BASKETBALL RECRUITING
Let's start on the hoops side because it's a big weekend on that front. Peach Jam is happening in North Augusta and Adidas is having a big event in Birmingham. Mizzou is at both. In the past, we've covered Peach Jam. We chose not to this year. The reason is simple: Nike has been so poor at granting access to players the past couple of years that we deemed it not worth the expense to go down and risk potentially not talking to a lot of the players that we went to talk to. So we're relying on eyes and ears other than our own, but here's what we know so far:
Marco Harris was in Birmingham for the Tigers yesterday. Cuonzo Martin, Chris Hollender and Cornell Mann were at Peach Jam. Each program is allowed to have four recruiters on the road at once, so those were Mizzou's four. That means Michael Porter Sr. wasn't there. I did get a note from someone who told me he saw Porter in North Augusta on Wednesday, but he was not wearing Mizzou gear. My guess is that means that Porter was there watching his children, but since he is not one of the four designated recruiters on the road right now, he wasn't wearing Mizzou gear so as not to be seen as a delegate of the program (in the eyes of the NCAA, honestly, I could see it being deemed a violation of some sort, even though I don't think you should be able to tell someone what clothing he can wear).
I know that Martin, Hollender and Mann watched Mac Irvin Fire yesterday. There are two Missouri targets on that roster:
Martin and Harris were in Chicago watching Miller a couple weeks ago as well. He seems to have shot up the list of priorities (probably due in large part because things are looking less promising with Caleb Love and Josh Christopher).
There's at least one other game we know Martin watched:
There are four potential Tiger targets on the MoKan roster:
Harris has absolutely blown up. He's a former Rock Bridge guy now at Sunrise Christian, but told us last week Mizzou hasn't yet offered and even if they did at this point, it seems pretty unlikely the Tigers could get him. Chandler has gotten a ton of attention lately as well. Not sure where the Tigers stand in that one with all the offers. Bradford and Kasubke are definitely realistic gets, but we wonder if Mizzou would take them right now. We think they might want to see what happens with some other players first. We'll continue to keep an eye on where the staff is and who they're watching this weekend.
FOOTBALL RECRUITING
The big news this week was the commitment of Jalen St. John, which you guys have known to expect since he visited a couple weeks ago. We didn't anticipate it going public quite as early as it did, but obviously that's great news for Mizzou.
Someone close to Illinois told us that the Illini felt it had St. John for three months. But in one weekend visit, Brad Davis changed his mind. The Tigers' offensive line coach deserves immense credit for his work on the recruiting trail the last couple of years. Right now, we'd probably say he is the most effective recruiter on the staff.
St. John brings the Missouri commitment list to 13 and it ranks 31st in the country as of this morning. As we have reported, it also fills the offensive line quota for this year unless Deondre Buford wants to jump in (you can see our perfect class update here). Buford visited the same weekend as St. John. Our information going into that visit was that he was a silent commit to Kentucky. There are people around the program who feel they gave Buford a lot to think about. They do not know if it was enough to change his mind. A public decision is thought to be coming some time in August.
St. John is the seventh in-state player on the commitment list. If you include Kevon Billingsley from East St. Louis it's eight players from what would be considered Mizzou's home area (plus Cooper Davis who lives in Florida, but grew up in Lee's Summit).
Here is the number of recruits Mizzou has had from the home area (the state, plus the St. Louis and Kansas City areas just across the borders) in each class:
2019: 6
2018: 5 (including Harry Ballard and Antar Thompson as juco products)
2017: 1
2016: 10 (including Nate Strong and Greg Taylor as juco products)
2015: 12 (including Chase Abbington as a juco product)
2014: 10
2013: 12
2012: 7 (including Markus Golden out of juco)
2011: 5 (including Sheldon Richardson out of juco)
2010: 8
2009: 11
2008: 8
2007: 11
2006: 6
2005: 9 (including Darnell Terrell out of juco)
2004: 14
2003: 9 (including Damien Nash out of juco)
2002: 6
It seems unlikely Missouri will get to 14 to match the 2004 class which somehow had 16 two-stars (the rankings have gotten better since then), but included in-state stars William Moore, Tony Temple, Will Franklin, Chase Patton, Jerrill Humphrey, Kyle Riggs and Van Alexander, plus guys like Darrell Jackson, Jimmy Jackson and Ryan Madison.
But there is a chance it includes as many "area" recruits as any class other than that one. There re six remaining area players that we could conceivably see joining the class. Let's run through where Missouri stands:
Moore put out a top five that didn't include Missouri, but recently added the Tigers back in over Oregon. So they've got a shot.
Arinze is tough to get a read on. We believe Mizzou will only take one of these two. While we believe Arinze would be the preference, Moore might be more likely.
Manning decommitted from Oklahoma recently. We've been told there is some level of interest in the Tigers. We think they'll get a look. But he has a lot of options and it's not going to be an easy fight at ll.
We expect Logan-Redding to stay at home and commit to the Tigers, probably before his senior season starts.
Mills' time may have passed for Mizzou. As we said above, we think they are done on the OL unless Buford commits. Not sure Mills has the option to commit right now. That could change depending on what unfolds with the class the rest of the way.
https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2020/james-frenchie-185676
Common thought is Frenchie will end up at Mizzou or Illinois as he's not going to go too far from home. It comes down to what Mizzou wants at receiver. Will it take another slot guy or is it chasing bigger outside receivers? And is Frenchie willing to wait to see what shakes out? Missouri definitely has a shot here, but this is a tough one to read where things stand currently.
https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2020/mekhi-hagens-205770
Hagens is intriguing. Once Brady Cook committed, we thought Mizzou was done at QB. And then they started offering more and we thought they'd take two. And now we're back to thinking it might be one. If the Tigers will take him, they'll have a good shot with Hagens. But we don't know the approach at QB.
In the end, if they can add Logan-Redding and Frenchie, that gets Mizzou to ten area recruits. Manning would be a big coup that would make it 11, which would put it as the fourth-most the Tigers have had in the Rivals era. But even if they were to add no other area recruits, the numbers have rebounded from the bottoming out in 2017 and seem to be back headed in a positive direction for Odom.
Let's start on the hoops side because it's a big weekend on that front. Peach Jam is happening in North Augusta and Adidas is having a big event in Birmingham. Mizzou is at both. In the past, we've covered Peach Jam. We chose not to this year. The reason is simple: Nike has been so poor at granting access to players the past couple of years that we deemed it not worth the expense to go down and risk potentially not talking to a lot of the players that we went to talk to. So we're relying on eyes and ears other than our own, but here's what we know so far:
Marco Harris was in Birmingham for the Tigers yesterday. Cuonzo Martin, Chris Hollender and Cornell Mann were at Peach Jam. Each program is allowed to have four recruiters on the road at once, so those were Mizzou's four. That means Michael Porter Sr. wasn't there. I did get a note from someone who told me he saw Porter in North Augusta on Wednesday, but he was not wearing Mizzou gear. My guess is that means that Porter was there watching his children, but since he is not one of the four designated recruiters on the road right now, he wasn't wearing Mizzou gear so as not to be seen as a delegate of the program (in the eyes of the NCAA, honestly, I could see it being deemed a violation of some sort, even though I don't think you should be able to tell someone what clothing he can wear).
I know that Martin, Hollender and Mann watched Mac Irvin Fire yesterday. There are two Missouri targets on that roster:
Martin and Harris were in Chicago watching Miller a couple weeks ago as well. He seems to have shot up the list of priorities (probably due in large part because things are looking less promising with Caleb Love and Josh Christopher).
There's at least one other game we know Martin watched:
There are four potential Tiger targets on the MoKan roster:
Harris has absolutely blown up. He's a former Rock Bridge guy now at Sunrise Christian, but told us last week Mizzou hasn't yet offered and even if they did at this point, it seems pretty unlikely the Tigers could get him. Chandler has gotten a ton of attention lately as well. Not sure where the Tigers stand in that one with all the offers. Bradford and Kasubke are definitely realistic gets, but we wonder if Mizzou would take them right now. We think they might want to see what happens with some other players first. We'll continue to keep an eye on where the staff is and who they're watching this weekend.
FOOTBALL RECRUITING
The big news this week was the commitment of Jalen St. John, which you guys have known to expect since he visited a couple weeks ago. We didn't anticipate it going public quite as early as it did, but obviously that's great news for Mizzou.
Someone close to Illinois told us that the Illini felt it had St. John for three months. But in one weekend visit, Brad Davis changed his mind. The Tigers' offensive line coach deserves immense credit for his work on the recruiting trail the last couple of years. Right now, we'd probably say he is the most effective recruiter on the staff.
St. John brings the Missouri commitment list to 13 and it ranks 31st in the country as of this morning. As we have reported, it also fills the offensive line quota for this year unless Deondre Buford wants to jump in (you can see our perfect class update here). Buford visited the same weekend as St. John. Our information going into that visit was that he was a silent commit to Kentucky. There are people around the program who feel they gave Buford a lot to think about. They do not know if it was enough to change his mind. A public decision is thought to be coming some time in August.
St. John is the seventh in-state player on the commitment list. If you include Kevon Billingsley from East St. Louis it's eight players from what would be considered Mizzou's home area (plus Cooper Davis who lives in Florida, but grew up in Lee's Summit).
Here is the number of recruits Mizzou has had from the home area (the state, plus the St. Louis and Kansas City areas just across the borders) in each class:
2019: 6
2018: 5 (including Harry Ballard and Antar Thompson as juco products)
2017: 1
2016: 10 (including Nate Strong and Greg Taylor as juco products)
2015: 12 (including Chase Abbington as a juco product)
2014: 10
2013: 12
2012: 7 (including Markus Golden out of juco)
2011: 5 (including Sheldon Richardson out of juco)
2010: 8
2009: 11
2008: 8
2007: 11
2006: 6
2005: 9 (including Darnell Terrell out of juco)
2004: 14
2003: 9 (including Damien Nash out of juco)
2002: 6
It seems unlikely Missouri will get to 14 to match the 2004 class which somehow had 16 two-stars (the rankings have gotten better since then), but included in-state stars William Moore, Tony Temple, Will Franklin, Chase Patton, Jerrill Humphrey, Kyle Riggs and Van Alexander, plus guys like Darrell Jackson, Jimmy Jackson and Ryan Madison.
But there is a chance it includes as many "area" recruits as any class other than that one. There re six remaining area players that we could conceivably see joining the class. Let's run through where Missouri stands:
Moore put out a top five that didn't include Missouri, but recently added the Tigers back in over Oregon. So they've got a shot.
Arinze is tough to get a read on. We believe Mizzou will only take one of these two. While we believe Arinze would be the preference, Moore might be more likely.
Manning decommitted from Oklahoma recently. We've been told there is some level of interest in the Tigers. We think they'll get a look. But he has a lot of options and it's not going to be an easy fight at ll.
We expect Logan-Redding to stay at home and commit to the Tigers, probably before his senior season starts.
Mills' time may have passed for Mizzou. As we said above, we think they are done on the OL unless Buford commits. Not sure Mills has the option to commit right now. That could change depending on what unfolds with the class the rest of the way.
https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2020/james-frenchie-185676
Common thought is Frenchie will end up at Mizzou or Illinois as he's not going to go too far from home. It comes down to what Mizzou wants at receiver. Will it take another slot guy or is it chasing bigger outside receivers? And is Frenchie willing to wait to see what shakes out? Missouri definitely has a shot here, but this is a tough one to read where things stand currently.
https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2020/mekhi-hagens-205770
Hagens is intriguing. Once Brady Cook committed, we thought Mizzou was done at QB. And then they started offering more and we thought they'd take two. And now we're back to thinking it might be one. If the Tigers will take him, they'll have a good shot with Hagens. But we don't know the approach at QB.
In the end, if they can add Logan-Redding and Frenchie, that gets Mizzou to ten area recruits. Manning would be a big coup that would make it 11, which would put it as the fourth-most the Tigers have had in the Rivals era. But even if they were to add no other area recruits, the numbers have rebounded from the bottoming out in 2017 and seem to be back headed in a positive direction for Odom.
