1. A good day for Missouri recruiting got better on Wednesday.

Yes, Wednesday is technically only the first day of the early signing period, but we’re not expecting much action involving Missouri today or tomorrow.

But, it was a great Wednesday for Missouri’s class!

The Tigers added four new players to the 2019 class, all on defense — two linebackers (Devin Nicholson, Jamie Pettway), a defensive end (Darius Robinson) and a defensive tackle (Chris Daniels). Missouri’s class now stands at 21 commitments — 19 of those signed — with three transfers (Kelly Bryant, Shawn Robinson, Jonathan Nance) also all signed.

Missouri also made a statement in St. Louis, landing more than a handful of players including Jalani Williams, one of the top-ranked players in the class.

Missouri’s team recruiting ranking also jumped from No. 38 to No. 31 nationally after Wednesday’s action, and the Tigers are still in the running for four-star JUCO DE Chester Graves, who won’t announce until National Signing Day in February.

2. Missouri coaches comment on the class.

This is one of the best things Gabe DeArmond and the PowerMizzou.com crew do every year around the signing period, and you find out some interesting tidbits about the newly-inked signing class:

Coaches on the class: Offense

Coaches on the class: Defense

This quote jumped out to me about Anthony Watkins, who will play running back for Missouri. Cornell Ford said:

Then I was sitting there, and I was like, why is no one recruiting him? You’re right there, he’s right down the road, probably 10-15 minutes from the campus of TCU. And I don’t know. You know what? I really don’t care. We’re going to go by our evaluation and he fits the bill around here in what we’re looking for in our running backs.”

Watkins seems like he’ll be another Tyler Badie — and Ford actually compared him to Larry Rountree. Missouri’s backfield is just oozing with talent right now.

3. Overflow Early Signing Period Content

• Parkway North’s Wililams headlines Missouri’s local haul (via STLtoday.com)
• Mizzou football taps into Detroit, Texas on morning of early signing period (via KansasCity.com)
• Missouri football signs 22 to national letters of intent (via ColumbiaMissourian.com)
• Mizzou’s signing class isn’t flashy, but that’s quite alright (via FoxSports Midwest)

Yesterday at Rock M

• Jalani Williams’ signature represents more than just a talented player on the field
• Recapping the first day of Missouri’s early signing period

More Links:

• This is the best thing you’ll see this week and the best signing ceremony of all time:

• Mike Alden is the new interim athletic director at Cleveland State.
• Jamie Pettway did the rope-a-dope with Tennessee during his commitment ceremony, the second time in two years that a Georgia linebacker spurned Tennessee is such fashion.

• We’ve got TigerStyle wrestiling tonight, and we’ll have a preview up on Rock M Nation a little later today.