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FOOTBALL RECRUITING
The calendar has flipped to March, the dead period is over, and it's time for Missouri to start hosting some top high school talent on campus again.
On Thursday, Liberty North (Mo.) WR/TE target Keelan Smith was on campus visiting and taking in the Tigers' spring practice. The three-star prospect has taken previous trips to Mizzou in November for a game and in December to watch the Tigers' bowl prep. He is also the son of former Chiefs great Neil Smith.
The Tigers are expected to host around 20 prospects on Saturday, here is a list of notable guys that should be in town below.
2024's:
Tionne Gray, OL/DL - Gray is one in-state prospect that has seen his recruiting process skyrocket this offseason. The Hazelwood Central product has been to Missouri plenty of times since being offered back in the summer. He's got the Tigers in his Top 5 along with Minnesota, Oregon, Colorado, and LSU.
Darrion Dupree, RB - After a Jr. Day visit with Missouri in January, the Rivals250 running back target is expected to be back in Columbia this weekend. That bodes well for the Tigers' staff as Michigan, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and Purdue are also in pursuit.
James Madison, WR - Getting a prospect the caliber of Madison on campus from the state of Florida in March is a big deal for Missouri. The Rivals250 prospect included Missouri in his Top 10 list back in January along with LSU, Oregon, Colorado, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Penn State, Florida State, South Carolina, and Auburn.
Jeremiah Beasley, LB - Beasley recently backed off his original commitment date of February 15th and will now instead announce his college destination on June 29th. The four-star released a Top 5 of Pitt, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, and Michigan State but he's obviously checking out all of his options.
KJ Jackson, QB - The Tigers offered Jackson nearly a year ago and it seems the Montgomery, Alabama is still high on their priority list. The four-star lefty also plans to visit Arkansas and West Virginia this spring. Jackson threw for 2,809 yards with 42 touchdowns and a 67.3 completion percentage during his junior season.
Kyle Rakers, OL - Rakers visited Missouri for a game in November. Returned in December and picked up an offer. Now, he'll be back in Columbia this weekend. Rakers' older sister is a current senior at Missouri, so the three-star is very familiar with the university and program. Sounds like a candidate that could be the next commitment in the Tigers' 2024 class.
Speaking of which, check out our WHO'S NEXT IN 2024 feature!!
Noah Shaw, LB - Missouri was the first school to offer Shaw on January 5th, since then the three-star talent has received notable offers from Rutgers, East Carolina, Liberty, and others. Could be a "commit watch" candidate if the Tigers really want him.
2025's:
Missouri will host a few talented underclassmen from Lipscomb Academy in Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday. The Tigers had success from that program in the 2023 class, signing offensive lineman Brandon Solis, so maintaining relationships with one of the most talent-rich programs in Tennessee is a must.
CJ Jimcoily, ATH - The tall, rangy athlete already has over 20 offers on his resume from Auburn, Michigan, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky, and others.
Chauncey Gooden, OL - Gooden is one of the more elite prospects in the 2025 class that already has 45 offers. Michigan, Auburn, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and USC are notable programs that have offered so far.
Amir Leonard-Jean Charles, DL - Like Gooden, Leonard-Jean Charles is another elite level talent in the 2025 class. While he doesn't possess a large quantity of offers yet, the quality is there with Auburn, Georgia, and Ole Miss in early.
Kris Thompson, LB - Thompson is coming off a stellar sophomore season and power five programs are starting to take notice of his talents as Maryland, Illinois, Georgia Tech, and Oklahoma State have recently offered.
*Both March 11 and March 18 will be busy visit days for the staff as well. A handful of prospects have tweeted about visits for those dates already. We'll have a full list in the Chamber before each of those days, but one player we know is expected is Nebraska QB Daniel Kaelin. He talked with Rivals this week about the recruiting process and wants to be committed somewhere before the summer. Sources have indicated to us he's at the top of Missouri's wish list at quarterback and the Tigers would love to lock him down sooner rather than later. It won't be easy, but this month's visit could go a long way toward that goal.
BASKETBALL RECRUITING
A couple of visitors are expected in town for tomorrow's game against Ole Miss.
*North Carolina five-star Jarin Stevenson is taking an official visit. For right now, Stevenson is in the 2024 class. There has been talk of him reclassifying to 2023. Doing that might actually be Mizzou's best shot. Stevenson is a North Carolina native who has a committable offer from UNC and whose mom was an athlete for the Tar Heels. There seems to be some doubt whether Stevenson is a take right now for Duke. He's a very highly rated player, but from people we've talked to isn't a one and done type guy. Probably not a player that's going to show up and average 15 and 8 as a freshman, but definitely a talented player. Reclassifying could help Mizzou in that everybody's going to naturally have fewer spots remaining in 2023 than they do in 2024. Obviously, anybody that really wants Stevenson is going to make the numbers work regardless, but roster flexibility varies from school to school. We'll do our best to talk to Stevenson as soon as we can after the visit.
*2025 Nebraska guard Chuck Love will be in town on an unofficial visit. Love was part of an elite camp over the summer at Mizzou. He played on the team that was coached by Phil Pressey at the camp. We don't know a ton about him yet, but Mizzou is in on him early as his first high-major offer. Again, we'll follow up after the weekend.
*2023 four-star Kris Parker is set to make his announcement at 2:30 this afternoon. This has been a bizarre recruitment. We had someone connected to Parker tell us last summer he was going to end up at Mizzou. There was even some thought that he had silently committed. He had a visit planned, but that didn't materialize. He did take trips to Villanova, Alabama and UCF. Our information is that Mizzou hasn't really been recruiting him for a while. But Parker continues to keep Mizzou in his top four and we have had someone tell us they believe Mizzou is an option for Parker. One of our sources here obviously either has bad info or is being intentionally misleading. Based on where we're hearing things from, we don't think Parker will be a Tiger, but we're not completely writing it off. We'll at least be paying attention to the announcement this afternoon. Right now, we don't think he is a take at Villanova. We think he is at Alabama but aren't 100% sure. He's a take at UCF, but there's some chatter out there that Johnny Dawkins' job could be in jeopardy after this season. So we're tentatively expecting Alabama, but this one has been weird enough that nothing will be a complete surprise.
