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THIS WEEKEND'S PRIMARY VISITORS
Normally we organize this by football and basketball recruiting, but we're doing things a little bit differently this week. This is the first time we can remember top targets in both football and basketball being on campus at the same time. Each sport features a highly ranked Mizzou commitment on campus as well as an elite level target.
Mark Mitchell -- Mitchell is the No. 11 player in the class and the clear top target on Missouri's board. In fact, we're confident he is the only high school player from whom Mizzou would still take a commitment. This will be his second official visit to Mizzou, following one in the summer. He will also visit UCLA, Duke and Kansas a second time before making his decision. The common thought is he is headed to one of the coasts, but Cuonzo Martin and his staff will shoot their shot over the weekend and hope to keep him in the Midwest.
Aidan Shaw -- Shaw will be on campus for the first time as a Missouri commitment. The initial reaction will be that this is a coordinated effort with the Mitchell visit. Shaw said that isn't the case. He said he didn't know Mitchell was visiting Mizzou this weekend until he got a text from us asking if he was going to be in town. Now, certainly the two will be in some of the same places and Shaw will have a chance to talk up Mizzou to his fellow Kansas prospect. It may be a coincidence that the two are visiting on the same weekend, but even if so, it's one Mizzou can use to its advantage.
Luther Burden -- We're not going to run through the whole thing with Burden again. If you're on this board, you know the situation. He's going to be in Columbia on Saturday, he'll be on an official visit to Georgia next weekend and then the following Tuesday he'll make his announcement at East St. Louis High School. Burden visited four times this summer. He knows what there is to know about Mizzou. But this is the staff's last chance to leave a big impression before his decision.
Sam Horn -- This has been the weekend set for Horn's official visit since he committed. Collins Hill has an open week this week so this is when the schedule worked out. Having the quarterback in town the same weekend as the nation's No. 1 receiver who just happens to be making an announcement in eleven days? Well, that's fortuitous timing. We're supposed to talk with Horn at some point on Sunday after his visit. He's solid to Mizzou, but you would think perhaps his biggest job this weekend will be selling Burden.
From what we've heard, there's likely to be some cross-promotion going on this weekend. Mitchell is from one side of the state border, Burden is from the other. Both are top 15 national prospects, absolutely elite players who would be a huge coup for Missouri to land. Having them both on campus at once is a unique opportunity. There's a plan to sell them both on the opportunity to stay home and make a major statement about Mizzou in both sports. Obviously that doesn't mean the basketball staff is going to be a major factor for Burden or the football staff is going to be spending most of its time selling Mitchell, but there could definitely be a bit of a coordinated effort in the two staffs making their pitches this weekend.
OTHER WEEKEND VISITORS
The four above are going to garner most of the headlines this weekend, but they won't be the only prospects in town. Here are a few others we're expecting:
Isaac Thompson -- Mizzou commit
Max Whisner -- Mizzou commit
Jahsiah Galvin -- 2022 ATH from Iowa. Mizzou hasn't offered yet, but is definitely someone to keep an eye on
Demetrion Cannon -- 2023 WR from DeSmet
Antwon Hayden -- 2023 LB from East St. Louis
Talan Chandler -- 2024 OL from Lutheran St. Charles
OTHER NEWS AND NOTES
*We've been told by a source familiar with Alabama that the Crimson Tide are no longer pursuing Mizzou commit Marquis Gracial. Obviously this is positive news for Missouri. He seemed pretty solid to the Tigers all along and we have maintained that we thought he would end up here, but he had been talking about an official visit to Tuscaloosa since the summer so there had always been a little bit of doubt. Over the last few weeks, as we continued to hear nothing about this visit actually happening, we thought the chances were that Gracial would probably not end up making that trip. That appears to be the case. He has mentioned other potential visits like Oregon and Iowa State, but obviously those aren't threats on the same level as Alabama. At this point, we think Gracial is pretty much locked in with Mizzou.
*Oklahoma cornerback Gentry Williams is ten days away from a commitment.
We had believed that Missouri was on the outside looking in on this one. We've gotten some information in the last few days to make us rethink that position. A couple of sources in Oklahoma have indicated to us in the last few days that the Tigers are more of a player here than most have given them credit for in the last few weeks. Williams has known Aaron Fletcher and his family for a long time and that is a factor that probably hasn't been paid enough attention. If we had to guess today, we'd still have Oklahoma as the likely destination, but Missouri may very well be the biggest threat to the Sooners. Booker T. Washington has a Thursday night game next week and Williams is on fall break after that game. Missouri would love to get him in on one more visit before he makes that announcement on Monday October 18. We don't know whether that visit will happen. If it doesn't, you can probably mark Williams down for Oklahoma. But if it does, who knows? We'll update this in next week's Chamber if not before.
*In case you didn't see it, news came out sorrounding DJ Wesolak on Thursday night. We don't yet know how--or even if--this will really impact Wesolak's recruitment. If it turns out to be nothing big that would cause the staff to back off (which is certainly possible) we believe Missouri is the favorite here to eventually land Wesolak. But obviously if this turns into something that impacts the recruitment, that's all up in the air.
*The basketball staff was in Oklahoma in full force to see 2023 guard Parker Friedrichsen. You don't send the entire staff to watch a kid who is anything less than an absolute priority. That indicates the Tigers are going to go all in on Friedrichsen in the 2023 class.
As always, we'll keep you updated on anything that develops over the weekend. We wouldn't expect to see any commitments from anyone who's on campus, but it's clearly the biggest recruiting weekend of the regular season for both sports.
