As mentioned yesterday afternoon Mizzou locked up a potential stud JUCO LB over the weekend, Joshua "Drederick" Tatum. He was Rivals' #40 player in the country in 2006 and committed to USC before ending up at JUCO.  If I understand correctly, he will have two years to play two.

It was an unexpected commitment, as he hadn't made a peep since his visit here a month or so ago. He spoke with Gabe at PowerMizzou last night.

Tatum said he had known for a while that Missouri was where he wanted to play, and even cancelled three other official visits. But last week, something occurred that sealed the deal.

"Coach E was up for that position at Toledo, I was thinking this might not be the place and I prayed on it," Tatum said. "Last Thursday he told me he was gonna stay at Mizzou and I could come in and be coached by him. I thought maybe that was a sign and I decided this was the place for me."

A little bit of nice PR for Matt Eberflus there as well...which is nice for him, as he's had what you would call "not a good couple of weeks"...

In other recruiting news, it's in-home visit season for the Tiger coaches, and PowerMizzou has been compiling a list of known visits.  (As if you couldn't tell, now is precisely the time to give PowerMizzou a taste if you're interested in subscribing.  The two months between end-of-season and signing day are jam-packed.)

Want more from the man we call Walljasper?  Check out the latest Trib podcast with him and Steve Walentik.

The addition of Tatum means Mizzou's in line to produce three starters from the pool of Tatum, Sean Weatherspoon, Luke Lambert, Will Ebner, Andrew Gachkar, Tyler Crane, and incoming freshmen like Andrew Wilson, Adam Burton, maybe Chris McAllister, and possibly Ronnie Wingo (who could play any of about 12 different positions).  That's not bad.  Lots of inexperience there, but lots of potential...of course, that's assuming 'Spoon comes back.  He's testing the draft waters like about 17 Mizzou juniors did last year.

Bummed out about the last two weeks of Mizzou football?  Let Jack Lengyel talk you down...

The Missourian's got a pretty neat article about Dave Christensen's trip to meet his players/boosters/fans in Laramie...he talks about the potential benefits of playing a hurry-up, no-huddle spread at 7,200 feet...hadn't really thought of that...

To basketball, where Joe Walljasper takes a look at the signs of life being emitted from Mizzou Arena.

"They were faster, longer and more aggressive than anybody we’ve seen thus far," first-year Cal Coach Mike Montgomery said.

Montgomery said Missouri was a nightmare matchup for his team because the Tigers have athletic players across the board and negated Cal’s size advantage when Leo Lyons drew the 7-foot Jordan Wilkes away from the basket. Montgomery called MU’s 20 offensive rebounds an "extraordinary" number.

...

It’s dangerous to draw too many conclusions from what happens in a nonconference home game. Missouri handled Arkansas in 2006 and Purdue in 2007 - both opponents went to the NCAA Tournament while the Tigers didn’t get a sniff of the postseason - but at least we’re seeing some encouraging signs.

Unfortunately, Cal was the most attractive nonconference opponent that will visit Mizzou Arena this season, so the Tigers might remain a well-kept secret in their own town until Big 12 play begins.

Finally...well THAT didn't take long...you knew at some point somebody would pull a "Let's profile the walk-on!" story...and the Missourian stepped to the plate.