Mizzou Football: Coaching change complicates Early Signing Day for 2019
Mizzou football’s Early Signing Day for 2019 was underwhelming, but the reason for that is the program switching head coaches in the offseason. Barry Odom is no more and Eli Drinkwitz is in as Missouri’s main man.
The coaching change for the Missouri Tigers paved the way for a new era in Columbia, but in the early stages, it’d be easy for fans to be a little bummed out. Their recruiting class for 2020 is currently ranked 81st in the nation (that’s down from 37th the year before) and there isn’t really an eye popping player in that group.
The biggest reason for why the class is less than stellar right now is due to the program moving on from Barry Odom after four seasons at the helm. They hired Eli Drinkwitz to take the reigns of the program and he’ll go to work with recruiting now that he’s officially on the job; There just wasn’t a lot of time to get out there and talk to recruits before this early signing period.
As of Friday afternoon, Missouri has 11 commits and they’re all over the place position wise. Six of the 11 commits are from the state of Missouri, including Jay Maclin, the cousin of former Tiger Jeremy Maclin. This is the biggest name for the program in this group and that’s solely because of who his cousin was.
More from Missouri Tigers
- NBA Draft Prospects to Watch From Kansas, Missouri, and Kansas State
- Missouri Tigers: Key Takeaways From Mizzou’s Black and Gold Spring Game
- Why Missouri Tiger’s Tyler Badie Is Worth a Draft Selection
- Mizzou Wrestling Looks To Take On Iowa State
- Mizzou Wrestling Knocks Off Tenth Ranked Oklahoma State
Maclin was one of three receivers added through Early Signing Day, which was the largest number at any position. All 11 commits were three-star recruits, meaning the Tigers failed to bring in any four-star players.
Drinkwitz should get credit for being able to keep most of these guys committed to the Tigers. Normally when a coach is relieved of his duties, the players he recruited want to either follow him to his new destination or re-open their recruitment to other schools that are better fits. They commit to play for the coach, not the school.
This was the case for now Arkansas running back Dominique Johnson announced his new commitment in dramatic fashion, ripping off his Missouri hat and revealing an Arkansas shirt underneath his jacket. Johnson, of course, chose Arkansas because that’s where Odom is headed to (serving as the Razorbacks’ defensive coordinator).
Drinkwitz kept ten original commits (with another being added on later) and will continue to work to bring in more young talent to the University of Missouri. This will hopefully be an area where Drinkwitz succeeds because the Tigers need to find ample talent in order to compete against the rest of the SEC, who continue to build strong programs.