2016 Tiger Mailbag: 20th Edition

Each week, PowerMizzou.com publisher Gabe DeArmond answers questions from Tiger fans in the mailbag. This format allows for a more expansive answer than a message board post. If you missed this week's mailbag, keep an eye out next week or send your question to Gabe at powermizzou@gmail.com. On to this week's entries.

GD: Someone posted that Odom said at a booster club meeting last week Brantley could be the best comeback story he's ever seen. It sounds like things are going well. But the question for me would be what position Brantley plays. The word was, as you said, that he was at 245. Last time I saw him, in the spring, he looked lighter than that. Can he add enough weight--and in a good way--to play inside? I remain skeptical of that. It seems to me if he plays, he's going to do so as a defensive end. Which is what we were told he wanted to be even before the car accident. I'm sure Odom will be asked about him at SEC media days next month.

GD: I have put in the request (think I did so early last week), but no, I'm not optimistic that it's going to happen. At least not until Jamieson's role for the future is determined, if there is one.

GD: Sure, that's possible. Signing a letter of intent is not a requirement. Most players do (and a lot of them are probably under the impression it's a requirement). And, honestly, for the vast majority of kids, it's a good idea. Once you sign that, you're locked in to the school and the school is locked in to you for a year. But for a kid like Porter, he doesn't have to have the school locked in. If he doesn't sign an LOI, basically the school wouldn't HAVE to take him. But there's no school in America who isn't going to take that kid at any time he decides he wants to come. Honestly, if my son were a top 25 player in basketball or a top 100 player in football, I'd tell him NOT to sign one.

Signing scholarship papers locks the school into the player, but not the player into the school until he actually shows up and attends a class. You can sign scholarship papers with as many schools as you want to. Again, most schools and coaches aren't going to let the vast majority of kids do that because it's a sign that maybe the kid isn't sold on his commitment. But for the elite kids, they'd let them do just about anything they want.

So the short answer is, yes, Porter could do that with Missouri or any other school he wanted to.