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FOOTBALL RECRUITING
Believe it or not, recruiting will continue after the Ryan Wingo decision. We'll talk a little Wingo stuff later, but let's start elsewhere.
With the bye week, Missouri coaches are on the road this weekend watching games. Nine coaches, including Eli Drinkwitz, have been/will be on the road. They'll see about 12 games in various locations and stop by plenty of other schools in those areas. Here's what we know about the itineraries:
Eli Drinkwitz and Jacob Peeler were in Florida last night. They watched James Madison, Nicholas Rodriguez and Justin Bodford play with St. Thomas Aquinas last night. The Tigers will also see Cameron Keys while down in Florida (unsure if that will be Drink or another coach).
Curtis Luper is recruiting in Texas this week. He is scheduled to see 2024 offer Kiefer Sibley in Waco. Sibley is listed as an athlete, but Mizzou likes him at running back.
Brandon Jones is also in Texas, though unsure what game he's at. He'll see multiple offensive line targets while there according to what we've been told. He will also check out Hutchison CC offensive tackle Jayven Richardson this week.
Mizzou will be in Alabama to watch defensive line commit Jaylen Brown. Brown has picked up an LSU offer and visited Auburn since his commitment. The Tigers are fighting to hang on to him over the next couple of months.
Also am told that the Tigers will get a strong start on 2025 QB recruiting and will check in on some 2024 and 2025 receivers down in Florida (don't yet have specific information on who all they're looking at).
*Speaking of commits that have gotten other attention, Elias Williams has earned offers from Kansas State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and LSU since committing to Missouri in early September. Williams was in town for the Homecoming game against South Carolina and hanging out with Williams Nwaneri on the sidelines. A source told us that day Missouri feels secure in his commitment. Doesn't mean it's over by any means, but the belief is that Williams is locked in despite the increased interest. For what it's worth, we also don't have any reason to believe Nwaneri is wavering. He's been to three or four games this year. We are told there's been no signs for concern other than the fact that obviously nobody's going to stop recruiting him until signing day.
*Now to the receivers. Will Missouri keep after Wingo? As of today we're unsure. The truth is, we know you all want information immediately, but after a day that left Mizzou people surprised, disappointed and honestly a little bit pissed off, there's a cooling off period. Nothing is going to happen with Wingo immediately so there's no reason to start bugging people about it 24 hours after the decision. As of today, our belief is that if Wingo reaches back out, the Tigers will listen because he's an in-state five-star who they obviously really wanted. But we don't think there's going to be significant pursuit or a greatly increased NIL package. If Wingo has a change of heart and wants to come back, it's tough to see Mizzou turning him down. But the push would probably have to come from his side at this point in time. IF he were to flip (and honestly, we don't see it as very likely) it would probably just be a thing where he woke up and signed with Mizzou on December 20th. We don't see it being a big public thing. In fact, Missouri shouldn't allow it to be. Losing out once happens to everybody. Losing out twice would make it look worse.
*Speaking of Wingo, his commitment to Texas could have an impact on another wide receiver. We had told you that our information was that getting Wingo would increase Missouri's chances with Jeremiah McClellan. That's what we were being told by very good sources. However, in the last few days, we've gotten some reason to believe that might not be true. The truth is, we don't see a McLellan flip as likely and if he does flip from Ohio State we give Oregon at least an equal chance, and maybe better chance. But we'd been under the belief that getting Wingo would help. We now think that's not true. There's more playing time available without him than there would have been with him. Again, we have to stress, we don't really see McLellan flipping to Missouri. But it's not dead because Wingo went to Texas either.
*No real indication on other in-state flips at this point. The one to watch, in our opinion--and only in our opinion because we have nothing to tell us it's happening at this point--is Rockhurst OL Andrew Sprague. Something new comes out every day with the Michigan investigation and there are a lot of people that believe this is what pushes Jim Harbaugh to the NFL. If it happens, it probably wouldn't happen until January or February. But if it does, the Michigan commits will be released from their NLIs if they want to be. And Missouri would absolutely love a shot to get back in on Sprague. No new information on Jaden Reddell. We've told you for a couple weeks that while the communication had at least started back up, we don't have much belief that he'd flip from Georgia. That's still where we stand.
*One situation worth watching is with Liberty North DL Jayshawn Ross. It's been a weird recruitment--or lack thereof--with far less Power Five interest than would be expected for a player at his level. But a source told us earlier this week that academics were a factor there. It looked like he would be a major qualification risk, but some things have changed on that front and it now looks like Ross will make it. He's received Ole Miss and Alabama offers in the last eight days and has an official visit scheduled to Tuscaloosa. We're not sure where Mizzou stands on it, but SEC programs seem to be jumping back in. You'd think Mizzou will at least take another look at things.
BASKETBALL RECRUITING
Still really just monitoring one player right now. Five-star Jayden Quaintance begins his official visit to Kentucky today. Most see this as a Kentucky/Mizzou/G-League Ignite competition. Ohio State and Florida also got official visits. Our sources have told us Kentucky is optimistic about its chances. Missouri is also optimistic. The G-League can't be ignored. We hope to know a little more after his trip to Lexington. NIL is going to be a factor here. Maybe not the deciding factor, but it will be a factor. As we've said, Mizzou's obviously doing quite well there, but Kentucky can swim in the deep end of the pool too.
There's no timetable for a decision at this point. Quaintance could make a decision by the start of the early signing period (less than two weeks away) but he could also wait until the spring. Again, he needs to get through the Kentucky trip and then it may become quite a bit clearer.
That's it for now. We'll keep you posted on anything that develops.
