Mizzou lands Kirkwood wide receiver as Barry Odom continues in-state recruiting surge

In February, Missouri football coach Barry Odom took a lot of heat for his inability to capitalize on the ‘Tiger 10,’ which was considered one of the deepest in-state talent classes in recent memory.

He won’t have the same problem for the 2019 class.

Missouri landed a commitment from 2019 Kirkwood wide receiver Maurice Massey on Friday, which was the program’s fourth pledge of the week.

It was a team effort by Missouri’s staff to land Massey as he said assistant coaches Andy Hill, A.J. Ofodile and Cornell Ford were all involved with his recruitment at one point or another.

Ford, the program’s St. Louis-area recruiter, and Ofodile stood out to Massey for their honesty and personalities.

“Those are my guys,” Massey said. “I can trust them. We’ve built a good relationship.”

The 6-foot-4 wideout chose the Tigers over rival Illinois and said in a tweet that he is “210% committed,” and said he and his family found aspects from every part of the program to sell them on the school.

Missouri also holds a commitment from offensive lineman Jack Buford, another St. Louis product, and remains in great shape with fellow targets Arvell Ferguson, Marcus Washington, Jalani Williams and Ira Henry. Ferguson and Massey are teammates at Kirkwood and there is a chance that Missouri winds up with all four uncommitted recruits.

Massey said he heard from Buford “a lot” during the recruiting process and now plans to help him out in getting Williams, Washington and the remaining prospects on board.

A consensus three-star recruit, Massey and New Jersey native Charles Njoku are the Tigers’ two commits at wide receiver for this class. With his size, Massey said he rarely loses a 50-50 ball and thinks his speed is able to put a lot of pressure on a team’s secondary. He said he’s trying to work on his football IQ during his final season of high school.

“I want to be able to read coverages fast so I can decide where to position myself,” he said.

Massey committed by pulling a Mizzou football shirt out of an orange Illinois backpack, which he said was to build suspense instead of take a shot at the opposing fanbase.

Missouri and Illinois used to play every year in St. Louis but won’t resume the series until 2026.

With both fanbases regularly taking shots at each other over mutual recruits or their coaches, Massey said he doesn’t see why the game can’t resume sooner.

“We should definitely make that a game,” he said.

This story was originally published August 3, 2018 at 3:02 PM.