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1. Mizzou Football scores two more under-the-radar commitments
Michael Fairchild
PowerMizzou: Mizzou adds another OL
KC Star: BVW tackle Michael Fairchild commits to Mizzou
Finis Stribling IV
PowerMizzou: TN DB makes quick decision
I'm not going to lie: Each time I see a headline that Mizzou has scored another football commitment, I want it to be someone big, with a lovely recruiting ranking. Obviously. As Missouri fans, we've grown very much accustomed to citing Sean Weatherspoon and Danario Alexander and pointing out that few major conference teams in the country have a better track record of finding diamonds in the rough than this staff. And it's true. Still ... I like stars, and I like it when Mizzou makes statements by landing guys with lots of stars. So I was a bit conflicted last night when two more diamond-in-the-rough types landed on Mizzou's commitment list.
First of all, if Michael Fairchild and Finis Stribling received offers from Missouri, that means they met a pretty high athletic baseline. Mizzou has shown that it is more than willing to find strong athletes first and teach them a position later. Fairchild, from Overland Park's Blue Valley West high school, is long and lean (6'6, 265), and if Mizzou offered him (in May, no less -- it's not like this was a last-second, "It's January, and we really need more bodies" offer), that means they think they can pack on about another 30 pounds and maintain his athleticism. That's great. And Stribling, a cornerback from Thompson Station Independence in Tennessee (who plans to become a Physics major, evidently), is evidently a track star. So you know he probably meets the requisite speed requirements.
I'm trying to talk myself into these guys, in other words. I'm ready for Mizzou to land a four- (or at least three-) star guy at some point, but there are still most likely between 10 and 15 spots left in this class and plenty of time for that to happen. Besides ... "We do what we do," right? Welcome, guys. Hope you become All-Americans.
2. Wesley Clark and Johnathan Williams III bring state championships to Mizzou
PowerMizzou: Championship Pedigree
Two freshman point guards, a high-high-high-caliber freshman power forward, a raw JUCO center with great size, Jabari Brown and Earnest Ross, Stefan Jankovic, Jordan Clarkson ... there is so much potential on next year's basketball team, and with almost no sure-thing production whatsoever. I just have no idea what to think, and that probably isn't going to change between now and mid-November.
3. Mizzou Track is ready for more
The Trib: Quigley unsatisfied with fourth place
KC Star: Missouri’s Kearsten Peoples gets redemption in shot put
4. Will Mizzou Baseball make the SEC Tournament?
SimmonsField.com: No Baker's Dozen: Will MU Make the Tourney Cut?
SimmonsField.com: SEC Scramble, With a Side of Tremendous Stubble
5. Happy belated birthday, Stevie Wonder
Okayplayer: Happy Birthday Stevie Wonder, From Randy Watson Experience