FOOTBALL RECRUITING:
- Just to reset everything with the dead period currently ongoing, Missouri currently sits at 11 commitments and we expect that number to increase over the next month up until Night at the Zou, which will be July 27th.
Here are some targets that we feel are Missouri leans right now:
- The local Rock Bridge product released a top four that included Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma State, and Missouri. We caught up with the three-star prospect this week, who has camped at Oklahoma and Texas and also swung by Missouri a couple of weeks ago for a visit. He's looking to take official visits after the dead period, but he's also keeping a close eye on Missouri's recruiting class as well. At this point we feel pretty confident he's going to be a part of this class.
- The three-star prospect is fresh off an official visit to Missouri last weekend and told us earlier this week that his visit really "shook things up" for his recruiting process. He's now down to Illinois and Missouri and plans to head back to Illinois on July 26th and return to Missouri for Night at the Zou on July 27th. Someone familiar with Illinois told us that the Illini staff felt like it had St. John until his visit last weekend. We were told it would be "a massive loss for Illinois" if St. John chose the Tigers. We believe he will do just that.
- Sylvester took an official visit to Missouri a couple of weeks ago. He doesn't do a lot of interviews, so our attempts to get an in-depth look into his official visit and the whole landscape of his recruiting process was somewhat unsuccessful, but we were able to squeeze out the following reactions:
"I have a wonderful relationship with with all the coaches, but me and coach Sam Carter, we treat each other like we are teammates. It's a brotherly type relationship and he's always honest and real. Coach (Brick) Haley, he's a great man and a great coach. We are always talking as well as Coach (Barry) Odom."
From everything we've heard regarding Sylvester, a flip from TCU to Missouri is trending.
There's not necessarily a timetable for announcements from these three, though we believe all three will end up on Missouri's commit list. If we had to guess at an order, we'd go Logan-Redding then St. John then Sylvester as far as public acknowledgement.
MORE WIDE RECEIVER OFFERS:
- We mentioned this in last week's Chamber, but with JJ Sparkman off the board to Texas Tech, Missouri has extended some new offers to tall, lengthy receivers in the last week-plus. Those include Isaac Smith out of St. George's (Tenn.), Monterren Parks out of Aledo (Tex.), Jaylon Carlies out of West Orange (Fla.), and Kaleb King out of Chamberlain (Fla.).
- Fitzpatrick is another big-framed wideout that has Missouri on his radar and told Midwest analyst Josh Helmholdt earlier this week that an official visit to Columbia is in the works. Louisville, Washington State, Michigan State, and Indiana are other schools that are also involved with the four-star prospect.
- Word on Frenchie is that he really likes the Tigers and Mizzou or Illinois is likely because he doesn't want to go too far from home for school. But it may become a numbers game with the Tigers. Missouri only has one receiver committed (again, Maureese Wren is going to be a tight end), but Jay Maclin is 5-11, 180. Frenchie is 5-9, 175. Missouri is looking mostly at bigger receivers rather than another slot type guy. Not saying the staff wouldn't take Frenchie if he wanted to commit. But there's definitely going to have to be some consideration and eventually there's going to be an expiration date there too.
OTHER NOTES
- Buford was another official visitor in town last weekend along with St. John. As we mentioned in last week's Chamber, Mizzou has one spot remaining along the offensive line in this year's class. We feel St. John will more than likely end up being the guy that takes it, but if Buford wanted to commit to Missouri, we've heard they would take both. There is a lot of Kentucky buzz surrounding the Detroit product, where he took an official visit back in April. Pitt also got an official from the three-star prospect earlier this month.
The South Carolina QB is going to announce next week. We don't believe it will be Missouri. We have been told the Tigers are "in a holding pattern" on quarterbacks. We've thought all along they would take two in this class. And they might. But it's not a sure thing based on our information. It may just depend on the prospect and on what happens at other positions. Either way, don't look for Garcia to be a Tiger next week.
BASKETBALL RECRUITING
As was posted this morning, Mizzou hosted two unofficial visitors this week. Currently Jaden Akins does not have a Rivals profile. Cleveland State and Houston Baptist have offered, but this story lists "interest" from some bigger programs. Still, this has the looks of a secondary target at this point in time.
Brooks looks to be the more legitimate prospect at this point in time. He does not currently list an offer from Mizzou, though that could obviously change at any point.
We've gone over and over the Axel Okongo eligibility situation, asking twice this week and getting different answers from two people in the program. But we have to trust Cuonzo Martin that he has one year to play and Missouri is trying to appeal to the NCAA to get a second. An inordinate number of characters have been spent on this issue, but it's mostly because of how it could impact recruiting in the next two years.
Right now, Missouri only has one spot open for the 2020 class. We fully expect another one to open because Jeremiah Tilmon will leave after next year. If Okongo were to be done, that's a third. Honestly, that seems like the best case scenario right now. Unless he makes a huge leap in year two, Missouri is probably better off using the scholarship on a piece for the future in a strong 2020 class than on a reserve big man. And then given normal attrition, if one other player transfers out, you're looking at a four-man class in 2020 with at least three more coming off the books for the 2021 class.
- Just to reset everything with the dead period currently ongoing, Missouri currently sits at 11 commitments and we expect that number to increase over the next month up until Night at the Zou, which will be July 27th.
Here are some targets that we feel are Missouri leans right now:
- The local Rock Bridge product released a top four that included Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma State, and Missouri. We caught up with the three-star prospect this week, who has camped at Oklahoma and Texas and also swung by Missouri a couple of weeks ago for a visit. He's looking to take official visits after the dead period, but he's also keeping a close eye on Missouri's recruiting class as well. At this point we feel pretty confident he's going to be a part of this class.
- The three-star prospect is fresh off an official visit to Missouri last weekend and told us earlier this week that his visit really "shook things up" for his recruiting process. He's now down to Illinois and Missouri and plans to head back to Illinois on July 26th and return to Missouri for Night at the Zou on July 27th. Someone familiar with Illinois told us that the Illini staff felt like it had St. John until his visit last weekend. We were told it would be "a massive loss for Illinois" if St. John chose the Tigers. We believe he will do just that.
- Sylvester took an official visit to Missouri a couple of weeks ago. He doesn't do a lot of interviews, so our attempts to get an in-depth look into his official visit and the whole landscape of his recruiting process was somewhat unsuccessful, but we were able to squeeze out the following reactions:
"I have a wonderful relationship with with all the coaches, but me and coach Sam Carter, we treat each other like we are teammates. It's a brotherly type relationship and he's always honest and real. Coach (Brick) Haley, he's a great man and a great coach. We are always talking as well as Coach (Barry) Odom."
From everything we've heard regarding Sylvester, a flip from TCU to Missouri is trending.
There's not necessarily a timetable for announcements from these three, though we believe all three will end up on Missouri's commit list. If we had to guess at an order, we'd go Logan-Redding then St. John then Sylvester as far as public acknowledgement.
MORE WIDE RECEIVER OFFERS:
- We mentioned this in last week's Chamber, but with JJ Sparkman off the board to Texas Tech, Missouri has extended some new offers to tall, lengthy receivers in the last week-plus. Those include Isaac Smith out of St. George's (Tenn.), Monterren Parks out of Aledo (Tex.), Jaylon Carlies out of West Orange (Fla.), and Kaleb King out of Chamberlain (Fla.).
- Fitzpatrick is another big-framed wideout that has Missouri on his radar and told Midwest analyst Josh Helmholdt earlier this week that an official visit to Columbia is in the works. Louisville, Washington State, Michigan State, and Indiana are other schools that are also involved with the four-star prospect.
- Word on Frenchie is that he really likes the Tigers and Mizzou or Illinois is likely because he doesn't want to go too far from home for school. But it may become a numbers game with the Tigers. Missouri only has one receiver committed (again, Maureese Wren is going to be a tight end), but Jay Maclin is 5-11, 180. Frenchie is 5-9, 175. Missouri is looking mostly at bigger receivers rather than another slot type guy. Not saying the staff wouldn't take Frenchie if he wanted to commit. But there's definitely going to have to be some consideration and eventually there's going to be an expiration date there too.
OTHER NOTES
- Buford was another official visitor in town last weekend along with St. John. As we mentioned in last week's Chamber, Mizzou has one spot remaining along the offensive line in this year's class. We feel St. John will more than likely end up being the guy that takes it, but if Buford wanted to commit to Missouri, we've heard they would take both. There is a lot of Kentucky buzz surrounding the Detroit product, where he took an official visit back in April. Pitt also got an official from the three-star prospect earlier this month.
The South Carolina QB is going to announce next week. We don't believe it will be Missouri. We have been told the Tigers are "in a holding pattern" on quarterbacks. We've thought all along they would take two in this class. And they might. But it's not a sure thing based on our information. It may just depend on the prospect and on what happens at other positions. Either way, don't look for Garcia to be a Tiger next week.
BASKETBALL RECRUITING
As was posted this morning, Mizzou hosted two unofficial visitors this week. Currently Jaden Akins does not have a Rivals profile. Cleveland State and Houston Baptist have offered, but this story lists "interest" from some bigger programs. Still, this has the looks of a secondary target at this point in time.
Brooks looks to be the more legitimate prospect at this point in time. He does not currently list an offer from Mizzou, though that could obviously change at any point.
We've gone over and over the Axel Okongo eligibility situation, asking twice this week and getting different answers from two people in the program. But we have to trust Cuonzo Martin that he has one year to play and Missouri is trying to appeal to the NCAA to get a second. An inordinate number of characters have been spent on this issue, but it's mostly because of how it could impact recruiting in the next two years.
Right now, Missouri only has one spot open for the 2020 class. We fully expect another one to open because Jeremiah Tilmon will leave after next year. If Okongo were to be done, that's a third. Honestly, that seems like the best case scenario right now. Unless he makes a huge leap in year two, Missouri is probably better off using the scholarship on a piece for the future in a strong 2020 class than on a reserve big man. And then given normal attrition, if one other player transfers out, you're looking at a four-man class in 2020 with at least three more coming off the books for the 2021 class.
