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It’s a relatively quiet week as far as recruiting goes to be honest. We’re in a dead period and many of the coaches are taking advantage of that to take a few days off and away from the office. They won’t have another chance until mid-February.
The week is not without news. At this point, the major date in recruiting is July 23rd, which is the Night at the Zou, which we’ve talked about a decent amount on here (for those who don’t know, that’s the night the coaches are trying to get as many high profile targets as they can on campus. It is open to fans who want to go. Because recruits are going to be there, the University and the football program can’t promote it, but if people wanted to show up, they wouldn’t be turned away). Anyway, on to some more players we’ve been able to confirm are EXPECTED to be in attendance:
Reggie Pearson Jr.
Deon Jackson
DaRon Davis
Tony Adams
Alec Long
Aubrey Miller
Jamal Brooks
Brad Stewart
Larry Borom
Verdis Brown (2018)
Daniel Parker (2018)
Vincent Gray (2018)
Nathaniel Peat (2019)
An effort will be made to get all the major in-state guys to attend as well as Ambry Thomas and Jaylen Kelly-Powell from Detroit (they visited a couple weeks ago, but we were not able to reach them) and we are sure some other out of staters.
Much of the rest of the recruiting news is going to be a recap for those of you who are on the board consistently. The big news of the week was that Natereace Strong qualified, was admitted to school and moved into the dorms (along with Greg Taylor) on Wednesday afternoon. I’m still not real clear why things changed in the last month. I was told in no uncertain terms by people who ought to know that Strong wasn’t going to make it a few weeks ago. Now he’s here. Again, I don’t know exactly what happened, but obviously it’s good news for Missouri.
I would caution those who are just slotting Strong into one of the top two spots at running back. It may happen. If it does, that’s a good thing for Missouri. But he only played two games before breaking his arm last year and, honestly, he’s never consistently stayed healthy. So the first hurdle will be staying on the field, the second will be learning the system in less than two months and outperforming everyone else in the backfield. Not impossible, but also not easy. With the qualification of Strong and Taylor, the only 2016 signee not expected on campus is Harry Ballard, though we’re still not 100% clear on Jerod Alton at this point. He told us about a month ago he was finishing some things up and expected to be here in July. Until we hear otherwise, we’ll assume that’s what is happening. Kyle Mitchell isn’t listed on the roster yet, but we expect him to be here. Same goes for K-State transfer Kaleb Prewitt (we know Prewitt will be here…haven’t definitively been told that on Mitchell, but we have no reason to think he won’t be).
Many have asked what the Strong news means with Jeff Thomas. It can't hurt. Mizzou will have four East St. Louis players on scholarship this year and the Tigers are in great shape with anyone coming through that program. Our guess is you're not going to hear a lot of people who expect Thomas to sign with Missouri next Feburary. Earlier this week, we compared it to the DGB recruitment. Nobody gave Missouri a chance except those of us who followed Mizzou recruiting closely. This is probably very similar. Missouri is in much better shape than you will be led to believe if you're paying attention to national opinion. He won't decide for a while (and again, whoever signs him might have to do it again in two years) but the Tigers have as good a shot as anyone.
The only new offer we know of this week is 2019 Rock Bridge running back Nathaniel Peat. A.J. Ofodile told me last year he was going to be special. He didn’t play varsity this year for the Bruins, but obviously I know quite a few people who watched the Rock Bridge JV games and one friend told me “it wasn’t fair on JV” with Peat running. There’s a ton of time left for him, so we’re not even going to start handicapping his recruitment, but being the first offer and having his high school coach on staff are certainly factors in Missouri’s favor.
On the baseball front, nothing official, but Kendall Rogers tweeted (and I was told by a source) that Steve Bieser will hire Rice pitching coach Pat Hallmark to fill the same role at Missouri. A source has also told me it is expected that Bieser will bring SEMO pitching coach Lance Rhodes with him from Cape to be Mizzou’s recruiting coordinator. That would leave a hitting coach, a grad assistant and a volunteer assistant to fill out the staff. On the hitting coach, I’ve had a source tell me that Hunter Mense MAY be retained. Nothing official at all on that, just that it’s a possibility.
Moving on to hoops recruiting, some notes from Alex Schiffer as a major open recruiting period began this week:
Mizzou coaches were in North and South Carolina as the period opened. Under Armour is holding its event in NC and Adidas teams are in SC. Tiger coaches were in attendance to watch Brandon Huffman and Jairus Hamilton that we know of. Other prospects they're expected to be eyeing are Torrence Watson, David Beatty, Lindell Wiggington and David McCormack. This weekend, Mizzou will also be at Peach Jam to watch the best of the Nike teams. Prospects to keep an eye on there are Jordan Goodwin, Jeremiah Tilmon and Michael Porter Jr, among others.
It’s a relatively quiet week as far as recruiting goes to be honest. We’re in a dead period and many of the coaches are taking advantage of that to take a few days off and away from the office. They won’t have another chance until mid-February.
The week is not without news. At this point, the major date in recruiting is July 23rd, which is the Night at the Zou, which we’ve talked about a decent amount on here (for those who don’t know, that’s the night the coaches are trying to get as many high profile targets as they can on campus. It is open to fans who want to go. Because recruits are going to be there, the University and the football program can’t promote it, but if people wanted to show up, they wouldn’t be turned away). Anyway, on to some more players we’ve been able to confirm are EXPECTED to be in attendance:
Reggie Pearson Jr.
Deon Jackson
DaRon Davis
Tony Adams
Alec Long
Aubrey Miller
Jamal Brooks
Brad Stewart
Larry Borom
Verdis Brown (2018)
Daniel Parker (2018)
Vincent Gray (2018)
Nathaniel Peat (2019)
An effort will be made to get all the major in-state guys to attend as well as Ambry Thomas and Jaylen Kelly-Powell from Detroit (they visited a couple weeks ago, but we were not able to reach them) and we are sure some other out of staters.
Much of the rest of the recruiting news is going to be a recap for those of you who are on the board consistently. The big news of the week was that Natereace Strong qualified, was admitted to school and moved into the dorms (along with Greg Taylor) on Wednesday afternoon. I’m still not real clear why things changed in the last month. I was told in no uncertain terms by people who ought to know that Strong wasn’t going to make it a few weeks ago. Now he’s here. Again, I don’t know exactly what happened, but obviously it’s good news for Missouri.
I would caution those who are just slotting Strong into one of the top two spots at running back. It may happen. If it does, that’s a good thing for Missouri. But he only played two games before breaking his arm last year and, honestly, he’s never consistently stayed healthy. So the first hurdle will be staying on the field, the second will be learning the system in less than two months and outperforming everyone else in the backfield. Not impossible, but also not easy. With the qualification of Strong and Taylor, the only 2016 signee not expected on campus is Harry Ballard, though we’re still not 100% clear on Jerod Alton at this point. He told us about a month ago he was finishing some things up and expected to be here in July. Until we hear otherwise, we’ll assume that’s what is happening. Kyle Mitchell isn’t listed on the roster yet, but we expect him to be here. Same goes for K-State transfer Kaleb Prewitt (we know Prewitt will be here…haven’t definitively been told that on Mitchell, but we have no reason to think he won’t be).
Many have asked what the Strong news means with Jeff Thomas. It can't hurt. Mizzou will have four East St. Louis players on scholarship this year and the Tigers are in great shape with anyone coming through that program. Our guess is you're not going to hear a lot of people who expect Thomas to sign with Missouri next Feburary. Earlier this week, we compared it to the DGB recruitment. Nobody gave Missouri a chance except those of us who followed Mizzou recruiting closely. This is probably very similar. Missouri is in much better shape than you will be led to believe if you're paying attention to national opinion. He won't decide for a while (and again, whoever signs him might have to do it again in two years) but the Tigers have as good a shot as anyone.
The only new offer we know of this week is 2019 Rock Bridge running back Nathaniel Peat. A.J. Ofodile told me last year he was going to be special. He didn’t play varsity this year for the Bruins, but obviously I know quite a few people who watched the Rock Bridge JV games and one friend told me “it wasn’t fair on JV” with Peat running. There’s a ton of time left for him, so we’re not even going to start handicapping his recruitment, but being the first offer and having his high school coach on staff are certainly factors in Missouri’s favor.
On the baseball front, nothing official, but Kendall Rogers tweeted (and I was told by a source) that Steve Bieser will hire Rice pitching coach Pat Hallmark to fill the same role at Missouri. A source has also told me it is expected that Bieser will bring SEMO pitching coach Lance Rhodes with him from Cape to be Mizzou’s recruiting coordinator. That would leave a hitting coach, a grad assistant and a volunteer assistant to fill out the staff. On the hitting coach, I’ve had a source tell me that Hunter Mense MAY be retained. Nothing official at all on that, just that it’s a possibility.
Moving on to hoops recruiting, some notes from Alex Schiffer as a major open recruiting period began this week:
Mizzou coaches were in North and South Carolina as the period opened. Under Armour is holding its event in NC and Adidas teams are in SC. Tiger coaches were in attendance to watch Brandon Huffman and Jairus Hamilton that we know of. Other prospects they're expected to be eyeing are Torrence Watson, David Beatty, Lindell Wiggington and David McCormack. This weekend, Mizzou will also be at Peach Jam to watch the best of the Nike teams. Prospects to keep an eye on there are Jordan Goodwin, Jeremiah Tilmon and Michael Porter Jr, among others.
