Recruit, Recruit, Recruit

This one seems like a bit of a gimme, but it’s the most important key to the long term success of any program. Missouri’s staff already did a great job of signing an extremely talented 2021 class, but this 2022 class is so important for Mizzou Football in many ways. Not only will this be Drink’s second full class, but the in state talent in Missouri will be at a level that it hasn’t been maybe ever.

According to Rivals, the state of Missouri is home to eight players ranked four stars or higher, and two guys who are ranked as five stars. To put that in context, there hasn’t been two five star players in Missouri since 2012. When you factor in that six of the top eight recruits in 2022 are from the St. Louis area, it just makes it that much more important that Drinkwitz and company are able to continue to make in-roads with some of these guys. If he’s able to get some of these guys to sign with Missouri, that would be huge for Missouri not just from a talent accumulation perspective, but it would be huge to send a message to other schools that you cannot just come into Missouri and pluck away all of the great talent that Missouri has to offer.

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Lets look a little bit more $EC-ish?

We’ve heard about the Board of Curators approving an indoor football facility and that figures to be a huge development for Missouri football in the everlasting arms race between rival programs. Missouri, since they’ve joined the SEC, has needed to make a commitment to their facilities to reach a comparable level to the other schools in the conference. They’re now doing that with this upgrade.

To continue doing that however, Missouri donors have had to step up to the plate. Big time.

A lot of fans have questioned Jim Sterk in the past for usually stupid reasons, however, one area of his job where he has always succeeded with flying colors is fundraising. In his tenure, he’s secured multiple big dollar donations and with the athletic department budget being as tight as it is, (Missouri will assuredly finish this year in the red) securing donations of that magnitude is going to be the only way to continue to upgrade these facilities.

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No more excuses Missouri fans, It’s time to pack Faurot

I’m not Dan Mullen. I’m not trying to attempt to pack Faurot amidst a pandemic. This section only applies if it’s medically safe to do so.

That being said, I’m tired of the excuses. Pre-pandemic, fan support had been consistently lackluster. Missouri routinely ranked in the bottom three of attendance. They blamed it on the quality of team, they’ve blamed it on Barry Odom, on the weather, etc. These are no longer valid excuses. You now have a program that has invested financially in themselves by hiring Drinkwitz, (and giving him a substantially bigger assistant pool than Odom) is recruiting at a top 25 level, and exceeded expectations in year one of a pandemic plagued season with a new coach and no offseason.

If we’re safely able to do so, I think it’s important that Mizzou fans, students, and alumni get in and pack the stadium and act like they’re actually in the SEC.

It’s time for the fans to do their part, and buy in.

Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images

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