FOOTBALL RECRUITING
Earlier this week, defensive line target Arden Walker announced that he will be committing on October 8th. We mentioned in a recent Chamber that we've heard that Walker has two teams standing out in his recruiting process - Texas and Missouri. Although, Colorado, Minnesota, and UCLA are still in contact with the three-star pass rusher. The Longhorns recently picked up a commitment from his high school teammate, Gunnar Helm, so there is a connection there. He's also very familiar with Colorado due to proximity and UCLA, a place he camped at last summer and he has family in the Los Angeles area. Missouri is also a school he's visited and camped at twice previously, the latest being last summer, and he's had a relationship with Brick Haley since his sophomore year.
We'll continue to monitor Walker's recruiting process as it moves closer to his decision date.
- Khristian Zachary is another defensive line target that Missouri is in the mix for. The three-star prospect is set to commit on October 15th and is considering seven schools - Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Florida State. In terms of the Alabama interest, it is legit. Their coaching staff is very interested in Zachary and want to evaluate his film more throughout this season to see if he'll be a good fit for them. Florida State has also snuck into his top group as Zachary looks to attend a school that will take his name, likeness, and branding into consideration.
- According to Rivals.com southeast analyst Chad Simmons, offensive tackle target Rod Orr is ready to make a decision and it will be on September 25th. His top five schools remain Florida State, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Oregon, and Missouri.
"I talk to coach Lane Kiffin, coach Jeremy Pruitt, coach Mike Norvell, coach Drink (Eliah Drinkwitz) and so many other coaches almost every day, and those schools on my list have made me feel important, but I feel like I have found the right one for me."
Orr said he's been leaning toward one school for about a month now and as Simmons mentioned, that school seems to be Florida State.
- Former Michigan wide receiver commit Markus Allen is a high-profile 2021 offensive prospect that is now on the open market and according to Rivals.com Midwest analyst Josh Helmholdt, Missouri has reached out and is expressing interest. Boston College, Cincinnati, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin are schools that have offered in the last week since he broke away from his Wolverines commitment. Arkansas, Florida, Minnesota, Ohio State, and Penn State are others that have reached out. Allen has caught 20 passes for 265 yards and five touchdowns so far his Northmont (Oh.), who is 3-0 on the season.
- Lee's Summit (Mo.) 2022 tight end Max Whisner surprised some earlier this week when he announced a Top 3 of Arkansas, Nebraska, and Missouri and a commitment date of September 21st. Whisner has been to Missouri multiple times and even made a trip to Columbia on his own after receiving an offer from the Tigers earlier this summer. He's also close with former Missouri quarterback and current Denver Bronco Drew Lock and they work out with the same trainer in the Kansas City area. All signs seem to point that he becomes the Tigers first commitment in the 2022 class, but we're not quite confident to put in a FutureCast just yet.
- Missouri is at 19 commitments in the class. We have forecast a full class of 25. The Tigers have 79 on scholarship for this season (that includes recent opt outs Maurice Massey and Chris Daniels). The Tigers lose 19 seniors after this year (theoretically, we understand that this year technically doesn't count and players could return, but we have to believe if that happens that the scholarship limit is raised). The Tigers also get the four scholarships back from the NCAA sanctions, meaning they can be at 85 for next year. In other words, there are six spots left in this class.
Where will those six go? We're still looking at at least one defensive lineman, two offensive linemen and two wide receivers. That leaves one wild card spot. We are pretty certain it won't be at running back, tight end or linebacker where Mizzou has two spots filled already and there's no reason to take another. Would it be at quarterback? With the transfer of Taylor Powell, Mizzou only has three on scholarship right now and Tyler Macon will be the fourth. You could go with another QB and have five, but what would that do with Macon? We wouldn't bet on another QB at all, just throwing it out there as something to consider. In all likelihood, it will be a "best available player" spot, regardless of position.
- The NCAA extended the recruiting dead period to January 1st, meaning there will be no in-person recruiting (on campus or off) prior to the early signing period if that early signing period remains in place. No official or unofficial visits for prospects (unless they just want to buy a ticket and wander around campus on their won without any real ability to meet with coaches or current players). No in home visits. Yes, those will be done virtually, but it won't be the same. So the real question will be what becomes of the early signing period? Here is a possibility that is probably unlikely but that we've advocated for
Our guess is that the early signing period remains because a lot of these kids know where they want to go so they will be given the option to sign. The interesting thing will be how it's handled by coaches. In the first couple of years of the early signing period, it became THE signing period. Whether it was expressly stated or not, there was clearly pressure on kids to sign in December. Anyone who was committed before December and did not sign was considered not really committed and his spot was more or less on the market. How will coaches treat a kid who has been committed for a few months, but tells a coaching staff "I haven't gotten to experience recruiting. I want to wait to sign until February because if the NCAA opens things up on January 1, I want the opportunity to take a couple of visits to make sure I'm not cheating myself." That's a perfectly reasonable stance to take. There should be no objection to it. But it's certainly possible the response would be "That's fine, but we can't promise your spot will be there in February." It's going to be interesting to follow. In all likelihood, the vast majority of these kids will sign without an official visit for two reasons:
1) They want to make sure they have a spot
2) There is no guarantee that there will be official visits after January 1 either
From our perspective, it would be doing right by the kids to abolish the NLI and any signing date for the 2021 class. It would also be pretty damn fun and mean that we could be following the 2021 recruiting process into June. Coaches would absolutely hate it. To that, we say, "You're making three million dollars a year. It's far more important to be fair to the high school kids than it is to be fair to the millionaire coaches." We don't expect it, but it could add a whole lot of intrigue to the process.
- Nothing specific in basketball. At this point, we anticipate the Tigers are done on the recruiting front until the spring. They'll monitor the transfer/juco markets, see who/how many players on the current roster move on and fill out the class that way in the spring. It's not impossible that you see another addition to the class prior to the traditional November signing period, but we are not anticipating it.
Earlier this week, defensive line target Arden Walker announced that he will be committing on October 8th. We mentioned in a recent Chamber that we've heard that Walker has two teams standing out in his recruiting process - Texas and Missouri. Although, Colorado, Minnesota, and UCLA are still in contact with the three-star pass rusher. The Longhorns recently picked up a commitment from his high school teammate, Gunnar Helm, so there is a connection there. He's also very familiar with Colorado due to proximity and UCLA, a place he camped at last summer and he has family in the Los Angeles area. Missouri is also a school he's visited and camped at twice previously, the latest being last summer, and he's had a relationship with Brick Haley since his sophomore year.
We'll continue to monitor Walker's recruiting process as it moves closer to his decision date.
- Khristian Zachary is another defensive line target that Missouri is in the mix for. The three-star prospect is set to commit on October 15th and is considering seven schools - Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Florida State. In terms of the Alabama interest, it is legit. Their coaching staff is very interested in Zachary and want to evaluate his film more throughout this season to see if he'll be a good fit for them. Florida State has also snuck into his top group as Zachary looks to attend a school that will take his name, likeness, and branding into consideration.
- According to Rivals.com southeast analyst Chad Simmons, offensive tackle target Rod Orr is ready to make a decision and it will be on September 25th. His top five schools remain Florida State, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Oregon, and Missouri.
"I talk to coach Lane Kiffin, coach Jeremy Pruitt, coach Mike Norvell, coach Drink (Eliah Drinkwitz) and so many other coaches almost every day, and those schools on my list have made me feel important, but I feel like I have found the right one for me."
Orr said he's been leaning toward one school for about a month now and as Simmons mentioned, that school seems to be Florida State.
- Former Michigan wide receiver commit Markus Allen is a high-profile 2021 offensive prospect that is now on the open market and according to Rivals.com Midwest analyst Josh Helmholdt, Missouri has reached out and is expressing interest. Boston College, Cincinnati, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin are schools that have offered in the last week since he broke away from his Wolverines commitment. Arkansas, Florida, Minnesota, Ohio State, and Penn State are others that have reached out. Allen has caught 20 passes for 265 yards and five touchdowns so far his Northmont (Oh.), who is 3-0 on the season.
- Lee's Summit (Mo.) 2022 tight end Max Whisner surprised some earlier this week when he announced a Top 3 of Arkansas, Nebraska, and Missouri and a commitment date of September 21st. Whisner has been to Missouri multiple times and even made a trip to Columbia on his own after receiving an offer from the Tigers earlier this summer. He's also close with former Missouri quarterback and current Denver Bronco Drew Lock and they work out with the same trainer in the Kansas City area. All signs seem to point that he becomes the Tigers first commitment in the 2022 class, but we're not quite confident to put in a FutureCast just yet.
- Missouri is at 19 commitments in the class. We have forecast a full class of 25. The Tigers have 79 on scholarship for this season (that includes recent opt outs Maurice Massey and Chris Daniels). The Tigers lose 19 seniors after this year (theoretically, we understand that this year technically doesn't count and players could return, but we have to believe if that happens that the scholarship limit is raised). The Tigers also get the four scholarships back from the NCAA sanctions, meaning they can be at 85 for next year. In other words, there are six spots left in this class.
Where will those six go? We're still looking at at least one defensive lineman, two offensive linemen and two wide receivers. That leaves one wild card spot. We are pretty certain it won't be at running back, tight end or linebacker where Mizzou has two spots filled already and there's no reason to take another. Would it be at quarterback? With the transfer of Taylor Powell, Mizzou only has three on scholarship right now and Tyler Macon will be the fourth. You could go with another QB and have five, but what would that do with Macon? We wouldn't bet on another QB at all, just throwing it out there as something to consider. In all likelihood, it will be a "best available player" spot, regardless of position.
- The NCAA extended the recruiting dead period to January 1st, meaning there will be no in-person recruiting (on campus or off) prior to the early signing period if that early signing period remains in place. No official or unofficial visits for prospects (unless they just want to buy a ticket and wander around campus on their won without any real ability to meet with coaches or current players). No in home visits. Yes, those will be done virtually, but it won't be the same. So the real question will be what becomes of the early signing period? Here is a possibility that is probably unlikely but that we've advocated for
Our guess is that the early signing period remains because a lot of these kids know where they want to go so they will be given the option to sign. The interesting thing will be how it's handled by coaches. In the first couple of years of the early signing period, it became THE signing period. Whether it was expressly stated or not, there was clearly pressure on kids to sign in December. Anyone who was committed before December and did not sign was considered not really committed and his spot was more or less on the market. How will coaches treat a kid who has been committed for a few months, but tells a coaching staff "I haven't gotten to experience recruiting. I want to wait to sign until February because if the NCAA opens things up on January 1, I want the opportunity to take a couple of visits to make sure I'm not cheating myself." That's a perfectly reasonable stance to take. There should be no objection to it. But it's certainly possible the response would be "That's fine, but we can't promise your spot will be there in February." It's going to be interesting to follow. In all likelihood, the vast majority of these kids will sign without an official visit for two reasons:
1) They want to make sure they have a spot
2) There is no guarantee that there will be official visits after January 1 either
From our perspective, it would be doing right by the kids to abolish the NLI and any signing date for the 2021 class. It would also be pretty damn fun and mean that we could be following the 2021 recruiting process into June. Coaches would absolutely hate it. To that, we say, "You're making three million dollars a year. It's far more important to be fair to the high school kids than it is to be fair to the millionaire coaches." We don't expect it, but it could add a whole lot of intrigue to the process.
- Nothing specific in basketball. At this point, we anticipate the Tigers are done on the recruiting front until the spring. They'll monitor the transfer/juco markets, see who/how many players on the current roster move on and fill out the class that way in the spring. It's not impossible that you see another addition to the class prior to the traditional November signing period, but we are not anticipating it.
