Missouri Tigers Sign Best Football Recruiting Class in Program History
By Jacob Milham
The Missouri Tigers marked a new football milestone on National Signing Day 2022, gathering the best recruiting class in the program’s history.
Behind head coach Eliah Drinkwitz, The Missouri Tigers secured a historic 2022 recruiting class on National Signing Day 2022. On Feb. 2, the Tigers signed five additional players to their 2022 recruiting class. The three transfers and two incoming freshmen brought Missouri’s recruiting class ranking to 14th in the nation and sixth in the SEC. That national ranking is the highest ever for Missouri, a testament to Drinkwitz’s and his staff’s recruiting prowess.
“For us, core value No. 1 is always competing, to do it better than it’s been done before,” Drinkwitz said. “For us to sign the best class in school history, I think was just living by our core values. The challenge that I had for our staff yesterday was now we’ve got to recruit better than that this year.”
All told, the class has 28 new players for Drinkwitz and his staff to utilize. Five-star wide receiver recruit Luther Burden headlines the class with seven total Top 300 recruits, according to 247 Sports. The class also includes 11 transfers, including former Florida Gators linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper. Drinkwitz added three transfers from rival SEC schools, all of whom have immediate eligibility.
“The only way for us to continue to close the gap with the upper echelon of this conference is to stack these classes on top of each other,” Drinkwitz said.
Drinkwitz noted possibly adding more players later this spring. The Tigers could sign more players and still meet the NCAA threshold of 32 players, added over a recruiting cycle.
“We have the potential to sign six more, if needed,” Drinkwitz said. “Not sure, just to have them in the back pocket, so to speak. But for us our attention really after today turns to spring football and the competition that we’re going to have there.”
Looking at the class below, the future in Columbia looks bright. Expectations continue to grow for Drinkwitz and his Tigers, following a 6-7 2021 season.