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2014 Missouri football recruiting: What's happening in-state?

Bill Carter

Bill C.

A lot has been made about the poor job Missouri has done this year in landing in-state targets in the recruiting class of 2014. And it's a pretty reliable trend, really: Lose on the field, then lose elsewhere. Mizzou struggled to win in-state hearts and minds after the rough 2004 season, and a water-treading 2005 year didn't really improve things that much. The Tigers overcame that spell and could certainly do so again, but let's take a look at what exactly they have missed out on thus far, and which players are still on the table.


BillSelfsToupee

Rivals and ESPN recruiting services rarely agree on much, and it's no different with prospects in the state of Missouri. Here are the top 26 in-state recruits according to these two services.

State Ranking Player Pos. City (School)
Star
Rating
Ht Wt School/Offers
#1 - Rivals & ESPN Andy Bauer OL St. Louis, MO (DeSmet) 4 stars 6'6" 304 Ole Miss
#2 - Rivals Rafe Peavey QB Bolivar, MO 4 stars 6'2" 205 Arkansas
#5 - Espn
#3 - Rivals Roderick Johnson OL Florissant, MO (Hazelwood Central) 4 stars 6'7" 310 17 FBS Offers including: Mizzou, Bama & others.
#2 - Espn
#5 - Rivals Raymond Wingo DB St. Louis, MO (University) 3 stars 6'0" 165 Down to 6 contenders incl: Arky, Iowa, Nubs & Tenn.
#12 - Espn
#6 - Rivals Markel Smith RB St. Louis, MO (Vianney) 3 stars 5'10" 210 Illini, Iowa, Ole Miss and & Mizzou in the mix.
#22 - Espn
#7 - Rivals Brian Wallace OL St. Louis, MO (CBC High) 3 stars 6'6" 304 Down to 5 incl: Bama, Arky, Nubs & tOSU.
#3 - Espn
#8 - Rivals Elijah Lee DE Blue Springs, MO 3 stars 6'3" 203 Kansas St.
#21 - Espn
#9 - Rivals Dalvin Warmack RB Blue Springs, MO 3 stars 5'8" 183 Kansas St.
#25 - Espn
#10 - Rivals Freedom Akinmoladun TE Grandview, MO 3 stars 6'4" 240 Nebraska
#7 - Espn
#11 - Rivals Logan Cheadle DB Lee's Summit, MO (Lee's Summit West) 3 stars 5'10" 165 Missouri
#18 - Espn
#12 - Rivals Armon Watts DT St. Louis, MO (CBC High) 3 stars 6'5" 274 Arkansas
#10 -Espn
#13 - Rivals Zach Muniz DB St. Louis, MO (CBC High) 3 stars 5'11" 160 Duke
#19 - Espn
#14 - Rivals Kevin Pendleton OL Lee's Summit, MO (Lee's Summit West) 3 stars 6'4" 329 Missouri
#24 - Espn
#15 - Rivals Kaleb Prewett DB Blue Springs, MO 3 stars 6'2" 197 Kansas St
#11 - Espn
4 - Espn Monte Harrison WR Lee's Summit, MO (Lee's Summit West) 4 stars 6'2" 190 Nebraska
UR - Rivals
#6 - Espn Jonathan Bonner DE Chesterfield, MO (Parkway Central) 3 stars 6'3" 253 Notre Dame
UR - Rivals
#8 - Espn
UR - Rivals
Kendall Blanton TE Blue Springs, MO (Blue Springs South) 2.5 stars 6'5" 225 Mizzou
#9 - Espn
UR - Rivals
Grant Jones ATH Columbia, MO (Hickman) 3 stars 63" 219 Mizzou
#13 - Espn
UR - Rivals
Aaron Mends ILB Kansas City, MO (Winnetonka) 3 stars 6'1" 204 Iowa
#14 - Espn
UR - Rivals
Renell Wren DE St. Louis, MO (Lutheran North) 3 stars 6'5" 247 11 FBS offers incl: Mizzou, Nubs & ASU
#15 - Espn
UR - Rivals
Scott Schaffner TE Raymore, MO (Ray-Pec) 1.5 stars 6'4" 215 Iowa St.
#16 - Espn
UR - Rivals
Apa Visinia OL Grandview, MO 2.5 stars 6'5" 380 Kansas
#17 - Espn
UR - Rivals
Sam Bailey OL Lamar, MO 2.5 stars 6'5" 245 Mizzou
#19 - Espn
UR - Rivals
Matt Quarells WR Florrisant, MO (Hazelwood Central) 1.5 stars 6'2" 180 10 FBS offers incl: Mizzou, Purdue & Indy

Those players listed with a half star are the combined star ratings of ESPN & Rivals. Mizzou has one more commit in the 2014 class from an in-state player listed in the top 25 by ESPN: Darnell Green-Beckham from Springfield Hillcrest is a 3* WR.


Bill C.

Wins cure ills, and there's nothing saying that Mizzou might not get another look from those committed elsewhere if the Tigers rip off an eight-win season or something. Signing Day is still four and a half months away, after all. You don't have to try very hard to find people optimistic about Mizzou's chances both with Markel Smith and even Andy Bauer, so we'll have to wait and see. (Of course, the Tigers don't have that many spots remaining either, so we'll see.)

Still, while there's never a good time to lose games, it's frustrating to see Mizzou feeling ill recruiting effects now, when the state of Missouri has produced a few high-caliber offensive linemen. The Tigers have scored interesting commits from outside of the state, and maybe they like those guys more anyway, but considering the recent misses in terms of OL recruiting, it certainly isn't fun seeing Andy Bauer with "Ole Miss" next to his name, or Brian Wallace not really taking Mizzou seriously, or Roderick Johnson looking in plenty of directions.

It is what it is, though. Wins improve recruiting, and the Tigers could certainly help themselves out by winning quite a few more games in the coming 2.5 months. And again, they've filled a good percentage of their class already, anyway. But let's try the "win games" thing anyway, just in case.