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FOOTBALL RECRUITING
- Caught up with Burges (Tex.) head coach James Routledge earlier this week, who went in-depth on running back commit Tavorus Jones. Routledge was pretty open about Jones' recruitment and admitted that he put all his eggs in the Texas basket, but in the end the Longhorns took another running back (Jamarion Payne) instead. However, he said Missouri never wavered from their communication with Jones throughout, even when it looked like he was going to Texas. That persistence paid off and Missouri is reaping the rewards of adding a high-level recruit and creating a ton of buzz from last weekend.
- With Jones in the fold, Missouri will likely not add another running back from the high school ranks. Other high school targets the Tigers were in on were Justin Williams, who just committed to West Virginia this week, and Joseph Himon, who seems to be leaning towards Northwestern heading into his July 11th decision. It's still possible they could add another running back via the transfer portal down the road.
- Defensive tackle target Jadon Scarlett took officials to Texas A&M and Missouri in June and the Tigers left a good impression on the four-star prospect. However, competition continues to jump in for Scarlett as LSU just recently offered, so this will be an interesting recruitment to follow since we've noted that both A&M and Oklahoma are legitimately interested. His social media account suggests a commitment could come at any time, but don't be shocked to see his recruiting process to continue throughout the summer and possibly into the fall. Mizzou would love to wrap it up sooner. The Tigers are a definite player, but it won't be easy.
- Offensive line target Jake Maikkula seemed set to make a college decision soon after a whirlwind June that included five official visits and three unofficials, one of those included Missouri on June 2nd. Stanford just recently extended an offer on June 30th and that could cause a delay in his decision, so he can explore that option further. A source told us Stanford, Duke and Cal are his top three. We won't scratch him off the list of possibilities yet, but it looks extremely unlikely.
Here is what we think is left for the 2022 recruiting class moving forward and the top current targets at each position:
1 WR - Top targets: Luther Burden, Kevin Coleman (and, yes, they'd clearly take both and deal with the numbers later if that somehow materialized)
1 TE - to be determined
1-2 OL - Top targets: Valen Erickson, Jack Struebing, Jake Maikkula, Deone Walker, Jackson Pruitt
2 DL - Top targets: Jadon Scarlett, Jalen Marshall, James Pearce, Chris McClellan, DJ Wesolak, Hayden Schwartz
1 LB - Top targets: Duncan Parham
2 DB - Top targets: Gentry Williams, Quantaves Gaskins
*The overall picture here is that Marshall (who has said he will decide before his senior season), Erickson (who recently named Missouri and Nebraska his top two) and Scarlett are the three possible decisions that could come down soon. It's possible one or more of them even comes down before next week's Chamber. But there's not definitely anything imminent from any of them. None have set decision dates. Missouri would love to add any of the three--or even all of them--soon, but we're not necessarily anticipating news in the short term on any of them.
BASKETBALL RECRUITING
*The news this week is that Pattonville guard Kellen Thames committed to SLU on Thursday night over Mizzou and Georgetown. As we posted yesterday, Mizzou would have taken Thames, but the writing was on the wall once Christian Jones committed that it wasn't going to happen. Realistically, Mizzou had two local guys for one spot and Jones took it. Yes, the Tigers would have taken Thames because you don't offer a scholarship to the son of one of the most notable players in the last 30 years of the program and then pull it off the table a week later. But once Jones committed, there wasn't any real chance that Thames was picking Mizzou.
*Mizzou currently has one spot left in the class, but they're going to add at least two more players. Realistically, Javon Pickett isn't going to come back for a fifth year and you have to assume someone is going to transfer out after next season because it happens in pretty much every program in America. Outside of Mark Mitchell, who we just don't see as a realistic option, the top two players on the board are probably Aidan Shaw and Chandler Jackson. Both Shaw and Jackson visited officially in June. If Missouri could get commitments from both, they'd probably be pretty happy with the class and wait to see what happens in the transfer portal. The interesting thing to see is what would happen if one or both go somewhere else. Does Missouri put the press on a high school prospect or do they wait for portal movement in the spring? It wouldn't be a surprise if they waited. Cuonzo Martin was pretty clear when we talked to him that recruiting transfers is going to be an annual thing and, in a lot of cases, it might be preferable to taking a high school kid with more unknown.
That's where we're at right now. We'll talk to you again next Friday.
NOTE: The first person to reply with something other than trying to be first and able to prove they actually read the whole thing before posting will receive two tickets to the Big Brothers, Big Sisters Countdown to Kickoff event at the Columns Club at Faurot Field on August 26th at 5:30.
