Mizzou loses third 2018 football commitment from Alabama and second this week

Missouri football now has a troubling trend it must handle.

Coach Barry Odom’s program lost its third and final 2018 commitment from Alabama, and the last is the biggest of them all. Quarterback James Foster, from Montgomery, gave Mizzou a verbal pledge in April, but he told Rivals.com’s Chad Simmons on Thursday that he had backed out of that commitment because Missouri has had “a tough year and I feel I have some other options I need to look at.”

Foster tweeted on Wednesday that he received a scholarship offer from LSU. The No. 14 dual-threat quarterback in the 2018 class according to 247Sports’ composite rankings, Foster is also considering Alabama and Louisville, and he has an official visit scheduled to Illinois in December.

He is the second player to back out of his commitment to the Tigers in as many days. Cameron Taylor, a three-star safety who is also from Montgomery, did so on Wednesday.

La’Deric Jackson, a three-star linebacker, began the exodus of Alabama prospects from Mizzou’s 2018 class when he reneged on his commitment in late September.

Before Foster announced his decision, Missouri’s had the second-worst 2018 recruiting class in the Southeastern Conference, according to 247Sports, and were just seven spots ahead of Kansas nationally.

The Tigers now have 11 commits for 2018.

In the summer it appeared the Tigers would run the table with Montgomery recruits. After getting Foster on board in April, Missouri got in strong with offensive line recruit Tank Jenkins and Foster’s teammate Alfred Thomas, who is a defensive lineman.

But as the Tigers struggled through the start of the season it appeared Jackson, Taylor and now Foster had a change of heart.

The NCAA passed a rule that allows recruits to sign their National Letters of Intent as early as Dec. 20 should they wish to end their recruitment before National Signing Day in February. It remains to be seen how many of Missouri’s remaining 11 verbal commitments sign early or wait.

This story was originally published October 26, 2017 at 1:29 PM with the headline "Mizzou loses third 2018 football commitment from Alabama and second this week."