Recruiting Reset: Eli Drinkwitz is on fire

I don’t mean to sound like a broken record, but THE DRINK, THE DRINK, THE DRINK IS ON FIRE! (Editor’s note: shakes head in disapproval)

Alright, sorry, I’ll calm down. I just get excited when the University of Missouri has a higher rated recruiting class than Alabama, Auburn and Texas A&M.

Don’t believe me? Check the recruiting ratings on Rivals!

Recruiting rankings in late June don’t win football games. I know. But an influx of commits in June is better than waiting for your second, third and fourth options to commit in November. I’m not sure how anyone could be a wet blanket on this one: Drinkwitz is putting together one hell of a recruiting class.

And I must admit - early on - I was skeptical.

Six of the first seven commits were either from in-state or just across the river in East St. Louis. The lone exception was a 3-star tight end out of Memphis. There’s nothing wrong with getting in-state recruits to commit. But at that time, we were in the early days of a pandemic and there was discussion taking place that recruits were saving spots just in case they weren’t able to take visits later on.

That very well may still be the case, honestly. But I, for one, view it a little differently when Mizzou’s momentum is so strong that it’s not just in-state recruits taking notice, but also recruits from Florida, Indiana, Kansas, North Carolina and Tennessee.

This is not a blip on the radar. It’s a trend.

Mizzou’s 16 commits are tied for the 13th most in the country, and 10th most among power-5 programs. The Tigers’ 3.13 average star rating among current commits ranks ahead of programs like Michigan State, Nebraska, Stanford, Florida State and Arkansas.

Basically, no matter how you slice it, this recruiting class is impressive.

Eli Drinkwitz is selling his program. And don’t get it twisted, this is now his program. Every Mizzou fan who watched Drink’s introductory press conference knew his presence was different than Gary Pinkel’s or Barry Odom’s. It was refreshing. It was infectious. And it’s clearly effective.

And then Drinkwitz went out and hired a staff that matched his charisma. This is a coaching staff full of salesmen. I mean that in the kindest way possible. It’s something previous Missouri coaching staffs lacked. There were certainly good recruiters on staff, this group just has a larger number of them.

It’s paying off in a big way.

The job isn’t done. There will be de-commitments. Missouri almost certainly will not finish the year with a top-20 ranked recruiting class.

None of that can or should take away from the momentum we’re witnessing early in Drink’s tenure. He’s winning the offseason in a way I’m not sure we’ve seen from a Mizzou football coach this decade.

Here’s to you, Drink.

Cheers.