Some football recruiting news from over the weekend. First...I said last week that...
6. Montee Ball (***, St. Louis, RB, 5'11/205). Was really excited when Mizzou offered, but seems to be shaken a bit by Mizzou's spread--even though Tony Temple rushed for 561 yards in last year's Cotton Bowl, Ball seems to be worried about getting enough carries in the Mizzou offense and is (for now) leaning toward Big Ten schools like Wisconsin.
Well, Ball visited Madison this weekend and left committed to Wisconsin. So there you go. Disappointing, but not necessarily a surprise. He wanted to get 50 carries a game, and that's just not something Mizzou was going to promise. But RB recruiting still seems to be on fertile ground--Gabe from PM says Ronnie Wingo is visiting Columbia with a handful of committed recruits and Mizzou players, so apparently the full-court press is on. That, and 4-star TX RB Knile Davis intends to visit Columbia at some point himself. I'm still applying my "If he's been offered by LSU and OU, he's not ending up at MU" rule here, but hey...get him on campus, and take your chances.
And he's not an RB, but Mizzou commit Brayden Burnett got a nice write-up from one of Scout.com's national writers. And...ALSO not a RB, but 4-star DE WR Justin Brown is also high on Mizzou...it's on his long visit list anyway.
Damn...I was going to use the "Now you really CAN say you like it because of the articles" line, but Dave Matter beat me to it--Playboy has named Jeremy Maclin and Chase Coffman to its preseason All-American team.
Meanwhile, Jimmy Jackson, William Moore and others joined the Mike Alden Caravan to SE Missouri. For what that's worth.
Earlier this week, I was fortunate to take a statewide outreach trip to Pemiscott and Dunklin Counties in Missouri. Our trip included Jimmy Jackson (Football student-athlete), William Moore (Football student-athlete), Dave Christensen (Assistant Head Football Coach), Gary Link, John Kadlec and myself. We went to Caruthersville, Hayti and Kennett. It was an absolutely terrific trip to showcase our core values of academic integrity, social responsibility and competitive excellence.
Jimmy Jackson is from Caruthersville and William Moore is from Hayti. The "welcome home" for both of these student-athletes was overwhelming. The messages that both Jimmy and William delivered centered on making wise decisions, focusing on classwork and striving to do your best in everything you do. Finally, they both delivered the message of the great experiences they are having at Mizzou - academically and athletically. Our final stop in Kennett allowed all of us to talk to a crowd of approximately 100 of the great things happening at the flagship institution of the State of Missouri.
Mizzou's Chris Rohr ripped off a school record hammer throw of 229'4" to provisionally qualify for next weeks Olympic Trials. Another successful Mizzou thrower! Meanwhile, Christian Cantwell has an upcoming shot at redemption.
Finally, congrats to Graham Watson, who leaves the Post-Dispatch next month to take a job at the Dot Com. She's done as good a job covering Mizzou as anybody I can remember at the P-D, and we at RMN wish her luck.