BASKETBALL RECRUITING
Let's start on the hoops front this week. The 2019 news is that Sean McNeil does not have Missouri in his top six. Could that be Missouri's choice? I suppose it could be...but they just offered him like a month ago so generally you wouldn't offer a guy in February if you were going to pivot and not pursue him by March. Either way, McNeil isn't going to be a part of the class.
*Earlier this week, Corey Evans of Rivals reported that Missouri was one of the schools to contact Noah Hortchler, who is transferring from North Florida. Hortchler would have to (theoretically) sit a year and play a year. Many (including myself) immediately thought "Why would they take a big man who can't help this year?" Could be a number of reasons:
1) They figure he'd have a good shot at getting a waiver because everyone gets waivers now
2) They've got a lot of guards and are going to play smaller next year and feel fine with some combo of Tilmon/Nikko/Mitchell Smith/Tray Jackson/KJ Santos/Parker Braun in the front court.
Also, as I posted earlier in the week, what I'm hearing (and what the names we've seen in recruiting tells us) is that Cuonzo Martin doesn't see the need for an immediate impact big man as much as our message board does. The way it was put to me is that he's not opposed to adding a forward at all, but he's not necessarily searching high and low and views it as an absolute necessity.
I think a part of that is Braun. I'm not going to start jumping on the "he can be an all SEC player from the start" bandwagon. But I've heard positive things about the way he developed this season. One caveat here: I think he's going to need a scholarship. Because as I originally reported, the impression from Braun's camp when he walked on was that a scholarship would come in year two. Without that scholarship, I'm not sold he stays at Mizzou (and this isn't just complete idle speculation on my part). At this point in time, I'd expect Braun to get a scholarship for next season. That would mean Mizzou has 12 guys on scholarship if everyone returns (which may or may not happen) and has room to add one more this spring. But only Reed Nikko comes off the books for next year.
*The other 2019 name to watch is Kobe Brown. He was released from his LOI with Texas A&M this week:
Missouri was very much in the mix and very well may have been the runner up when Brown committed to the Aggies. He visited Minnesota and Louisville and Memphis offered shortly before his commitment as well. In the spring, programs all over are looking for guys and we'd expect some other programs to try to get back in. Mizzou will almost certainly take a look here. We've tried to reach out to him, but he's never been a guy that's really responded to messages so we can't really say where Brown is at right now. But he bears watching for sure.
*The Tigers also extended a 2020 offer to Texas big man Eddie Lampkin. We have also reached out to him and haven't heard back. However, he will be playing with the Houston Defenders, who will be part of the Under Armour Association event in Kansas City in late April that we plan to cover. So if not before then, we definitely hope to talk to Lampkin at that point.
*Right now, the Tigers only have Nikko coming off the books in 2020. But it's not time to start being concerned that they'll only sign one player or that they won't have room for guys. There's always room. Of the three main targets, here is the order of likelihood we believe each signs with Missouri:
Cam'Ron Fletcher -- Depends on who you talk to on this one. Some think Mizzou is in excellent shape. Others say Michigan State leads. Not sure, but of the three big targets we think Fletcher is the most likely to be a Tiger.
Josh Christopher -- Honestly, we'd be surprised to see him in Columbia. If you take out the family connection, Missouri wouldn't realistically have much of a chance at him. We're not saying it's impossible, but it's our opinion Christopher is more likely to play somewhere more western.
Caleb Love -- We could be 100% wrong on this one. But it's just our impression that Love will be the toughest to land out of all the three...and we think he'll have even more options after the summer.
FOOTBALL RECRUITING
- The Park Hill defensive end target was back at Missouri on Tuesday where he took in spring practice, took a full tour of the campus, and talked one-one-on with the coaching staff. We asked Wilson where things with Missouri currently stand with him, he replied that the Tigers are in second place and named Iowa State his current leader. The Cyclones were the first to offer the three-star prospect and are continuing to push hard with their recruiting efforts. Wilson said he has more unofficial visits coming up to Nebraska and Notre Dame. He plans to take officials this summer before making a decision. Unless something changes, we don't see Wilson ending up in CoMo.
- When Missouri offered local the Rock Bridge linebacker last week, we mentioned that he is a prospect that could make a quick turnaround and commit soon. After talking to him this week, it appears Norris isn't in a rush to make a commitment yet. He has visits scheduled to Nebraska and Air Force coming up. However, he did tell us that growing up a Missouri fan that the Tigers are his leader right now. Norris has been on campus twice in the last two weeks, once for a Jr. Day and he went back with his high school head coach the day after he received his offer to take in another spring practice. So, commit watch for Norris? Definitely. But, it may not happen for a couple of months or so.
- Earlier in the week, the talented Alabama offensive lineman announced a Top 7 that included LSU, Alabama, Mississippi State, Tennessee, South Carolina, Texas A&M, and Missouri. Cohen went further and told Rivals.com national analyst Chad Simmons that Alabama, South Carolina, and Missouri were at the top. Of course, his Top 7 was short lived after Florida State offered him in the middle of the week, now Cohen has a Top 8. Regardless, it seems Missouri has put themselves in a good position to get Cohen on campus in the future.
- Mizzou will get a spring break visit from a 2022 California prospect soon.
- The Music City Showdown 7on7 tournament is taking place Saturday in Nashville. Among the teams participating are STL Boom that features Missouri quarterback commit Brady Cook. WR target Jordan Johnson is also part of the team, but we've been told he won't be participating this weekend. There should be other intriguing prospects from the St. Louis area competing, our own Sean Williams will be there to cover it.
Let's start on the hoops front this week. The 2019 news is that Sean McNeil does not have Missouri in his top six. Could that be Missouri's choice? I suppose it could be...but they just offered him like a month ago so generally you wouldn't offer a guy in February if you were going to pivot and not pursue him by March. Either way, McNeil isn't going to be a part of the class.
*Earlier this week, Corey Evans of Rivals reported that Missouri was one of the schools to contact Noah Hortchler, who is transferring from North Florida. Hortchler would have to (theoretically) sit a year and play a year. Many (including myself) immediately thought "Why would they take a big man who can't help this year?" Could be a number of reasons:
1) They figure he'd have a good shot at getting a waiver because everyone gets waivers now
2) They've got a lot of guards and are going to play smaller next year and feel fine with some combo of Tilmon/Nikko/Mitchell Smith/Tray Jackson/KJ Santos/Parker Braun in the front court.
Also, as I posted earlier in the week, what I'm hearing (and what the names we've seen in recruiting tells us) is that Cuonzo Martin doesn't see the need for an immediate impact big man as much as our message board does. The way it was put to me is that he's not opposed to adding a forward at all, but he's not necessarily searching high and low and views it as an absolute necessity.
I think a part of that is Braun. I'm not going to start jumping on the "he can be an all SEC player from the start" bandwagon. But I've heard positive things about the way he developed this season. One caveat here: I think he's going to need a scholarship. Because as I originally reported, the impression from Braun's camp when he walked on was that a scholarship would come in year two. Without that scholarship, I'm not sold he stays at Mizzou (and this isn't just complete idle speculation on my part). At this point in time, I'd expect Braun to get a scholarship for next season. That would mean Mizzou has 12 guys on scholarship if everyone returns (which may or may not happen) and has room to add one more this spring. But only Reed Nikko comes off the books for next year.
*The other 2019 name to watch is Kobe Brown. He was released from his LOI with Texas A&M this week:
Missouri was very much in the mix and very well may have been the runner up when Brown committed to the Aggies. He visited Minnesota and Louisville and Memphis offered shortly before his commitment as well. In the spring, programs all over are looking for guys and we'd expect some other programs to try to get back in. Mizzou will almost certainly take a look here. We've tried to reach out to him, but he's never been a guy that's really responded to messages so we can't really say where Brown is at right now. But he bears watching for sure.
*The Tigers also extended a 2020 offer to Texas big man Eddie Lampkin. We have also reached out to him and haven't heard back. However, he will be playing with the Houston Defenders, who will be part of the Under Armour Association event in Kansas City in late April that we plan to cover. So if not before then, we definitely hope to talk to Lampkin at that point.
*Right now, the Tigers only have Nikko coming off the books in 2020. But it's not time to start being concerned that they'll only sign one player or that they won't have room for guys. There's always room. Of the three main targets, here is the order of likelihood we believe each signs with Missouri:
Cam'Ron Fletcher -- Depends on who you talk to on this one. Some think Mizzou is in excellent shape. Others say Michigan State leads. Not sure, but of the three big targets we think Fletcher is the most likely to be a Tiger.
Josh Christopher -- Honestly, we'd be surprised to see him in Columbia. If you take out the family connection, Missouri wouldn't realistically have much of a chance at him. We're not saying it's impossible, but it's our opinion Christopher is more likely to play somewhere more western.
Caleb Love -- We could be 100% wrong on this one. But it's just our impression that Love will be the toughest to land out of all the three...and we think he'll have even more options after the summer.
FOOTBALL RECRUITING
- The Park Hill defensive end target was back at Missouri on Tuesday where he took in spring practice, took a full tour of the campus, and talked one-one-on with the coaching staff. We asked Wilson where things with Missouri currently stand with him, he replied that the Tigers are in second place and named Iowa State his current leader. The Cyclones were the first to offer the three-star prospect and are continuing to push hard with their recruiting efforts. Wilson said he has more unofficial visits coming up to Nebraska and Notre Dame. He plans to take officials this summer before making a decision. Unless something changes, we don't see Wilson ending up in CoMo.
- When Missouri offered local the Rock Bridge linebacker last week, we mentioned that he is a prospect that could make a quick turnaround and commit soon. After talking to him this week, it appears Norris isn't in a rush to make a commitment yet. He has visits scheduled to Nebraska and Air Force coming up. However, he did tell us that growing up a Missouri fan that the Tigers are his leader right now. Norris has been on campus twice in the last two weeks, once for a Jr. Day and he went back with his high school head coach the day after he received his offer to take in another spring practice. So, commit watch for Norris? Definitely. But, it may not happen for a couple of months or so.
- Earlier in the week, the talented Alabama offensive lineman announced a Top 7 that included LSU, Alabama, Mississippi State, Tennessee, South Carolina, Texas A&M, and Missouri. Cohen went further and told Rivals.com national analyst Chad Simmons that Alabama, South Carolina, and Missouri were at the top. Of course, his Top 7 was short lived after Florida State offered him in the middle of the week, now Cohen has a Top 8. Regardless, it seems Missouri has put themselves in a good position to get Cohen on campus in the future.
- Mizzou will get a spring break visit from a 2022 California prospect soon.
- The Music City Showdown 7on7 tournament is taking place Saturday in Nashville. Among the teams participating are STL Boom that features Missouri quarterback commit Brady Cook. WR target Jordan Johnson is also part of the team, but we've been told he won't be participating this weekend. There should be other intriguing prospects from the St. Louis area competing, our own Sean Williams will be there to cover it.
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