Two good things are happening for you guys today: First of all, fall camp opens and that means we get to talk about actual football things. Second, practice starts at 9:30 so that means the Chamber gets done early today. So it's a win-win for you people (you know who you are) who are always harassing us about not having anything to do at work on Friday until the Chamber gets posted.
*All right, so real quick-like, ICYMI Thalen Robinson committed yesterday. He explained why and then we told you what it means for the class.
*But what garnered far more interest is the Marcus Washington situation. So let's talk about that, shall we?
So last week he tweeted that it was Mizzou or Ohio State. Earlier this week, he tweeted that he had made up his mind. Yesterday he tweeted he was delaying his decision. Common sense says he was going to commit to Ohio State and then things got crazy with Urban Meyer and now he isn't going to commit to Ohio State.
And it may be that simple. That's one explanation and it makes sense. It was absolutely my first reaction when I saw the tweet too.
Except what if that's not the explanation? First of all, I'm told by people much more familiar with Buckeyes recruiting than myself that Ohio State wouldn't take him right now. The guy who was Washington's biggest fan in Columbus got fired last week. And without Zach Smith on staff, Washington isn't a take for the Buckeyes at this point. They have some other guys higher on the list.
So it's possible Washington wanted to commit to OSU next week but found out he can't (not saying this happened, just that it's possible).
But I will reiterate, people both in Columbia and in St. Louis were absolutely certain Washington was coming to Mizzou. Not maybe. Not they thought so. They knew it. It was done. And now it's not, apparently.
Could be a few reasons for this:
1) He was going to commit to Mizzou, but the Meyer stuff made him realize a lot of things can happen in recruiting so he wants to back off and wait a minute before he makes a final decision
2) Since he narrowed his list, one of the other schools that was in on him got back in his ear and told him to just wait it out and maybe even take a visit.
3) He was going to commit to Mizzou, but when he posted a top two and then disaster struck one of those two and so really everybody knew he was going to Ohio State and when there's only one school on your list, the bang you get out of a commitment announcement isn't very big.
I want to believe it's not No. 3 because it would just reinforce my belief that too many kids are using the recruiting process for the social media validation and too few are using it to find the right school.
Bottom line, Missouri hasn't lost Washington yet. And if it loses him to Ohio State, it's not going to be soon. Some people we've talked to still think there's a chance he commits to Missouri next week and he's just throwing everyone off the scent. That's not our opinion as of right now, but it seems like just about anything could be on the table.
*We wanted to talk about Washington first because it kind of impacts the way we're looking at the other imminent announcement.
Massey is announcing at 1 p.m. today. It's between Missouri and Illinois. We have been confident Missouri lands him. There are people around the situation who are saying Massey is on board. But if you talk to Illinois people, they're pretty confident Massey committed when he was in Champaign last weekend. What if he's told both places he's coming?
We'll find out at 1. Our sources are all saying Massey to Mizzou and we still think that's what's going to happen (and for the record if it doesn't happen, it's not because our sources suck--it's because they were absolutely told that he was coming to Mizzou). But there is enough of a sliver of doubt that we're going to wait and see what the announcement is.
Recruiting these days is something else. We truly don't know how you guys handle following it and being emotionally invested in it. It's the best roller coaster you'll ever ride...or at least the one with the most ups and downs.
*Here are a few upcoming visits we've managed to confirm this week:
Jackson will visit for the Georgia game on September 22nd
Brown will also be in town for the UGA game. He is listed as a wide receiver, but told us Mizzou likes him at defensive back.
Carrell told us he's taking an OV to Missouri this fall but doesn't yet have the date set.
*Yesterday's commitment, Thalen Robinson, said he's hoping to take his official visit for the Georgia game as well. That is shaping up to be Mizzou's big in-season visit weekend it looks like. It makes sense. It's the best home game on the schedule. With the early signing period, you're only going to have a couple of weekends in December to get kids in after the regular season is over and you'd like to have a lot of guys locked in by that point in time.
*On the hoops side, the common thought is that we're going to see a list cut for E.J. Liddell pretty soon. We are 99% certain Missouri will be on that list. We'd also expect Ohio State, Kansas State, Illinois and Duke to be one it. Beyond that, we'll have to wait and see.
Some believe we'll have some news out of Mario McKinney relatively soon, maybe even a commitment. Still hearing that Mizzou is in solid shape here, but obviously we'll have to wait and see what develops.
That's what we've got for now. We'll follow the Massey stuff later today and have plenty from practice for you as well.
*All right, so real quick-like, ICYMI Thalen Robinson committed yesterday. He explained why and then we told you what it means for the class.
*But what garnered far more interest is the Marcus Washington situation. So let's talk about that, shall we?
So last week he tweeted that it was Mizzou or Ohio State. Earlier this week, he tweeted that he had made up his mind. Yesterday he tweeted he was delaying his decision. Common sense says he was going to commit to Ohio State and then things got crazy with Urban Meyer and now he isn't going to commit to Ohio State.
And it may be that simple. That's one explanation and it makes sense. It was absolutely my first reaction when I saw the tweet too.
Except what if that's not the explanation? First of all, I'm told by people much more familiar with Buckeyes recruiting than myself that Ohio State wouldn't take him right now. The guy who was Washington's biggest fan in Columbus got fired last week. And without Zach Smith on staff, Washington isn't a take for the Buckeyes at this point. They have some other guys higher on the list.
So it's possible Washington wanted to commit to OSU next week but found out he can't (not saying this happened, just that it's possible).
But I will reiterate, people both in Columbia and in St. Louis were absolutely certain Washington was coming to Mizzou. Not maybe. Not they thought so. They knew it. It was done. And now it's not, apparently.
Could be a few reasons for this:
1) He was going to commit to Mizzou, but the Meyer stuff made him realize a lot of things can happen in recruiting so he wants to back off and wait a minute before he makes a final decision
2) Since he narrowed his list, one of the other schools that was in on him got back in his ear and told him to just wait it out and maybe even take a visit.
3) He was going to commit to Mizzou, but when he posted a top two and then disaster struck one of those two and so really everybody knew he was going to Ohio State and when there's only one school on your list, the bang you get out of a commitment announcement isn't very big.
I want to believe it's not No. 3 because it would just reinforce my belief that too many kids are using the recruiting process for the social media validation and too few are using it to find the right school.
Bottom line, Missouri hasn't lost Washington yet. And if it loses him to Ohio State, it's not going to be soon. Some people we've talked to still think there's a chance he commits to Missouri next week and he's just throwing everyone off the scent. That's not our opinion as of right now, but it seems like just about anything could be on the table.
*We wanted to talk about Washington first because it kind of impacts the way we're looking at the other imminent announcement.
Massey is announcing at 1 p.m. today. It's between Missouri and Illinois. We have been confident Missouri lands him. There are people around the situation who are saying Massey is on board. But if you talk to Illinois people, they're pretty confident Massey committed when he was in Champaign last weekend. What if he's told both places he's coming?
We'll find out at 1. Our sources are all saying Massey to Mizzou and we still think that's what's going to happen (and for the record if it doesn't happen, it's not because our sources suck--it's because they were absolutely told that he was coming to Mizzou). But there is enough of a sliver of doubt that we're going to wait and see what the announcement is.
Recruiting these days is something else. We truly don't know how you guys handle following it and being emotionally invested in it. It's the best roller coaster you'll ever ride...or at least the one with the most ups and downs.
*Here are a few upcoming visits we've managed to confirm this week:
Jackson will visit for the Georgia game on September 22nd
Brown will also be in town for the UGA game. He is listed as a wide receiver, but told us Mizzou likes him at defensive back.
Carrell told us he's taking an OV to Missouri this fall but doesn't yet have the date set.
*Yesterday's commitment, Thalen Robinson, said he's hoping to take his official visit for the Georgia game as well. That is shaping up to be Mizzou's big in-season visit weekend it looks like. It makes sense. It's the best home game on the schedule. With the early signing period, you're only going to have a couple of weekends in December to get kids in after the regular season is over and you'd like to have a lot of guys locked in by that point in time.
*On the hoops side, the common thought is that we're going to see a list cut for E.J. Liddell pretty soon. We are 99% certain Missouri will be on that list. We'd also expect Ohio State, Kansas State, Illinois and Duke to be one it. Beyond that, we'll have to wait and see.
Some believe we'll have some news out of Mario McKinney relatively soon, maybe even a commitment. Still hearing that Mizzou is in solid shape here, but obviously we'll have to wait and see what develops.
That's what we've got for now. We'll follow the Massey stuff later today and have plenty from practice for you as well.
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