Missouri quickly gaining steam on the recruiting trail after 5-0 start

Under Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri has been recruiting at a level never consistently seen before from the Tigers’ program. Former head coach Gary Pinkel had a handful of star-studded classes, but the Tigers were regularly on the fringe of the top 25 in the national recruiting rankings.

In three of Drinkwitz’s first four full classes — 2022-2025 — the Tigers have finished No. 21 or better three times, including the No. 16 class in last year’s final Rivals Industry Team Recruiting Rankings. And that’s part of what made their slow start on the trail this cycle so surprising.

Prior to the start of this season, that ranked in the 70s nationally with just a handful of commits. And they also lost a couple pledges, something that has happened rarely since the current staff took over. Heading into September, they held only 10 commitments and none of them were ranked as blue chip (4- and 5-star) prospects.

With nearly all of those players committed to other schools, they were going to have to work to flip them from their original schools.

With the winds of 5-0 start behind them, they’re beginning to do exactly that.

In the past nine days, Drinkwitz and his staff have landed three four-star prospects: junior college EDGE DeMarcus Johnson, Rivals four-star EDGE Micah Nickerson, and former Arkansas commit and blue-chip linebacker JJ Bush.

Both Bush and Nickerson were previously committed to the SEC rivals — Bush to the Razorbacks and Nickerson to Mississippi State. The former was actually projected earlier this week by multiple recruiting analysts to commit to the Bulldogs, but appears to have had a last-minute change of heart.

More could be on the way for the Tigers

With only 13 commitments, Missouri doesn’t look to be done in this cycle. They’ve relied heavily on the transfer portal; taking 22 players during the offseason. So it’s unlikely we’ll see them return to the days of 25-man recruiting class. They’ve locked in on a few players they’d like to have, though.

At the top of that list is four-star defensive lineman and Oklahoma State commit Tajh Overton. The 6-foot-3, 275-pound defensive lineman out of Owasso (Okla.) has been pledged to the Cowboys since June, but visited the Tigers last weekend after OSU head coach Mike Gundy was fired.

Rivals’ Sam Spiegelman and Steve Wiltfong have logged picks in Mizzou’s favor to land him.

“After spending this weekend at Mizzou, I like the Tigers’ chances of flipping Overton,” wrote Spiegelman. “I’ve submitted a prediction reflecting the intel coming out of this visit.”

They’re also strongly in the hunt for another Oklahoma-based defensive lineman, Jae’Lin Battle, who has been committed to Baylor since early July. Four-star running back TJ Hodges, who is set to commit on Saturday, is predicted to land in Columbia, as well.

And that ultimately may just be the tip of the iceberg if the Tigers can keep things rolling on the field. With the three recent commitments, they’ve jumped to No. 49 in the team rankings. And going strictly by average rating per commitment, they’re currently 30th with plenty of runway to climb higher.