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We've hit the stretch run for the Class of 2022 at the same time things are ramping up for the Class of 2023. Busy time of year in football recruiting, so we'll get to it.
*Let's start in the 2022 class. There are three official visit weekends. We're not sure how Missouri is going to use them right now. We do not expect any 2022 official visitors in town this week (well, there will be one 2022 prospect in town, we'll get to that in a minute). The hope and current expectation is that Dallas RB Andrew Paul takes an official visit one of the next two weekends. Missouri has been on him a long time, but he's blown up recently with offers like Clemson and Notre Dame. He has been to Missouri's campus before so there is a chance that he uses his officials this month to go to places he hasn't seen in person yet. By getting in on him early, Mizzou has given itself a shot here, but it's not going to be easy as he's one of the hottest prospects in the country the last few weeks.
*Speaking of hot prospects, Mizzou offered Snow College, first-team juco all-American defensive lineman Seleti Favaleaki last night. The former BYU player via JC has visited Nebraska and also has an Oklahoma State offer. Again, there are a couple weekends left where Mizzou might be able to get him in on a visit. Since the offer just happened last night, we don't have much intel on where things stand with him right now.
*The major intrigue in 2022 is in the transfer portal. There are really only two transfers we're watching closely right now:
Tulane transfer defensive tackle Jeffery Johnson is expected to be in Columbia tomorrow. He was visiting Oklahoma yesterday, LSU Wednesday and Michigan on Saturday. The connection here is that new defensive line coach Kevin Peoples recruited Johnson to Tulane. That gives the Tigers an edge in familiarity, but obviously the programs they're competing with are national powers and won't be easy to beat out. We don't have a decision timetable for Johnson, but if he's planning to be enrolled in school somewhere for the second semester, it pretty much has to happen this week (Missouri starts classes Tuesday, but there's usually a week or two grace period where you can still get enrolled and take classes). We'll do our best to follow up on things after the weekend wraps up for Johnson.
Stanford running back transfer Nate Peat is a Rock Bridge graduate. He's obviously plenty familiar with Mizzou so doesn't really need a visit. Peat's family has moved to Texas since he graduated, but he has plenty of ties to the area. We first heard his name about a month ago as a possible guy to watch. At that time, we were told Missouri was a strong possible landing spot if he did transfer. The main competition is thought to be Oklahoma State, though a recent Iowa offer is worth watching as well. Our understanding is that Peat is enrolled in classes right now (Stanford is on the quarter system and went back on January 3rd), but he can withdraw and enroll somewhere for the spring semester if he decides to do so. We're anticipating that's the likely path for him. Our sources have told us that Peat's main reason for transferring is that he wants to go somewhere he's likely to get more carries. Missouri has carries available at running back with Tyler Badie gone. Yes, the Tigers have some younger bodies at the position, but they don't have any that have really proven a lot. Peat would be the leading active rusher on Missouri's roster if he were to transfer in. Again, we'd expect news this week if it's going to happen.
Other than that, we don't expect any immediate transfer news. There is going to be another wave of transfers during and after spring football so more players will become available. We still expect Mizzou to take a tight end, but that's likely not to happen until that next wave. A couple that Mizzou is monitoring according to our information are Alabama transfer Jahleel Billingsley (there has been some contact between the two sides here) and Florida grad transfer Kemore Gamble. Again, we're not really expecting immediate movement here. At linebacker, we're less convinced the Tigers go on a transfer than we were a couple of weeks ago. They offered quite a few guys, but they ended up going elsewhere. If an obvious target enters the portal at some point this spring Missouri could go on him, but the Tigers may very well stand pat here. We do not expect a transfer quarterback or another offensive lineman at this point.
