Did you know that only three top 25 high school prospects have committed to a college program and Missouri has two of those players?
It’s true! Mizzou has commitments from 9th ranked Jason Crowe, Jr. and 21st ranked Toni Bryant, Arkansas has a commitment from 14th ranked J.J. Andrews (a former Mizzou recruit). And then there are 22 other players who are uncommitted. There’s only 5 more in the top 50, and 26 total in the top 100, but 12 of those commitments have come this week. This is a pretty low number, low enough that Matt Norlander, of CBSSports.com, felt compelled to write about it:
Coaches claim a new economic reality; many agents aren’t buying it
Summer’s unease set the scene for college
basketball’s next stage, right now: a nationwide “game of chicken” that’s playing out with the recruiting of high school seniors in the Class of 2026. Seventeen-year-olds are going on official visits to schools nationwide and hoping for big pitches and bigger money, only to get half-answers and wait-and-sees from coaching staffs. That’s not what was happening the past three Septembers. We’re two weeks from October and just six of the top 50 players in the country have committed. Expand that out to the top 100 prospects and it’s a mere 20 names, with November’s signing period less than two months out.
It’s been a weird cycle. The article uses several sources who are mostly complaining about it. And I don’t know who needs to hear this but: THIS COULD GO AWAY IF YOU WOULD JUST ADMIT THE PLAYERS ARE EMPLOYEES AND DO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING.
Until everyone is playing by the same rules, with set rules and contracts, there’s going to be a heavy amount of uncertainty.
I’ll also point out that Dennis Gates seems to be navigating this space better than anyone else. So why is that? Is he just offering better money than everyone? Or is he attacking this uncertainty with certainty, or at least as much as he can muster.
Yesterday at Rock M and Rock M+
We’ve got a bunch of stuff coming today, so keep refreshing. I can’t wait for tomorrow.
- What’s TRENDING in Week 3? True has the results:
The Offensive Line
After starting the season as a big question mark amongst the Tigers, Mizzou had a standout week in the trenches in its dominant win over Louisiana. The team posted their highest PFF grades of the season in both run block and pass block. After posting a 58.2 run block grade as a team against Kansas, the team earned a 80.3 run block grade against the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Trost earned a spot on the PFF National Team of the Week at right tackle while LT Cayden Green earned his best grade to date, leading his team with a 92.2 PFF grade.
This is a very positive sign for Mizzou fans as the offensive line is becoming less and less questionable.
The O-Line was pretty pretty good against Louisiana. So much so we had multiple articles on it. See…
- Matt Gustafson looked at the O-Line’s improved play over the last few weeks:
The group has allowed seven sacks over its first three contests, including two last Saturday against Louisiana. Drinkwitz quickly pointed the issue out in the postgame press conference.
“I don’t love where we’re at protecting the quarterback,” he said. “We gave up two sacks there and a free runner on a pressure, so we’re going to have to look at that and get that off the tape. I know South Carolina’s defensive coordinator likes to bring pressure, so we’ve got to get that shored up.”
The run game has been good, the pass protection has been better, but the Gamecocks will provide a big test on where things stand with this group.
- This week’s Opponent Q&A went to Alex Joyce from Gamecocks on SI, good job Sammy putting this together:
Offensively it has to be Nyck Harbor. He’s a 6-foot-5 and 235 pound legit track star who has developed his route running year after year. Whoever is at quarterback on Saturday will be looking his way a lot.
Nobody is sure if Sellers is going to play or not, but if he does Nyck Harbor is a name to watch. Big play ability.
On the Olympic side, Women’s Soccer lost to 5th ranked Tennessee in Como last night, Colin again had the coverage:
Mizzou Soccer (4-4-1, 1-1 SEC) played its highest-ranked opponent of the season thus far as No. 5 Tennessee (7-1-1, 1-1 SEC) was welcomed to Audrey J. Walton Stadium on Thursday evening. The Tigers played it close for a little over 40 minutes of play, but once the Lady Volunteers got on the board, they seized control of the match.
Forums Talk
Some really interesting stuff over on RM+.
- DataMizzou continued his 10 Question’s going into the season, this one’s about the Tiger’s Full Court Pressure: “Off the bat the most striking conclusion is this: Mizzou applied pressure a lot less than they had in years prior. In fact, it wasn’t even close. Year 1 saw the Tigers pressing nearly 30% of possessions. This past year? Only 10%. And it wasn’t for lack of results when doinng it. Mizzou’s press efficiency was actually the best of any Dennis Gates Mizzou team so far! So why was it used so infrequently, at least comparatively speaking?” Also there’s Football Recruiting news from True.
Rock M Radio: BTBS previews South Carolina
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