This week in Mizzou recruiting: Kelly Bryant, Jonathan Nance, Jeff Thomas and more

By Alex Schiffer

Updated November 22, 2018 11:19 AM

Clemson’s biggest question is which quarterback will start, but the Tigers are in an envious situation with accomplished senior Kelly Bryant (above) and top recruit Trevor Lawrence. Rainier Ehrhardt AP

Columbia

Happy Turkey Day everyone. Not going to go too long here since we all have food to consume but there’s a few things that should be addressed before next week.

Dig in.

Kelly Bryant to announce on Dec. 4

Former Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant will decide on his new school on Tuesday, Dec. 4. He visited Missouri a few weeks ago and canceled an upcoming visit to Miami in favor of Auburn. I was able to talk to a few people this week about Bryant and the answers are all over the board.

Someone close to Bryant who has covered him for a while told me they heard Auburn is in the driver’s seat right now. He has a good relationship with some other targets they’re recruiting and likes what Gus Malzahn’s offense has to offer.

That doesn’t mean Missouri is out. I talked to some people close to Missouri this week who dealt with Bryant on his visit. They thought it went well and that Miami was one of the bigger threats to Missouri rather than Arkansas. But since he’s not going to Miami now, who knows what that means?

Another note from the Missouri folks. While on his MU visit, Bryant was also joined by former Arkansas receiver Jonathan Nance, who went to high school with current Missouri wideout Richaud Floyd. Bryant and Nance talked a lot about playing together. One MU source who spent time with both of them on their visits told me they were led to believe Nance committing to Missouri would be a major needle-mover for Bryant, since the quarterback wanted some idea of who he’d be throwing to next season.

Missouri is in excellent shape with Nance and he could commit as early as next week. With the Tigers off next week, the coaching staff will be out recruiting and Nance will likely get a visit. He’d be a huge pickup. But would he commit before Bryant or have an influence at that point? Who knows.

Also, Bryant is committing on Chad Morris’ 50th birthday. Read into it what you want. I’m not going to too much. If he picks Arkansas I’ll spend column two weeks from now eating crow.

Jeff Thomas leaves Miami

On Wednesday Jeff Thomas and Miami announced they were parting ways. A high school teammate of current Tigers Terry Beckner Jr. and Tre’Vour Simms, Thomas chose the Canes over MU and Illinois among others when he was coming out of East St. Louis High School.

Our colleagues at the Miami Herald are reporting that Thomas repeatedly clashed with Miami wideouts coach Ron Dugans and left the team angrily this week. They also report that Thomas has talked about transferring to Illinois.

I think Missouri will look into adding Thomas, but can understand why they might pass. He will have to sit out a year wherever he transfers and if they think his addition isn’t worth the baggage then they’ll move on. Missouri brings a lot back at wideout and Nance committing would add to that. This isn’t a position desperate for bodies anymore and if Thomas is going to clash with MU’s coaches too, what’s the point?

Thomas’ departure is interesting because it plays into another news bit that occurred Wednesday.

Njoku decommits from Missouri

Charles Njoku, a four-star wideout from New Jersey announced his decommitment from Missouri on Tuesday. A wideout for Wayne Hills, a state power, Njoku was a guy that never seemed fully on board with Missouri since he talked about taking other visits shortly after committing.

Njoku is the brother of Cleveland Browns and former Miami tight end David Njoku and his other brother Evidence currently plays for the Canes as a wideout. With the Canes losing Thomas and Ahhmon Richards, whose career ended due to injury, Mark Richt needs wideouts. I can see the Canes going after Njoku after not recruiting him before his senior year. He’s a legacy to Miami and fills an immediate need.

Missouri wanted Njoku to play tight end. Given the emergence of Daniel Parker and Messiah Swinson’s promise before tearing his ACL, I think they will be fine there. If there’s one position coach who has earned the benefit of the doubt, it’s Joe Jon Finley.

Jalani Williams commits to Missouri

Don’t want to ramble too much because we’ve touched on Jalani Williams extensively the past few weeks. He committed to Missouri on Friday and was a huge get for Barry Odom. Missouri beat out LSU for his services and he will be on campus in the spring. I am prepared to bet you a dinner at Q39 that he sees the field next year, and beyond the four-game redshirt rule. Missouri loses Cam Hilton to graduation and will have Khalil Oliver graduating the following year. They’ll want to break someone in there.

Missouri hasn’t had a lot of impact safeties except for William Moore. It would be huge for this defense if he can be an impact player there.

A name to watch for 2022

I ran into some high school football coaches in Columbia last night at a bar and they were in the giving mood.

“Hey Schiff,” one said. “You want to hear about the name of the state’s top freshman?”

I didn’t say no. It appears St. Mary’s wideout Kevin Coleman is a name to watch. I don’t know much about him, but the coaches told me he was more impressive than Cardinal Ritter wideout and Ohio State commit Jameson Williams.

“We had a few answers for Williams,” one said. “Everything we tried on this kid didn’t work.”

Coleman is listed at 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds on his Hudl profile. You can watch his highlights here. I would suggest you do that.

For his freshman season he had 47 receptions for 1,045 yards and 10 touchdowns.He was voted first team all-conference. On special teams he had 1,043 return yards and five touchdowns. Missouri could use some of that.

I have no idea if Missouri knows who this kid is or if he will turn out to back up the hype I got. His 247sports profile says he’s on Illinois’ and Iowa State’s radar. We’ll see where he goes from here.

Enjoy the holiday.