Welcome to this week’s edition of The Chamber, as Missouri’s staff (and we at PowerMizzou) are starting to gear up for what will be a longer, more arduous camp season than usual.
But first, as always, a reminder -- this information is for PowerMizzou.com subscribers only, so please keep discussion of this week’s Chamber to the Tiger’s Lair only.
We’ll start on the recruiting trail, where it simply never stops or seemingly even slows down. The offers just keep going out. Just based on Twitter, there were at least ten of them in the last day or two. Missouri has somewhere around 250 offers out right now. And, yes, while understanding that not every offer is created equally, that is certainly a bigger number than we ever knew about under the last staff.
Here are a few of the kids they’ve offered in the last few days that we know about:
-- 2018 New Jersey QB Allan Walters: We exchanged messages with Walters shortly after the offer and he was very excited about it. Here’s what he said:
“I’ve been in constant contact with them! Very excited and blessed to get this offer, have wanted it for a while now, truly a blessing.”
Walters said he wants to visit this summer. He has been talking with offensive analyst Kendall Bradley and offensive coordinator Josh Heupel.
(A side note -- with each one of Missouri’s 2017 quarterback offers committed elsewhere, it seems like the staff is pumping the brakes on sending out more offers in this class and is focusing on 2018. Obviously, you have to be sure about who you want at QB because of the small numbers, but Missouri’s staff could also be playing the waiting game at QB to see when the inevitable QB decommitment carousel begins closer to signing day. Just a thought.)
-- Alabama LB Jamal Brooks: Brooks now has 21 offers, but told us he definitely plans to visit Missouri. He does not currently have a date set as he just got an offer in the last few days.
-- Baltimore (Md.) DE Victor Dimukeje: You don’t see many two-stars with 34 offers. That’s where Dimukeje stands after the Mizzou offer. He said he knows quite a bit about Mizzou already. When asked if he had plans to visit campus, he said, ‘Of course.’
-- Ocala (Fla.) safety Tyree Gillespie: Gillespie could play on either side of the ball. In talking to some people, we think his Rivals profile is criminally out of date. We have to get an accurate list, but we’re hearing he has between 15 to 20 offers. We have him at four. He said he has been talking to AJ Ofodile and got a Missouri offer just yesterday.
-- Delray Beach (Fla.) safety Marquis Waters is now at 22 offers after picking up Mizzou and Purdue yesterday.
(SIDE NOTE: From talking to sources, we believe Gillespie and Waters may be two of the most sought-after recruits for Missouri among the recent offers. Look for the Tigers to try to go all-in with those two.)
-- Murrieta (Cali.) receiver Maurice Bell: The nation’s No. 81-ranked receiver has an impressive offer list already, and he told us that Missouri is a “big offer” for him and the Tigers are “definitely” under consideration. No visit talk yet, however.
-- Denton (Texas) athlete Chris Miller: We had a story on Miller earlier this week, but again, the cornerback said he will visit Missouri, and the Tigers are one of four schools that stand out already.
-- Buford (Ga.) athlete Joshua Blackwell: We also had a story on Blackwell last week, but he’s another guy that said he will visit this summer. He’s already taken a few out-of-state trips, so it looks like that possibility is very real in his case.
All of the above guys have something in common that we’ve noticed: They’re definitely guys with a lot of attention, some of them with 20 and 30 offers, but Mizzou is one of the “better” offers on their list. In other words, they’re really talented players who maybe don’t have the attention of the bluebloods. And honestly, that’s mostly where Missouri has to live in recruiting. It’s all well and good to throw out offers to the four- and five-star kids and you might as well do it, but the simple fact is, the majority of those kids (especially if they’re out of state) are going to likely end up elsewhere. So it’s smart for Missouri to get in early on some of these other guys that are right at that next level. The Tigers are much more likely to make a living competing against schools like West Virginia, NC State, Oklahoma State, etc, than they are against Oklahoma, Alabama and Ohio State. Some will be offended by that statement, but it’s not meant to offend. It’s simply being smart about investing time and resource.
Here are a few of the other offers that have gone out recently where we haven’t been able to talk to the kids or don’t have as good a feel for what they’re thinking yet:
Spring TX DB Josh Bledsoe
Denton TX OL Grant Polley
Plain Dealing LA ATH Keldrick Carper
Nacogdoches TX DB Josh Thompson
2018 Denton TX QB Spencer Sanders
2018 Ashdown AR QB Jaden Hill (also a very good baseball player, which is something to watch)
Fort Lauderdale FL DB Al Blades Jr.
Fort Myers (Fla.) OLB Shanon Reid
-- We expect this class to be heavy on the offensive line, probably a couple running backs and probably linebacker.
Quarterback recruiting is a little more focused on 2018 it seems, as we said above. It seems like they are going to wait and see what happens to the offers already committed elsewhere.
Wide receiver is also a position we don’t expect Mizzou to take a ton. The simple fact is, while they don’t have any who have been productive yet, they do have a TON of bodies. They’ve got ten scholarship receivers and four more signed in 2016. That’s already over the number most teams are going to carry. The Tigers will take DaRon Davis (who is, for the time being, one of the more underrated prospects in the country) and probably one more I think (that number doesn’t include Jeff Thomas, who they would take, but who, to be honest, we wouldn’t necessarily count toward the number because the academics will be an uphill climb as we have mentioned).
But first, as always, a reminder -- this information is for PowerMizzou.com subscribers only, so please keep discussion of this week’s Chamber to the Tiger’s Lair only.
We’ll start on the recruiting trail, where it simply never stops or seemingly even slows down. The offers just keep going out. Just based on Twitter, there were at least ten of them in the last day or two. Missouri has somewhere around 250 offers out right now. And, yes, while understanding that not every offer is created equally, that is certainly a bigger number than we ever knew about under the last staff.
Here are a few of the kids they’ve offered in the last few days that we know about:
-- 2018 New Jersey QB Allan Walters: We exchanged messages with Walters shortly after the offer and he was very excited about it. Here’s what he said:
“I’ve been in constant contact with them! Very excited and blessed to get this offer, have wanted it for a while now, truly a blessing.”
Walters said he wants to visit this summer. He has been talking with offensive analyst Kendall Bradley and offensive coordinator Josh Heupel.
(A side note -- with each one of Missouri’s 2017 quarterback offers committed elsewhere, it seems like the staff is pumping the brakes on sending out more offers in this class and is focusing on 2018. Obviously, you have to be sure about who you want at QB because of the small numbers, but Missouri’s staff could also be playing the waiting game at QB to see when the inevitable QB decommitment carousel begins closer to signing day. Just a thought.)
-- Alabama LB Jamal Brooks: Brooks now has 21 offers, but told us he definitely plans to visit Missouri. He does not currently have a date set as he just got an offer in the last few days.
-- Baltimore (Md.) DE Victor Dimukeje: You don’t see many two-stars with 34 offers. That’s where Dimukeje stands after the Mizzou offer. He said he knows quite a bit about Mizzou already. When asked if he had plans to visit campus, he said, ‘Of course.’
-- Ocala (Fla.) safety Tyree Gillespie: Gillespie could play on either side of the ball. In talking to some people, we think his Rivals profile is criminally out of date. We have to get an accurate list, but we’re hearing he has between 15 to 20 offers. We have him at four. He said he has been talking to AJ Ofodile and got a Missouri offer just yesterday.
-- Delray Beach (Fla.) safety Marquis Waters is now at 22 offers after picking up Mizzou and Purdue yesterday.
(SIDE NOTE: From talking to sources, we believe Gillespie and Waters may be two of the most sought-after recruits for Missouri among the recent offers. Look for the Tigers to try to go all-in with those two.)
-- Murrieta (Cali.) receiver Maurice Bell: The nation’s No. 81-ranked receiver has an impressive offer list already, and he told us that Missouri is a “big offer” for him and the Tigers are “definitely” under consideration. No visit talk yet, however.
-- Denton (Texas) athlete Chris Miller: We had a story on Miller earlier this week, but again, the cornerback said he will visit Missouri, and the Tigers are one of four schools that stand out already.
-- Buford (Ga.) athlete Joshua Blackwell: We also had a story on Blackwell last week, but he’s another guy that said he will visit this summer. He’s already taken a few out-of-state trips, so it looks like that possibility is very real in his case.
All of the above guys have something in common that we’ve noticed: They’re definitely guys with a lot of attention, some of them with 20 and 30 offers, but Mizzou is one of the “better” offers on their list. In other words, they’re really talented players who maybe don’t have the attention of the bluebloods. And honestly, that’s mostly where Missouri has to live in recruiting. It’s all well and good to throw out offers to the four- and five-star kids and you might as well do it, but the simple fact is, the majority of those kids (especially if they’re out of state) are going to likely end up elsewhere. So it’s smart for Missouri to get in early on some of these other guys that are right at that next level. The Tigers are much more likely to make a living competing against schools like West Virginia, NC State, Oklahoma State, etc, than they are against Oklahoma, Alabama and Ohio State. Some will be offended by that statement, but it’s not meant to offend. It’s simply being smart about investing time and resource.
Here are a few of the other offers that have gone out recently where we haven’t been able to talk to the kids or don’t have as good a feel for what they’re thinking yet:
Spring TX DB Josh Bledsoe
Denton TX OL Grant Polley
Plain Dealing LA ATH Keldrick Carper
Nacogdoches TX DB Josh Thompson
2018 Denton TX QB Spencer Sanders
2018 Ashdown AR QB Jaden Hill (also a very good baseball player, which is something to watch)
Fort Lauderdale FL DB Al Blades Jr.
Fort Myers (Fla.) OLB Shanon Reid
-- We expect this class to be heavy on the offensive line, probably a couple running backs and probably linebacker.
Quarterback recruiting is a little more focused on 2018 it seems, as we said above. It seems like they are going to wait and see what happens to the offers already committed elsewhere.
Wide receiver is also a position we don’t expect Mizzou to take a ton. The simple fact is, while they don’t have any who have been productive yet, they do have a TON of bodies. They’ve got ten scholarship receivers and four more signed in 2016. That’s already over the number most teams are going to carry. The Tigers will take DaRon Davis (who is, for the time being, one of the more underrated prospects in the country) and probably one more I think (that number doesn’t include Jeff Thomas, who they would take, but who, to be honest, we wouldn’t necessarily count toward the number because the academics will be an uphill climb as we have mentioned).
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