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FOOTBALL RECRUITING
First things first, there are no official visitors this weekend. Linebacker Dee Crayton was originally scheduled, but he's not making the trip. He's announcing a commitment tomorrow afternoon, almost certainly to Clemson.
The big weekend is next weekend. Right now, there are five visitors listed. That list is going to change in all likelihood. We don't think we have them all at this point. We're going to work throughout the week to get as close to a comprehensive list as we can for next week's Chamber. One player we know Mizzou would like to add to that list is Jeremiyah Love. The Tigers are trying to convince him to come back for an official visit next weekend with some of the big names. Love has already visited Texas A&M and Michigan. He'll be at Notre Dame this weekend. He's supposed to official to Alabama next weekend. There's still plenty of time. This is not the last official visit weekend. If Mizzou doesn't get him to town, it doesn't mean they're out of it, especially since he was on campus this week. And if it does get him here, it doesn't mean Alabama is out. But Missouri would love to get him in town.
We know the initial reaction is going to be "No visitors this weekend and only five next weekend? What the hell is going on?" The truth is this: In the transfer portal era and with the COVID year still impacting rosters for two or three more years, Power Five teams are going to take fewer high school players. Right now, Missouri is right around and possibly even over the limit of 85 scholarship players. There are only eight guys we know for an absolute fact are playing their final season this year. Obviously more than that will leave, but will 17 more leave to allow Mizzou to take a full class of 25? And even if that many do leave, how many of those spots are filled by transfers? In the last two classes, Missouri has taken double digit transfers in each. Ideally, your roster is in better shape and the guys you have signed are in position to play so there's less turnover, but absolutely everybody is going to keep 5-10 spots open for transfers after the season is over. So it's easy to see a scenario where Missouri is only signing somewhere around 12 high school players in this class. And some of those are going to commit later in the process.
News and notes:
- Missouri had a couple of significant mid-week visitors during the week in five-star edge rusher Samuel M'Pemba and four-star running back Jeremiyah Love. Always a good thing to get two of your top-tier targets back on campus even if it is an unofficial manner.
As a whole, M'Pemba doesn't appear to be in a hurry with his overall recruiting process. He was recently at Tennessee and is planning to take officials with Georgia, Miami, and Oregon (June 24th). He's keeping his last two officials open for now.
Love is coming off official visits to Texas A&M, Oregon, and Michigan. Notre Dame is up next and Alabama. Heavy hitters, but Missouri is still in the fight.
- Four-star OL target Cayden Green has altered his official visit schedule this summer as he cancelled his visit with Michigan set for this weekend. This is coming on the heels of an official to LSU last weekend. Nebraska and Oklahoma have already received summer visits from the Lee's Summit North (Mo.) product. We don't know if he intends on visiting somewhere this weekend, but Green did confirm with us he's still visiting Missouri the weekend of June 24th.
- While Missouri did receive good news coming out of the weekend with the commitment of Dickinson (Tex.) WR Marquis Johnson. The Missouri legacy did post a tweet that was ultimately deleted that read "recruitment still open." Johnson impressed SMU's Mega Camp earlier this month. A camp that Missouri coaches were also at. The speedster picked up new offers from Colorado, Arkansas, Houston, Indiana, Washington State, SMU, and UTSA. We'll keep you posted if Johnson does end up visiting anywhere else, but we definitely wouldn't label him as a firm commit.
- Lee's Summit (Mo.) wide receiver Joshua Manning is coming off his official visit with Kansas State over the weekend. Don't think you'll have to worry about the four-star making any sudden commit as he's sticking to his plan of wanting to take all of his official visits before making a decision sometime in July. Nebraska and K-State have had their turns. Next up is trips to Iowa State and Arkansas before he makes it to Missouri at the end of the month.
- St. Mary's (Mo.) athlete Jamal Roberts now has an offer from Missouri after impressing the staff at camp last week working out at running back. The three-star told us he's excited to get his first SEC offer and is planning to return to Columbia at some point, but it may not be this month. Kansas State is a team to keep an eye on. For now, the Wildcats are set to host Roberts June 24th. K-State is also recruiting his teammate, Donovan McIntosh, who is also scheduled to visit Manhattan that same weekend. St. Mary's is one of the teams at Mizzou's 7 on 7 camp which gets started at 9 a.m. We're headed over there shortly after this posts and will provide any relevant updates.
- Jenks (Okla.) athlete Jalyn Stanford included Missouri among his Top 4 along with Houston, Iowa State, and Washington State. Most schools are recruiting Stanford as a safety and right now he has official visits set with Iowa State this weekend and Washington State on June 24th. We'll keep you updated if anything changes there.
- Missouri's "Summit" official visit weekend will be minus Cypress Woods (Tex.) linebacker Dylan Rogers. He'll be taking an official to Nebraska this weekend and it seems the Cornhuskers are trending for the 6-foot-4, 230-pound prospect.
- However, Missouri did add another visitor for their "Summit" official visit weekend in Derby (Kan.) running back Dylan Edwards. The three-star prospect will be in Manhattan on an official with K-State this weekend. He has also taken officials with Nebraska and Oklahoma as well.
- Olathe South (Kan.) edge rusher Jordan Allen took an official visit to Missouri last weekend. He'll make the trek to Iowa State this weekend and Iowa the last weekend in June.
- In regards to West Bloomfield (Mich.) four-star OL Amir Herring will have an important visit with Michigan this weekend as well. It was originally pegged as another unofficial with the Wolverines, but that has been switched to an official as another Mizzou OL target Cayden Green decided to cancel his official with Michigan. The Wolverines have been kind of hot and cold when it comes to recruiting Herring, it seems things are getting warmer now and the Wolverines are a major player and obviously a team to watch moving forward. Herring has already taken officials to Nebraska and Boston College. He is set to return to Missouri for June 24th.
- North Carolina RB J.T. Smith was the most notable camper at Mizzou on Thursday at the final individual prospect camp. He has an offer from the Tigers, but made the trip anyway, which is certainly a positive sign. Running back is an interesting spot for Mizzou. Love is the obvious top target. They have Dylan Edwards visiting and recently offered Jamal Roberts. They aren't taking them all. Probably no more than two. So even though Smith has had an offer for a few months, whether or not he's a take right now is not certain.
- Another note with Michigan and their string of official visitors this weekend, 4-star OL Charles Jagusah will visit with the Wolverines as well. He was at Mizzou this past weekend.
