FOOTBALL RECRUITING
OFFICIAL VISITOR:
- The four-star tight end target from Grand Junction (Co.) will be Missouri's second official visitor of the 2020 recruiting cycle. Missouri will be Taylor's first official visit. LSU, Penn State, and Washington will also get officials. Rivals.com analyst Adam Gorney caught up with Taylor this past week to preview his upcoming visits.
BIG WEEKEND IN ST. LOUIS:
The Rivals 3-Stripe Camp will be in St. Louis on Sunday and it will be chalk full of Missouri targets, mostly in-state with a sprinkle of out-of-state targets, and other notable prospects in the 2020, 2021, and 2022 recruiting classes. We'll have a load of updates from Sunday's action.
Some notable expected participants are listed below:
Commits:
Brady Cook
Jay Maclin
Drake Heismeyer
2020 Targets:
Antonio Doyle
Kevon Billingsley
Mookie Cooper
Xavier Hill
Jabari Small
Antonio Johnson
Jalen Logan-Redding
Mekhi Hagens
Quadre Nicholson
Lawaun Powell
Mitchell Walters
Marcellus Moore
Joe Moore
Noah Arinze
Jalen St. John
Daniel Jackson
Dallas Walker
Underclassmen targets:
Kevin Coleman
Travion Ford
Luther Burden
Demetrius Cannon
Dallan Hayden
We will have three people at the camp and will be posting updates and passing along any relevant info, in addition to stories throughout the week next week.
BASKETBALL RECRUITING
On the basketball front, the big news of the week was that Missouri landed a commitment from 2019 wing Kobe Brown. We believe the Tigers are now done adding players to next season's roster, unless a surprise transfer lands in the team's lap. So, attention now shifts to the class of 2020. Mitchell was in Indianapolis taking in the second stop on the EYBL circuit last weekend. If you haven't yet read his stories from the trip, do so. You can find them all here. Here are a few nuggets we picked up regarding some of the 2020 prospects who were there.
If we had to peg one player in the class as most likely to wind up a Tiger, it would be Bradford. As Mitchell wrote in his profile of Bradford, he has a longstanding relationship with Cuonzo Martin and assistant coach Chris Hollender, and he would like to stay close to home. Kansas State could be a factor, but the Tigers look like the early favorite.
The big question in Bradford's recruitment is whether the Missouri staff prefers him over fellow St. Louis native Ryan Kalkbrenner, and whether they would consider taking both. At the moment, we don't have an answer to that. Kalkbrenner has been receiving offers at a rapid pace of late, so we don't expect a decision soon, but we would be surprised if he doesn't at least visit Missouri.
We've been saying for a while now that Fletcher appears to be the most likely of the "big three" (along with Caleb Love and Josh Christopher) to wind up at Missouri. But the Tigers are still going to have big-time competition to land him. He said this weekend he has received interest from Duke, Kentucky, Louisville and Kansas. None of those schools has offered yet, but if any do, it could be difficult for Missouri to beat (especially Duke, which Fletcher called a "dream school" in an interview with Rivals' Krysten Peek). Of the schools that have offered, Michigan State appears to be in the lead. Fletcher said he plans to take a visit to East Lansing at some point in the future. We expect Missouri to get a visit as well, but we believe for him to wind up a Tiger, the Spartans would have to prioritize someone else.
Christopher wasn't made available for any interviews this week, but a couple scenes tell the story of his recruitment. Missouri strength and conditioning coach Nicodemus Christopher, Josh's cousin, sat courtside for his game Sunday morning. That's obviously a good thing for Missouri. Josh and Nicodemus are close, and Missouri's pitch to him has always centered around playing for a family member. In fact, Josh's father told Mitchell that they would likely take another visit to Missouri to see Nicodemus.
On the other hand, Josh's father sat next to Nicodemus wearing a t-shirt with Josh's picture on it and a hat emblazoned with Josh's twitter handle. As a Rivals colleague put it, that's not the type of father who is about to send his son halfway across the country for college, especially to a town like Columbia. Christopher has always had a huge personality, and we think he likely stays in Los Angeles or ends up playing with his brother Caleb at Arizona State.
As bluntly as we can put it, it would be very surprising if Love ends up in Columbia. This is the opinion of pretty much everyone we have talked to. The Tigers are going to be in the mix. We don't think Love will eliminate them publicly. But there just is no expectation that he is going to be a Tiger among people we have talked to. Love picked up a North Carolina offer this week. Tennessee also is a darkhorse here.
The five-star forward listed off a who's who of schools in pursuit when we talked to him on Sunday, including North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky and Arizona. There doesn't seem to be a sense that Missouri is completely out of the race, however. For one thing, none of the aforementioned schools have offered yet. Plus, the home-state schools might not be as much of a factor as previously thought. Michigan just lost its coach in John Beilein, and it's obviously to be determined if his successor will target Jackson. Michigan State, meanwhile, likely wouldn't take both Jackson and Fletcher, as they essentially fill the same role. All along, Jackson has been pretty coy about his recruitment, and we won't say Missouri has a good chance to land him until we see where he decides to take visits, but don't discount him entirely.
OFFICIAL VISITOR:
- The four-star tight end target from Grand Junction (Co.) will be Missouri's second official visitor of the 2020 recruiting cycle. Missouri will be Taylor's first official visit. LSU, Penn State, and Washington will also get officials. Rivals.com analyst Adam Gorney caught up with Taylor this past week to preview his upcoming visits.
BIG WEEKEND IN ST. LOUIS:
The Rivals 3-Stripe Camp will be in St. Louis on Sunday and it will be chalk full of Missouri targets, mostly in-state with a sprinkle of out-of-state targets, and other notable prospects in the 2020, 2021, and 2022 recruiting classes. We'll have a load of updates from Sunday's action.
Some notable expected participants are listed below:
Commits:
Brady Cook
Jay Maclin
Drake Heismeyer
2020 Targets:
Antonio Doyle
Kevon Billingsley
Mookie Cooper
Xavier Hill
Jabari Small
Antonio Johnson
Jalen Logan-Redding
Mekhi Hagens
Quadre Nicholson
Lawaun Powell
Mitchell Walters
Marcellus Moore
Joe Moore
Noah Arinze
Jalen St. John
Daniel Jackson
Dallas Walker
Underclassmen targets:
Kevin Coleman
Travion Ford
Luther Burden
Demetrius Cannon
Dallan Hayden
We will have three people at the camp and will be posting updates and passing along any relevant info, in addition to stories throughout the week next week.
BASKETBALL RECRUITING
On the basketball front, the big news of the week was that Missouri landed a commitment from 2019 wing Kobe Brown. We believe the Tigers are now done adding players to next season's roster, unless a surprise transfer lands in the team's lap. So, attention now shifts to the class of 2020. Mitchell was in Indianapolis taking in the second stop on the EYBL circuit last weekend. If you haven't yet read his stories from the trip, do so. You can find them all here. Here are a few nuggets we picked up regarding some of the 2020 prospects who were there.
If we had to peg one player in the class as most likely to wind up a Tiger, it would be Bradford. As Mitchell wrote in his profile of Bradford, he has a longstanding relationship with Cuonzo Martin and assistant coach Chris Hollender, and he would like to stay close to home. Kansas State could be a factor, but the Tigers look like the early favorite.
The big question in Bradford's recruitment is whether the Missouri staff prefers him over fellow St. Louis native Ryan Kalkbrenner, and whether they would consider taking both. At the moment, we don't have an answer to that. Kalkbrenner has been receiving offers at a rapid pace of late, so we don't expect a decision soon, but we would be surprised if he doesn't at least visit Missouri.
We've been saying for a while now that Fletcher appears to be the most likely of the "big three" (along with Caleb Love and Josh Christopher) to wind up at Missouri. But the Tigers are still going to have big-time competition to land him. He said this weekend he has received interest from Duke, Kentucky, Louisville and Kansas. None of those schools has offered yet, but if any do, it could be difficult for Missouri to beat (especially Duke, which Fletcher called a "dream school" in an interview with Rivals' Krysten Peek). Of the schools that have offered, Michigan State appears to be in the lead. Fletcher said he plans to take a visit to East Lansing at some point in the future. We expect Missouri to get a visit as well, but we believe for him to wind up a Tiger, the Spartans would have to prioritize someone else.
Christopher wasn't made available for any interviews this week, but a couple scenes tell the story of his recruitment. Missouri strength and conditioning coach Nicodemus Christopher, Josh's cousin, sat courtside for his game Sunday morning. That's obviously a good thing for Missouri. Josh and Nicodemus are close, and Missouri's pitch to him has always centered around playing for a family member. In fact, Josh's father told Mitchell that they would likely take another visit to Missouri to see Nicodemus.
On the other hand, Josh's father sat next to Nicodemus wearing a t-shirt with Josh's picture on it and a hat emblazoned with Josh's twitter handle. As a Rivals colleague put it, that's not the type of father who is about to send his son halfway across the country for college, especially to a town like Columbia. Christopher has always had a huge personality, and we think he likely stays in Los Angeles or ends up playing with his brother Caleb at Arizona State.
As bluntly as we can put it, it would be very surprising if Love ends up in Columbia. This is the opinion of pretty much everyone we have talked to. The Tigers are going to be in the mix. We don't think Love will eliminate them publicly. But there just is no expectation that he is going to be a Tiger among people we have talked to. Love picked up a North Carolina offer this week. Tennessee also is a darkhorse here.
The five-star forward listed off a who's who of schools in pursuit when we talked to him on Sunday, including North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky and Arizona. There doesn't seem to be a sense that Missouri is completely out of the race, however. For one thing, none of the aforementioned schools have offered yet. Plus, the home-state schools might not be as much of a factor as previously thought. Michigan just lost its coach in John Beilein, and it's obviously to be determined if his successor will target Jackson. Michigan State, meanwhile, likely wouldn't take both Jackson and Fletcher, as they essentially fill the same role. All along, Jackson has been pretty coy about his recruitment, and we won't say Missouri has a good chance to land him until we see where he decides to take visits, but don't discount him entirely.
