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Barry Odom's December was hectic. January will be no different.

It's the final Saturday with college football on. :( Here are three Mizzou things.

By Bill Connelly
Oscar Gamble

1. The assistant coaching rumors are about to pick up again

The Trib (David Morrison): 5 Directives for Barry Odom as 2016 Begins

That leaves three on-field spots still to fill.

One will be an offensive line coach. That's a given. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has mentioned Chris Scelfo, most recently the Atlanta Falcons' tight ends coach from 2008-14, as a possible candidate. ... PowerMizzou.com has mentioned Jim Harding, a former Gary Pinkel player at Toledo and graduate assistant at Missouri, as another possible candidate.

Odom said at the Braggin' Rights game that Walters was staying at safeties coach. So that would seem to mean there's a spot open for a cornerbacks coach. Texas special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach Chris Vaughn coached Memphis' cornerbacks under Odom from 2012-13 and got a look for the safeties spot Walters got at Missouri last year. He'd seem to be worth a look.

Baylor's Rivals site had a tweet up for a while saying that Bears OL coach Jeff Lebby had turned Missouri down. It was deleted, though ... whatever that might mean. Odom hinted at his Braggin' Rights media gathering that his guys were in place, and he was just waiting until the postseason was over to make things official. Or, to put that another way, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

2. The recruiting rumors are about to pick up again

OL commitments Trystan Castillo and Royce Newman are still fielding quite a bit of interest from other teams, so maybe there's still another decommitment to work through, but that phase of the "new coach moves in" cycle might be about over. And now Missouri's got a few scholarships to work with over the final month of the 2016 recruiting cycle.

PowerMizzou: Lots of work left

Two quarterbacks will likely be added. At least one more running back is also a safe bet. Three more players between wide receiver, tight end and h-back are expected. Four offensive lineman are expected to sign, but an extra one is always a possibility. The Tigers could be done in the offensive trenches if they hold onto Castillo (visited Minnesota and will take other visits), Newman (visited Nebraska) and Simms (torn between Missouri and Illinois).

The dead period isn't over just yet, so maybe we've got a little more time before new names start to emerge.

3. Seven weeks? That's it?

Time flies.

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Barry Odom is assembling his coaching staff

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