one Mizzou is targeting for a big transfer visit weekend.
*The main question everyone still wants to know is at quarterback. We definitely still would say it's more likely than not Mizzou takes a transfer. But it's been SUPER quiet on that front. There were people in Pittsburgh that were convinced Kedon Slovis was transferring to Mizzou from the second he entered the portal. That does not appear to be true at this point obviously. It's not impossible that Slovis and Mizzou have some interest, but nothing we know of has developed on that front. We had speculated that Eli Drinkwitz stopped in Arizona on Tuesday to check on Slovis, who is a Scottsdale native. He still could have. But we don't have any indication he did. In fact our, sources, along with a report from Dave Matter, have definitely downplayed any interest from Mizzou's side. Again, we think the QB stuff is going to be done very, very quietly this year if it's done at all. So we aren't cross Slovis off, but we also don't really have any indication there's much to it right now.
The one everybody here wants is NC State product Devin Leary. That's not a surprise because he's the one pretty much everyone wants. He's the top-ranked transfer by Rivals and generally regarded as the best QB in the portal. Fans of every single team in the country that doesn't have an established quality starter wants him. Notre Dame was the first buzz we heard and that is definitely still a possibility. But there's been no information whatsoever as far as where Leary is actually looking. Honestly, the next thing you hear might be where he commits. The connection with Mizzou is that Drinkwitz recruited him to NC State out of high school. But the competition will be fierce here. Would Missouri like to sign Leary? Sure. Most teams would. But we don't have any information that there's any real likelihood of it at this point. If we pick something up, we'll definitely let you know, but right now, there's a lot more speculation that Missouri could be a place that makes some sense than there is any actual information the Tigers are involved and have a shot.
Again, we think Missouri is trying to do this part quietly. So there's probably quite a bit more going on here than we know.
*As far as other visitors, here's what we're looking at for this weekend:
2023 COMMITMENT OFFICIAL VISITS
Triston Newson
Brayshawn Littlejohn
Shamar McNeil
2023 COMMITTED UNOFFICIAL VISITORS
Logan Reichert
Blake Craig
Brett Norfleet
UNDERCLASSMEN FOR JUNIOR DAY
Daniel Kaelin
Ryan Wingo
Jeremiah McClellan
Keelan Smith
Williams Nwaneri
Bryce Parson
Corey Simms
Julian Marks
OTHER NOTES
*Most of the current commitments got in-home visits from the staff this week. Drinkwitz was in South Carolina, Texas, Washington, Kansas City and St. Louis for sure over the last seven days. That encompasses most of the commitment list and we know Jacob Peeler was in Louisiana for Daniel Blood last night.
*Offensive line coach Marcus Johnson did an in-home visit with current Cincinnati commit Josh Gregory so that's a situation to monitor for the next couple of weeks. The offensive line is going to be a heavy focus of ALL recruiting the next couple of months. Whatever number Missouri needed--and it was already a decent number--that went up when Hyrin White entered the transfer portal this week. That was definitely one that was a blow to the line in 2023. Yes, he's been hurt a lot, but he was expected back and it's one more spot Mizzou needs to fill going forward.
*Four-star defensive end Ashley Williams Jr. decommitted from Auburn yesterday. A source told us Missouri offered. We reached out to Williams and he told us Missouri is a school he'll be considering again going forward.
*Obviously, there's movement every day at this point. Stay tuned, we'll keep you updated on everything here.
