Missouri Tigers football, men’s basketball teams pick up Class of 2022 commitments
Good things came in pairs for Missouri Tigers athletics on Friday.
The Tigers’ football and men’s basketball programs each got verbal commitments from 2022 recruits within minutes of each other Friday evening, bolstering football coach Eliah Drinkwitz’s already strong class while marking the first 2022 pledge for basketball coach Cuonzo Martin.
It was the hardwood’s turn first at 7:33 p.m., when a rising hoops recruit from Martin’s hometown made his announcement on Instagram.
East St. Louis, Illinois, point guard Christian Jones pledged to the Tigers for Martin’s first recruit of the incoming prep senior class, Jones hails from the same hometown as both Martin and recently graduated All-SEC center Jeremiah Tilmon.
The 6-foot-4 Jones is unranked by Rivals and had unofficially visited Columbia on June 24. He’d been sparsely noticed thus far in the recruiting cycle — his list of offers included DePaul, Southeast Missouri State and Denver, among others — but had been picking up steam on the travel ball trail this summer playing for St. Louis-based AAU program Brad Beal Elite.
There’s likely to be more 2022 class news to come as soon as Martin and his staff get re-acclimated to the NCAA’s decision to resume normal recruiting activities last month.
Two elite incoming senior prospects — five-star (and former Bishop Miege) small forward Mark Mitchell and four-star Link Year Prep (Branson) small forward Aidan Shaw — took official visits to Columbia in June.
At 7:46 p.m. on Friday, another Jones announced his commitment to the Tigers’ via Instagram. This time, it was Drinkwitz’s guy.
Football scored a major coup as four-star running back Tavorus Jones committed to the Tigers after previously visiting Columbia on June 25.
A 5-foot-10 tailback from El Paso, Texas, Jones is ranked as the 10th overall running back in the country by Rivals. He had been offered by several blue-chip programs including Alabama, Penn State, Florida and Michigan, among others, but had only officially visited with Missouri.
Jones is the fifth four-star in 10 commits to pledge to Missouri’s 2022 class per Rivals’ rankings, already equaling the tally Drinkwitz set over 23 total recruits in the 2021 class. Jones will join two Kansas City-area prospects — three-star Blue Valley North wide receiver Mekhi Miller and three-star Lee’s Summit tight end Max Whisner — as fellow incoming prep seniors to have committed to the Tigers.
Jones’ commitment improved Missouri football’s 2022 class to 21st overall nationally and seventh among Southeastern Conference schools, per Rivals.
This story was originally published July 2, 2021 at 8:29 PM.