Mizzou recruiting updates: Josh Christopher locks in official visit for homecoming

By Alex Schiffer

Updated October 12, 2018 11:36 AM

Columbia

Another week with big news. I have a bowling game to get to, so lets get it started in here.

Family Reunion on homecoming

Missouri’s top basketball target in the 2020 class, Josh Christopher, tweeted that he will be taking an official visit to Columbia next weekend for the football game vs. Memphis. Christopher is the cousin of Missouri strength coach Nicodemus Christopher, and I’ve written in past columns that assistant coach Chris Hollender made a big impression when he visited him recently.

Eventful is an understatement!!! This is MIZZOU On top of that, you cant beat spending time with Family! https://t.co/gnSH2bFVNf
— Nicodemus C. (@nicodemus_c) October 10, 2018

Josh’s father Laron told me that there’s a chance that they will be back for another visit after the official simply because Nicodemus is family and they’ll likely return to see him.

I don’t expect Christopher to commit next weekend. But Missouri gets first crack at him and will roll out the red carpet. He doesn’t seem to have any other visits planned, and this is a chance for Missouri head coach Cuonzo Martin to really make an impression on him.

I did some homework on Christopher this week after having an epiphany about Jeff Capel. Capel retained Nicodemus’ brother Garry, a strength coach for Pitt, when he took the Panthers job in the spring. I found it odd we haven’t heard Pitt involved in Josh’s recruitment.

Capel has spoken to Josh and is aware of the family connection. Sources tell me that Capel doesn’t plan to jump immediately on the Christopher recruitment. It appears that Nicodemus is the relative that has the stronger relationship with Josh. He visited Nicodemus frequently when he was at California and has the stronger relationship with him. I’m told Missouri has a heads up on Christopher.

We’ll see how it goes next weekend.

Mizzou makes cut for Johnson

Jalen Johnson, a top-five player in the 2020 class, announced his top 15 this week, and Missouri made the cut along with DePaul, Duke, Kentucky, Arizona, Kansas and Ohio State among others.

Johnson is a high-level scorer in a 6-foot-8 frame. It’s too early to gauge Missouri’s chances given there’s 14 other schools. Let’s see if he visits.

A small Tre Mitchell update

The Tigers watched Tre Mitchell on Monday, his high school coach confirmed to me. His coach went on to say that it’s too early in Missouri’s recruitment of him to comment to me on any of it. We’ll see where that goes as well.

Mitchell recently visited Illinois and plans to sit down and think things over before planning his final official visits. He’s also visited UConn and Notre Dame.

Jalani Williams pushes back commitment date

Jalani Williams was originally supposed to commit this weekend in football but decided right after last week’s column posted that he’s waiting until the end of his season. We apologize for that.

It’s tough to say whether a delay or not is good for Missouri. It’s probably too early to tell. If the Tigers end the season strong, you can’t say it hurts them. We’ll see what happens with LSU, the other favorite for Williams. If LSU can crack the top 10 and give Alabama trouble in the SEC West, it might get interesting. And if Missouri struggles and Barry Odom’s job security becomes an issue it might push him down south.

Tigers watch Cam’Ron Fletcher

Missouri was in again this week to see 2020 St. Louis four-star basketball recruit Cam’Ron Fletcher work out. To me, an ideal 2020 class for Missouri is Christopher, Fletcher, Caleb Love and a frontcourt player.

I’m a huge fan of Moses Moody, another 2020 guard that plays on Bradley Beal Elite, but I don’t see room to take him and he will have plenty of options. That doesn’t mean Missouri won’t try for him.