Ronnie Wingo: Razorback
by Bill C. on Jan 27, 2009 5:24 PM CST
in Mizzou Football 2008
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PrintSo the long, national nightmare is over: Ronnie Wingo has selected where he chooses to spend the next 4-5 years. And it's not Columbia.
This is a big loss for Mizzou in a "Football Recruiting is a sport in itself, and we want to send a message that we're sealing the borders" kind of way, and I don't want to project a "We didn't want him anyway" kind of pouty vibe, but...Wingo wasn't at the top of my wish list because, honestly, I'm not sure he has a position. If we'd landed him, I already had an "I'm not sure where he plays, but I'm glad we landed him" message planned out. If you look at his film, you see a good high school running back...but not necessarily a great one. He's a 200m champion in a 6'3, 215 package, and I'd have loved for Mizzou to get a chance to mold him into a good RB, WR, TE, DB, or LB, but this isn't a can't-miss prospect here. And if he's going to end up not living up to his 4-star hype, I'd rather he do it somewhere else--it seems (and this could be my own biases and perceptions) that Mizzou sometimes seems to get blamed when big-time St. Louis prospects don't hit the bigtime.
I'm only saying this because this is going to be treated as a big loss*, and from a "We lost a difference maker" way, I'm just not sure it is. In the sport of college football recruiting, we suffered a big loss this evening. But in the sport of college football, I'm not as sure. I wish Ronnie luck--it seemed like he really was torn up trying to make this decision--but as a Mizzou fan I'm already moving on**.
* Sheldon Richardson, on the other hand...yeah, let's just say I'll be having to bite my tongue and not overreact if he were to shock everybody and commit to Miami or something. That would be a HUGE loss.
** Though if we lose his cousin Marquise Hill, long considered a Mizzou lock, because of this, I'm gonna be pissed.
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St. Louis angst re Ron Wingo to Arkansas
I can’t remember a Missouri football coach from Woody forward who wasn’t asked to "seal the borders’. In recent years, this has become a mantra from alumni and fans in St. Louis. With Ron Wingo’s announcement today, I can only imagine the hand-wringing and wailing from St. Louis.
I don’t mean to minimize the importance of getting the top athletes from St. Louis, as well as from all corners of the state. I lived in St. Louis for a number of years. Truth is, Missouri swims upstream in recruiting from north county schools. Volumes could be written as to why this is. We have to learn to be happy with those we get, then move on.
Dan Devine used to wish the best to recruits he lost; then, in the next breath, he warned them that he would make every effort possible to beat them if their chosen team played Missouri.
Years ago I couldn’t, and I still can’t imagine any athlete, from Missouri or elsewhere, not wanting to come to Columbia. But, some days you’re the pigeon, other days you’re the statue. It’s Wingo’s loss more that it is ours!
One thing we've learned over the years...
…is that a) it never works out like you expect it to, and b) that’s usually okay. In 2005, we missed out on Chris Brooks and DJ Hord, and that was a HUGE deal…but if we’d landed those two, we probably wouldn’t have had scholarships available the next year for Jared Perry and/or Danario Alexander, both of whom ended up much better than Brooks and Hord, two 4-star kids from MO…granted, Hord was injured, but still…things tend to happen for a reason, even though it always stings when top MO kids decide to play elsewhere…
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