So at this point in time, we're pretty much all on football recruiting. Hoops is gonna wait till the spring, the season's got a week left and not much intrigue. Our next few weeks (beyond next week when a Chamber is unlikely due to Thanksgiving and a Friday game) are going to be football recruiting centric. So let's get started.
*Keisean Nixon is scheduled to take his official visit to Missouri next weekend. We're going to be trying to figure out if that's for sure happening in the next few days. Our indication is Missouri would prefer to have him after the season. First off, it's more time to spend with the kid. Second, at this point in time, do you want to bring a kid with more than 20 offers in to see a game that might have 30,000 people in the stands? It's a legitimate question. Nixon is at South Carolina this weekend. We'll update you on the date here in the next few days when we confirm.
*Speaking of juco guys, Schiffer wrote earlier this week about Arizona DT Walter Palmore and his teammate Malik Young. These are priority targets for Mizzou. As of right now, they'll have AJ Logan, Markell Utsey and a returning from injury Terry Beckner. The Tigers need immediate help at defensive tackle. They'd like two juco guys. The other position of juco focus (Nixon) is probably defensive back. One other spot where the Tigers could look juco is running back. Yes, they have Damarea Crockett and they get one more year out of Ish Witter, but there's nothing at all proven beyond that and the simple fact is, you're playing with fire if you only have two running backs you know can play. Guys get hurt at that position. Mizzou probably needs two running backs in this class and it wouldn't surprise if one was a juco guy.
*There's been a lot of talk about Kemp TX WR Elijah Gardiner this week. He tweeted about offers from Missouri and Houston last weekend. Mizzou tweeted about two commitments the night Chris Turner committed. The second commitment matched the area code of Gardiner. It's our policy that unless the kid confirms the commitment to us, we don't report it. We've tried to contact him a couple times and haven't heard back. We are aware there is one site that is listing Gardiner as a commitment. Maybe they got it from him, we don't know. At this point we haven't.
Connecting dots, I think it's fair to believe that Gardiner is either currently committed to Mizzou or probably will be after his official visit on December 9th. The task then will be holding on to him as more people find out about him. He's 6-5, 185, runs well and I had one person tell me he could be Danario Alexander v2.0. Houston obviously knows about the kid (which means in about a month, Texas knows about him because I think he'll have a Longhorn offer when Tom Herman becomes the coach in Austin). He's going to end up with a lot more offers than he has right now. Missouri is going to have to fight off some other programs to land/keep him.
*Speaking of Chris Turner, this could be an example of star rankings creating a bias. I've had a couple of people tell me that if you look at measurables, competition, camp performances, etc, Turner is actually a much better prospect in pretty much every regard than a number of four-star guys. But because he has two stars, people are going to dismiss him. I understand that he doesn't have any other major offers and I understand where that creates hesitation. However, I look at "reaching" in this way:
Missouri offered Turner in the spring. That means they think he can play. This isn't a reach. This is a guy that Missouri thinks has been misevaluated. Offers that go out between Christmas and signing day are reaches. For example, Charles Harris was a reach. It worked out and good on both ends that it did, but that was a reach. A guy who had an offer in April isn't a reach. That's a guy that the staff believes is simply being missed by others. Not saying they'll be right, but this is the kind of guy Missouri has to find, particularly in SEC country. Find a guy others are missing on that you think has all the tools to be a great player, get in on him early. They won't be right all the time, but this is the formula Missouri has to follow in recruiting the SEC territory, IMO.
*Quick update on a couple commitments:
Da'Ron Davis continues to tweet about Mizzou in a very positive light. Just really can't see this kid ending up elsewhere.
Since last week's Chamber, there's been some concern about Aubrey Miller. While Twitter creeping this week, I caught an exchange that might ease some minds here. Someone tweeted at Miller it was time to drop Mizzou and go to a winning program. Miller responded he was trying to build something. Here is the rest of the exchange:
Again, Miller did say he was going to take all five visits just a week ago, but I think that exchange indicates reason to feel good about him sticking come National Signing Day.
*Think that wraps it up for now. As soon as next week is over, we'll start getting a lot more info on visits and additional targets I think. Off to Knoxville later this morning, will check in from there.
*Keisean Nixon is scheduled to take his official visit to Missouri next weekend. We're going to be trying to figure out if that's for sure happening in the next few days. Our indication is Missouri would prefer to have him after the season. First off, it's more time to spend with the kid. Second, at this point in time, do you want to bring a kid with more than 20 offers in to see a game that might have 30,000 people in the stands? It's a legitimate question. Nixon is at South Carolina this weekend. We'll update you on the date here in the next few days when we confirm.
*Speaking of juco guys, Schiffer wrote earlier this week about Arizona DT Walter Palmore and his teammate Malik Young. These are priority targets for Mizzou. As of right now, they'll have AJ Logan, Markell Utsey and a returning from injury Terry Beckner. The Tigers need immediate help at defensive tackle. They'd like two juco guys. The other position of juco focus (Nixon) is probably defensive back. One other spot where the Tigers could look juco is running back. Yes, they have Damarea Crockett and they get one more year out of Ish Witter, but there's nothing at all proven beyond that and the simple fact is, you're playing with fire if you only have two running backs you know can play. Guys get hurt at that position. Mizzou probably needs two running backs in this class and it wouldn't surprise if one was a juco guy.
*There's been a lot of talk about Kemp TX WR Elijah Gardiner this week. He tweeted about offers from Missouri and Houston last weekend. Mizzou tweeted about two commitments the night Chris Turner committed. The second commitment matched the area code of Gardiner. It's our policy that unless the kid confirms the commitment to us, we don't report it. We've tried to contact him a couple times and haven't heard back. We are aware there is one site that is listing Gardiner as a commitment. Maybe they got it from him, we don't know. At this point we haven't.
Connecting dots, I think it's fair to believe that Gardiner is either currently committed to Mizzou or probably will be after his official visit on December 9th. The task then will be holding on to him as more people find out about him. He's 6-5, 185, runs well and I had one person tell me he could be Danario Alexander v2.0. Houston obviously knows about the kid (which means in about a month, Texas knows about him because I think he'll have a Longhorn offer when Tom Herman becomes the coach in Austin). He's going to end up with a lot more offers than he has right now. Missouri is going to have to fight off some other programs to land/keep him.
*Speaking of Chris Turner, this could be an example of star rankings creating a bias. I've had a couple of people tell me that if you look at measurables, competition, camp performances, etc, Turner is actually a much better prospect in pretty much every regard than a number of four-star guys. But because he has two stars, people are going to dismiss him. I understand that he doesn't have any other major offers and I understand where that creates hesitation. However, I look at "reaching" in this way:
Missouri offered Turner in the spring. That means they think he can play. This isn't a reach. This is a guy that Missouri thinks has been misevaluated. Offers that go out between Christmas and signing day are reaches. For example, Charles Harris was a reach. It worked out and good on both ends that it did, but that was a reach. A guy who had an offer in April isn't a reach. That's a guy that the staff believes is simply being missed by others. Not saying they'll be right, but this is the kind of guy Missouri has to find, particularly in SEC country. Find a guy others are missing on that you think has all the tools to be a great player, get in on him early. They won't be right all the time, but this is the formula Missouri has to follow in recruiting the SEC territory, IMO.
*Quick update on a couple commitments:
Da'Ron Davis continues to tweet about Mizzou in a very positive light. Just really can't see this kid ending up elsewhere.
Since last week's Chamber, there's been some concern about Aubrey Miller. While Twitter creeping this week, I caught an exchange that might ease some minds here. Someone tweeted at Miller it was time to drop Mizzou and go to a winning program. Miller responded he was trying to build something. Here is the rest of the exchange:
Again, Miller did say he was going to take all five visits just a week ago, but I think that exchange indicates reason to feel good about him sticking come National Signing Day.
*Think that wraps it up for now. As soon as next week is over, we'll start getting a lot more info on visits and additional targets I think. Off to Knoxville later this morning, will check in from there.
