Reeling Them In

So looking at high schoolers makes me quiver like Chris Hansen from Dateline will walk through the door, but I've gotta throw some huge dap out to Gary Pinkel and staff for their recruiting this year. Pinkel has grabbed some higher profile recruits throughout the years; Chase Daniel, Chase Coffman, Jeremy Maclin all graded out pretty high. We had some missing holes that needed to be filled with the '08 incoming class.

This year may have been his best incoming class. He's already nabbed Blaine Gabbert (QB) from the clutches of the Big Dead, just got Will Ebner (LB) who will probably kill someone at Faurot, Andrew Jones will try to replace T Rucker, and it's looking better for Mizzou in the Will Compton sweepstakes. Plus, Blaine Dalton, another QB with probably a bigger upside in the spread offense, is coming in '09. Dalton and Gabbert will battle for Chase Daniel's job after Chase graduates.

Grabbing Gabbert was the biggest steal. Not only is he not going to Lincoln, but he has some pretty big influence on some of the other big names; Compton, Will Kemp, Bryce Givens, etc. Compton is looking good, Kemp stared long and hard at Mizzou before deciding on sticking with Wisconsin, and Bryce Givens has decided on Colorado. The thing is, we were in the running for these recruits. In year's past, we wouldn't have had a shot and many would have headed out of state if they were from Missouri or the out of staters wouldn't have given Mizzou a look.

The good thing is that our recruiting class NEXT year should be even better. Most of the recruits in this year's class had their minds made up and committed by the time September hit, which was before our B12 conference season started and the nation noticed us. Now that we are on the radar going into '08, it should be a sweet haul.

All this talking of high school boys has the preists salivating, so we better end this. Keep your eye on Mizzou recruiting at new Friend of the Family; Show Me Sports. It's a great source for Missouri in-state recruiting and Mizzou recruiting in general. It's listed to the right and it's in your price range...free.