Mario McKinney to pick a school Monday, plus more Mizzou recruiting news
Well, I woke up about a half hour ago and wasn’t expecting to be starting the column off this way.
But I’m glad it happened because now we have even more to talk about.
And ... here ... we ... go.
Mario McKinney announcing on Monday
One of Missouri’s top basketball recruits for the 2019 class, Mario McKinney, will announce his commitment at 5 p.m. Monday. He just told me it will be on Twitter and not in a ceremony at his school.
I really like Missouri’s chances here. McKinney hasn’t taken a visit to any other school since his official visit to Mizzou and I’d be surprised if he picks any other school.
Assuming he commits on Monday, we’ll break down his commitment in next week’s column. I don’t want to call my shot and then ground out to first. But, we can ask what this means for E.J. Liddell.
Liddell begins his final official visit to Illinois and I expect him to commit within the next few weeks. There’s a lot of debate as to where the players currently stand for Liddell. Some have said recently that Ohio State is slipping as Mizzou’s challenger in favor of Illinois.
I can say confidently that from Ohio State’s side, it appears the Buckeyes still look at Missouri as the main challenger. From Missouri’s side, the feeling appears mutual. Illinois has brought in a lot of bigs on visits, which makes it hard to argue that the Illini are prioritizing Liddell.
The good thing here is that this conversation isn’t involving Missouri. The Tigers remain firmly in the mix for Liddell. Good news in the short term would be he leaves Champaign this weekend without committing or setting a commitment date immediately after. Landing Mario wouldn’t hurt the Tigers’ chances either.
Big weekend for football recruiting
Missouri’s game against No. 2 Georgia has a slew of visitors coming to town, including recent commit C.J. Boone and his teammate Jalani Williams.
Williams, a safety, has already taken an official visit to LSU and plans to visit Alabama after Missouri this weekend. I’ve been covering Williams since his freshman year and personally, a commitment from the four-star recruit would be GIGANTIC for Barry Odom and Co. Williams has a high IQ for his age and a nose for the ball. When was the last time Missouri had an anchor at safety?
Since William Moore left years ago, Braylon Webb is the only solid safety I can think of that the Tigers have had. Williams could be the guy that changes that. To me, a commitment from him is a big step into repairing his secondary.
Wardrick Wilson, a four-star offensive lineman currently committed to Florida, is also in town for an official visit. What a flip he would be.
Other notable unofficial visitors this weekend are Marcus Washington, Tigers pledge Martez Manuel and 2020 targets Jalen Logan-Redding and Maliq Carr (Mizzou basketball assistant Cornell Mann’s son).
2020 basketball targets
The basketball staff was on the road this week watching some 2020 guys and one of their stops was at Christian Brothers College for Caleb Love.
Love is the perfect guard for Cuonzo Martin’s idea of “positionless basketball.” He can play both guard spots, is tough as nails and very crafty around in getting to the basket.
The Tigers have also been in Michigan for Mann’s recruits, around the state for players like Love and Cam’Ron Fletcher but not out West, which has some worried.
Well, a source tells me that next week, Cuonzo Martin will be in Los Angeles to watch 2020 five-star guard Josh Christopher. Christopher’s cousin is Martin’s longtime strength coach Nicodemus Christopher. Nicodemus can’t go on the road with Martin, but he is a huge part of all of this.
Assuming Martin makes it out west next week, I plan to get Christopher to see his latest on visiting Missouri.
Alex Schiffer
Alex Schiffer covers University of Missouri athletics for The Star.
This story was originally published September 21, 2018 at 11:57 AM.