The Missouri Tigers’ football-recruiting push is on a roll. Here’s how they’ve done it
When Missouri football coach Eliah Drinkwitz met with the media last week, the Tigers were in a bit of a recruiting funk. They hadn’t earned a commitment in nearly two weeks — Drinkwitz even described them as being “behind the eight-ball.”
This changed in a matter of hours: Mizzou went four straight days with a commitment, vaulting the Tigers up the recruiting rankings.
With sports at a standstill because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Drinkwitz and his staff have created buzz around the program as the recruits have piled up. Their social-media game hasn’t been too bad, either, courtesy of Mizzou tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator Casey Woods.
“We don’t want to overextend ourselves,” Drinkwitz said. “We don’t want to get into battles that we will not be able to win, down specifically in the Southeast. I can’t tell where everybody else is going to recruit, but I think Missouri has an opportunity to recruit in the Midwest with the SEC logo and be successful.”
The run started last Thursday with junior-college defensive end Shemar Pearl announcing his commitment. Then it was Florida linebacker Zachary Lovett on Friday. Saturday saw former Angelo State wide receiver Keke Chism announce his transfer to the Tigers, and then North Carolina linebacker Dameon Wilson donned a Mizzou shirt to signify his pledge Sunday.
When Drinkwitz was hired from Appalachian State to replace former MU coach Barry Odom, there were questions about whether he could land enough talent to compete in the SEC. After all, he had just one year of head-coaching experience under his belt before coming to Columbia.
Much of that skepticism has been silenced on the recruiting trail.
Mizzou has steadily climbed the national recruiting rankings with each new commitment. 247Sports ranks the Tigers at No. 30 nationally, while Rivals slots them at No. 25. That would be MU’s highest showing in recruiting since its 2015 class, when 247Sports had Mizzou at 25th and Rivals had the Tigers 27th.
“There’s a little bit of an element of it hasn’t reached its full potential yet, which I think people are excited about,” Wood said of Mizzou. “That’s what Coach Drinkwitz sees. One of his strongest traits is getting everybody to pull in the same direction.”
The level talent gathered thus far is also noteworthy. Drinkwitz’s biggest 2021 win to date is four-star defensive end Travion Ford from St. Louis, who elected to stay in-state. Others, like offensive lineman Connor Tollison, cornerback Daylan Carnell and Wilson, are all highly ranked three-star pledges.
While these early wins in recruiting have Mizzou fans excited, it’s still June, months away from the early signing period in December. The Tigers boast 14 committed recruits so far, with more likely on the way as the months roll by.
Mizzou has been successful despite the temporary dead period, which bars on- and off-campus recruiting visits through July 31 because of the pandemic. The MU coaching staff — like others around the country — has gotten creative in how they sell their program to prospective recruits, Woods said.
Woods also said the dead period has had its silver linings. Normally, Woods and other Mizzou assistants rack up miles and hours traveling to high schools for in-person visits. Instead, Woods said the coaching staff has been successful in efficiently contacting recruits and selling them on the program through virtual means.
Woods said he and his fellow MU staffers have made a “concentrated effort” to showcase their facilities, coaching staff and other elements as a means of educating prospective recruits about MU and Columbia despite being unable to play host to them physically.
“These guys know more about their program because we have been able to more singularly focus on more specific players and these environments,” Woods said. “They’re more comfortable committing, and obviously it’s a new world, a little bit. I think that there’s more knowledge there than normally exists than in a typical recruiting cycle.”
Drinkwitz vowed from Day 1 to recruit the Show-Me State hard. And Mizzou’s footprint has expanded, as evidenced by the Tigers’ array of recruits. Drinkwitz said the Tigers have a 450-mile radius of influence and are targeting football powerhouses within drivable distance. And other major cities, such as Chicago, Dallas and Denver, are easily accessible because there are direct flights from the Columbia airport.
Drinkwitz said Missouri’s unique location as a Midwestern-state school playing in the SEC has been a bonus.
“... (We) have to become very matter-of-fact of where we recruit,” Drinkwitz said. “As always, it starts within our state. We have two large metropolitan areas and we have rural Missouri. We have to identify any football player that will help us win the SEC East.”