Missouri lands Columbia native Martez Manuel, hours after Night at the Zou camp

Martez Manuel started off the annual post-Night at the Zou commitment party just hours after the event ended, by announcing his pledge to the Missouri football team early Sunday morning.

Rated a three-star football recruit by Rivals.com, the 6-foot-1 defensive back chose the Tigers over Iowa State and Wyoming.

A Columbia native, the Rock Bridge High School product cited his relationship with Missouri coach Barry Odom, defensive coordinator Ryan Walters and wide receivers coach A.J. Ofodile as reasons for picking the Tigers. Ofodile coached Manuel during his freshman year at Rock Bridge.

“They definitely showed love that no other schools had shown,” Manuel said.

He said Missouri’s coaching staff told him he could play cornerback, which would get him on the field as early as next season, but could switch to safety as his career goes on.

Manuel is friendly with Missouri wide receiver Alex Ofodile and defensive end Tre Williams, who both played at Rock Bridge, and spoke to them at Faurot Field during Night at the Zou.

Manuel runs track during the spring, which prevents him from going to national events like The Opening and the Rivals Five-Star Challenge. Saturday marked the first time he was ever timed in the 40-yard dash. His time was 4.5 seconds.

Because of his track commitments, Manuel said he wanted to participate in the event so he could go against some high-level competition with whom he usually doesn’t get to compete.

“These guys are four and five stars,” he said. “I’d like to see how I match up against them.”

With Manuel on board, Missouri now has seven commitments in the 2019 class.

This story was originally published July 28, 2018 at 11:19 PM.