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FOOTBALL RECRUITING
***On Wednesday, in-state OL target Cayden Green announced his commitment date for July 8th. The Top 30 prospect is coming off an official visit to Nebraska. He also has officials set for Oklahoma on June 3rd, Michigan on June 17th, and Missouri June 24th. The Tigers will get the last official, but momentum still seems to be in favor of the Sooners or possibly the Wolverines here.
***Another top OL target made some news this week as East St. Louis (Ill.) product Miles McVay announced his visit schedule for the summer and fall and it will include a mix of officials and unofficials and Missouri is not surprisingly featured. Here is a breakdown:
Texas A&M - June 3rd
LSU - June 9th
Michigan State - June 17th
Arkansas - June 21st
Oregon - June 24th
Alabama - October 8th
Florida - October 15th
Missouri - October 22nd or December 2nd
The No. 56 prospect in the 2023 class has made it clear that he will take his time throughout his recruiting process.
***Rivals.com national analyst Ryan Wright got an update with Samuel M'Pemba earlier this week. The five-star prospect also isn't in a hurry to make a decision, but did say that Notre Dame and Michigan will get official visits. Penn State, Alabama, and LSU are the other three in contention for his other officials. Unofficial visits will be sprinkled in throughout the process as well, Georgia and Tennessee. Missouri was able to get M'Pemba on campus a couple of times since November, we'll see if he'll make it back to CoMo between now and the time he makes his decision. Regardless, it seems this will be an uphill climb for Missouri moving forward.
***Missouri picked up a commitment from JUCO defensive back LJ Hewitt last weekend, he'll enroll and be on campus this summer. The Tigers aren't done searching the JUCO ranks for summer additions to the roster for next season. Now, they have their eye on Coffeyville (Kan.) C.C. offensive lineman Mi'Kyi Lee, who is set to take an official visit with Missouri on May 29th. He also plans to take an official to Florida State on June 10th.
***The Tigers are also in the mix for College of the Canyons (Calif.) DT Taylor Lewis, who just took an official visit to Oregon State and is currently on one with Arkansas. Nebraska is another school making a push as well. It seems things with Lewis are fluid right now. He told us that he was planning to visit Missouri on May 29th as well, but we'll check in and see if that's still on the schedule.
***Keeping on the JUCO theme, but moving to the 2023 class. Missouri is showing a good amount of interest in Butler (Kan.) C.C. defensive back Anthony Robinson. He's been talking to Tigers recruiting chief of staff Ryan Trichel and is hoping to take an official with Missouri during the fall for a game. He's a mid-year enrollee that has notable offers from Indiana, BYU, and Marshall so far. Robinson, like Hewitt, is another tall corner listed at 6-foot-3, 192-pounds.
***Southern Lab (La.) cornerback Carl Williams picked up a recent offer from Missouri and he's looking to set up an official with the Tigers. The 5-foot-11, 175-pound prospect already has summer officials set with Indiana on June 17th and Baylor on June 24th. He's planning to save some officials for the fall, so it's currently unclear if he'll get up to Mizzou in the summer or the fall. Vanderbilt is another school he would like to set up an official too as well.
***Mizzou's recruiting camps will begin next week. The Tigers will have prospect camps on June 2, 9, 11 and 16. It will have its 7-on-7 camp on June 17. We will be in attendance at each of those and will pass on relevant information. The big official visit weekend will be June 24-26, though there could be other visitors on previous June weekends.
BASKETBALL RECRUITING
The Tigers added Cleveland State center Mabor Majak on Thursday. As we have reported, Majak is coming to Missouri as a walk-on initially. Whether that changes depends on what happens the rest of the summer. The Tigers currently have 11 scholarship players for next season, which means there are two more available spots. If Mizzou can add a big man and a shooter this summer, Majak is likely to continue as a walk-on at least for next year. If those spots are not both filled prior to the start of classes and Majak shows promise this summer, he would likely go on scholarship in August. This is the same thing Missouri football is doing with Jack Abraham. You're adding a guy who could be a scholarship player, but him coming as a walk-on (both have the financial ability to do so), allows you flexibility in recruiting over the next two months to add someone.
The plan, according to sources (and according to basic common sense) was for Missouri to grab Jamarion Sharp out of the portal and have Majak be a backup/insurance policy to him. That obviously didn't happen as Sharp stayed at Western Kentucky. But we still fully expect the Tigers to chase another big man this summer.
The question for Dennis Gates then becomes who's available? As of today, there aren't really any known prospects who have been tied to Mizzou. But that can always change as there are still players in the portal. In addition, the deadline to withdraw from the NBA Draft is next Wednesday. There are quite a few players who both entered the draft process and the transfer portal to keep their options open. Some of those players will not like the feedback they've gotten through the draft process and will choose to return to college. They will then be free agents. We'd expect Missouri is involved with some of those.
The upshot is this: Missouri will likely still add one or two players in the next few weeks. We aren't sure at this time who those players will be.
*One other note: The EYBL circuit will be in Louisville this weekend with games starting tomorrow. We will be in attendance. Here's a list of players we know Missouri has offered that will be playing. We will talk to as many of them as possible for stories over the next couple of weeks. While coaches cannot be in attendance at this session, there could be other players who earn looks and offers from Mizzou by their play this weekend.
