Two freshmen from KC area have made an unexpected impact on Mizzou’s offense this year

Wide receiver Dominic Gicinto runs fast, and he made a quick decision when Missouri offered him a football scholarship. He committed to the Tigers on the spot.

Coach Barry Odom offered Gicinto, a Raytown alum, when the receiver visited campus in December 2017. One of the first people Gicinto told was Daniel Parker, a former Blue Springs star who was also visiting Mizzou that weekend.

Gicinto and Parker, both freshmen at Missouri, played with and against each other growing against the Kansas City area. When Gicinto received his offer, both his mom and Parker’s mom cried.

Less than a year later, the two Kansas City kids have seized unexpected roles with Missouri’s attack. Parker wasn’t even supposed to play offense — the Tigers recruited him as a defensive end — and Rivals gave Gicinto a two-star recruit ranking, tied for the lowest in Missouri’s 2018 signing class.

“It’s a testament to our coaches who go find great kids, kids that buy in,” senior offensive lineman Kevin Pendleton said. “They put the work in to find good character kids, kids that were raised right, kids that understood the importance of values.”

Parker moved to tight end during fall camp, and he earned SEC freshman of the week honors after catching three passes and a touchdown during a victory over Vanderbilt. Gicinto has collected 11 catches on the season and had 81 receiving yards Saturday.

The two first met in sixth grade, the first year Parker played football. They played on the same team in a youth tournament and also competed against each other over the next few years.

“Whenever he was an opponent, it wasn’t really that friendly,” Gicinto said. “But after then, when we were on the same team, we found a liking for each other.”

During one middle school tournament, the two played together on a team called the Longhorns. The coaches drew up running plays for Parker, but there was a problem: For safety reasons, players had to be under a certain weight to run the ball, and Parker was a big kid. When it came time for the pregame weigh-in, Parker shed his black uniform and braced the cold. Wearing only his underwear, he weighed under the limit and was able to play running back.

Just like this season, he and Gicinto found themselves on the same offense.

When the two entered high school, Parker’s recruitment took off more than his friend’s. He emerged as the sixth-ranked recruit in a highly-touted Missouri high school class and visited campus with the “Tiger 10,” a group of top in-state recruits who all earned Mizzou offers.

Gicinto stood only 5-foot-9 and, before Missouri entered the picture late, didn’t attract an offer from a Power Five team. While members of the Tiger 10 released commitment videos to out-of-state schools, the receiver waited for an offer from the team he grew up watching.

“My biggest thing was making it to a Division I football team and just showing that even though I may be small, even though I may not have been the best player in high school, I will make sure that I produce,” he said.

Gicinto said he waited to commit to other schools because he knew he wanted to wind up at Missouri. He said it felt surreal when the Tigers finally offered him a spot on the team.

Parker was the only top-10 in-state recruit to commit to Missouri, but he said he thinks Gicinto was a better player than some of the guys ranked ahead of him.

“I think (Mizzou) got the best athlete, even though he was maybe under recruited,” Parker said. “As you can see, he’s doing the best out of some of the people that came from Missouri.”

Gicinto graduated high school a semester early and enrolled in Missouri in January, which he said helped him grow faster and stronger. When Parker joined him in June, Gicinto showed him around Columbia. As they explored, they reminisced about their experiences playing together in Kansas City.

The two combined for 123 yards against Vanderbilt, nearly half of quarterback Drew Lock’s passing yards on the day. While Parker could stay at tight end or move back to the defensive side of the ball next season, Gicinto seems to have found a spot he can stick: slot receiver. He’s one of the quickest players on the team and has shown reliable hands in Missouri’s first 10 games.

The two friends have both found a role with the Tigers, and they occasionally look back on their journey together.

“Sometimes it does happen,” Parker said. “We’re just sitting there like, ‘Man, we both came from the same city, made it to the same place, doing great things.’”