We are proud to welcome Billiards on Broadway back for another year as our partner and the presenting sponsor of the juiciest dish on PowerMizzou. If you're looking for the inside scoop on Mizzou recruiting, The Chamber is the place. If you're looking for the best burger in Columbia, Billiards on Broadway is your go-to. A great place to watch a game, play some pool and pair a great local beer selection with one of Columbia's best meals. Local sports, Local beer, Local food--all under one roof at Billiards!
Let's just get this out of the way early: Nobody throws 98 on the black and goes eight shutout innings every start. Even the best starters sometimes have to hope to go six and just keep their team in the game. Sometimes Tiger Woods had to grind to make the cut. In other words, after a jam-packed month of recruiting with news all over the place, sometimes The Chamber is just trying to feed your addiction enough to get you to the next week. You've been warned.
FOOTBALL RECRUITING
We don't expect too much movement in the next month or so. There is a brief window at the end of July when teams can host visitors. Missouri may do that. Last year it served as a summer junior day type event. We're keeping our eyes on a couple of players we think are close to making the call in Kavion Broussard and Dre Kirkpatrick Jr. But for the most part, at least until camp opens and more likely until the season starts and we start to see game day visits, there's not going to be a ton of movement.
There are the two big fish out there. Nothing has really changed with Williams Nwaneri and Ryan Wingo so far as we know. Missouri is definitely in the mix--probably in the top two--for both. But we probably wouldn't frame the Tigers as the leader for either one right now.
Nwaneri: He recently named Oklahoma, Mizzou and Georgia as his top three schools with a likely announcement around August 1. Oregon is still expected to get an in-season official visit, so you can't completely restrict it to those three. The one constant in this thing has been Oklahoma. Missouri has always been involved and has picked up momentum in the last few weeks since an exclusive red carpet official visit experience that included a trip to Jefferson City with Eli Drinkwitz to highlight the NIL potential of Nwaneri coming to Mizzou. Georgia has the pedigree over the other two programs. Mizzou is the home state and can get him NIL money six months sooner than the others. Oklahoma has a little of the blend of both (Norman is only a 5 1/2 hour drive from Lee's Summit and the rumored deal from the Sooners is WELL into six figures--not that anyone is using NIL as a recruiting pitch, of course). If we were forced to make a prediction today, we'd predict Oklahoma, but we're not ready to make an actual prediction.
Wingo: It's always seemed like this was Missouri's better shot. The Tigers have staff and players regularly recruiting Wingo on social media. They're selling the next Luther Burden angle. Wingo's family likes the staff and certainly wouldn't be opposed to Ryan playing two hours down the highway. Texas is the school that has seemed to have the momentum since Wingo's official visits in June. He told us he doesn't see himself making a decision until some time after the summer. He is going to be a major focal point for the Tigers (as is Nwaneri) until they know he's off the table.
A couple of updates on new Missouri targets in the 2024 class...
Elyjah Thurmon, OL - Thurmon camped at South Carolina in late June and picked up an offer from the Gamecocks after working out at center. Missouri then extended an offer a few days ago on July 6th. He told me he is interested in Missouri and is thinking of taking an official visit in the fall. Appears South Carolina is trying to get him back on campus at the end of the month to further that relationship. Thurmon says he's also hearing from Georgia Tech, USF, Duke, Florida, Florida State, and Virginia Tech.
Frankie Arthur, RB - After talking to Missouri's staff for a couple of months, Arthur picked up an offer from the Tigers earlier this month. Right now, he says the Tigers are in his Top 3 and he plans on visiting them either later this month or sometime in the fall. The three-star has taken June officials with UTSA and SMU.
On to an existing target out of the St. Louis metro area...
LeonTre Bradford, DB - After taking a June official with Purdue. Bradford told me he plans to take fall officials with Arkansas and Missouri before making his college decision.
Speaking of St. Louis metro talent...
Rivals 250 WR Jeremiah McClellan is expected to release his Top 5 schools on Sunday. We expect that list to include Missouri along with LSU, Ohio State, Oregon, and Georgia. McClellan took June officials with LSU, Ohio State, and Oregon and also made a couple of unofficial stops at Missouri in late May and early June. The expectation is the four-star will be committed before his senior season, but the top two teams battling it out appear to be Ohio State and Oregon at the moment.
BASKETBALL RECRUITING
We caught up with both Marcus Allen and Annor Boateng this week. Neither gave away much in terms of recruiting plans. Missouri is solidly in the mix for both and we remain confident Missouri would take both. But neither seemed to be incredibly close to a decision at this point in time.
We had said earlier this week that we expect a three-man high school class for Mizzou. That is not a hard and fast rule. If a fourth player--or maybe even a fifth--that Mizzou just can't turn down wants to come, they'd go above three. But three is a general guideline. Adding Allen and Boateng to the commitment of T.O. Barrett would give Mizzou three top 100 kids who can play the 1-4 spots between them.
Again, that doesn't mean Mizzou would automatically be done if they got that trio. The other consideration would be a big man. The likely targets in that role are Ryan Jones (he's not a true man in the middle type big man, but he's 6-9), Peyton Marshall, John Bol (no, we haven't been able to get a feel for how hard Mizzou will pursue this time around, but we still see Overtime Elite as a bit more likely) and Trent Burns. Mizzou has also offered Khaman Maker and Chol Machot, though we view those as potential wait and see type guys more than the others.
Other possibilities in the class that merit watching: Travis Perry, Qin Pang, Jordan McCullum, Chase McCarty, Bishop Boswell.
The Tigers offered 2024 small forward Lewis Walker this week. Again, we're not sure that's committable at this time, but the offer means it's at least a name to keep an eye on.
There are still a lot of names on the board for two to four spots. As visits begin getting scheduled for football season (we know Jones is visiting October 8 and Boateng told us he's planning to take a fall visit, but doesn't have the date set), the picture should clear up a little bit about where Mizzou has its priorities. The Kansas State, LSU and South Carolina games should be big visit opportunities. Tennessee and Florida will fall after the start of the early signing period (November 8) so those may not be weekends we will see as many guys in town (also high school seasons will be much closer at that point in time.
As always, we'll keep you up to date on the board with any developments.
Last edited by a moderator:
