Camping in Chicago
NAPERVILLE, IL--Just over a year away from meeting on the field for a regular season game in Columbia, the University of Missouri and Purdue University shared the field at North Central College in Naperville, IL for a satellite camp featuring around 250 high schoolers from the Chicagoland area.
While Mizzou is used to recruiting in southern states like Texas, having a camp in a fertile high school area like Chicago is also important.
In fact, earlier in the day the Tigers had a camp in nearby Lake Park.
Barry Odom was among five coaches in attendance at the North Central camp. New offensive coordinator Josh Heupel was also at the camp.
Naperville is just over a six hour drive from Columbia and Missouri is the closest SEC school for the Chicagoland area.
In fact, some top area talent in other sports has migrated south to Mizzou recently, including Kahmari Montgomery, the SEC track and field Freshman of the Year, who is from nearby Plainfield.
In his opening message to the campers, Odom talked about competing and having fun, as well as bringing back new skills to their high school teams to make their teams better.
The three-hour camp separated the campers based on positions played and the athletes rotated from station to station during the course of the evening.
The Missouri coaches left the camp prior to its conclusion, but there was some interest in the school from campers, and there appears to be some mutual interest as well.
Naperville’s Mitch West, a Montini Catholic senior-to-be, was one player who was noticed in the camp.
“I came out here and did what I was supposed to do,” West said. “I ran some good times and they noticed. I wasn’t surprised. I had a little contact with them before and an offer from South Dakota State. I just met some of the staff from Mizzou.”
The defensive back and wideout is interested in the Tigers.
“It is close and it is good football, SEC football,” West said. “A lot of people from my town go there, so it seems like a nice fit, for sure.”
Incoming junior, Tyrik Henderson of Glenbard North was at both Missouri camps throughout the day.
“I feel like I had a pretty good camp today with it being my second camp of the day,” Henderson said. “I came out pretty good and pretty strong. The Lake Park Camp was fun, too. I picked up my first offer from South Dakota State, so it was a pretty good camp.”
He was given a heads up about the camp from the Mizzou coaches.
“Coach Heupel and coach (Ryan) Walters both DM’d me and sent me the invite,” Henderson said. “We couldn’t really have much dialogue with each other, but getting a camp invite from a SEC school is always a big step for me.”
Junior offensive lineman Verdis Brown III had a strong showing at the camp.
“I felt comfortable out there,” Brown said. “And playing football is something I love. I knew there were going to be a lot of good schools here and a lot of good players. So I wanted to come and get better.”
Brown says he is interested in the Tigers.
“I have an interest in every school,” Brown said. “I’m not ruling out any school, but Missouri, definitely yes.”
Among the attendees at the morning camp in Lake Park were Tiger offers Oladere Oladipo and Jacob Panasiuk. The staff returned to Columbia on Wednesday night, as team camp and the second on-campus prospect camp take place Thursday afternoon. PowerMizzou.com will have a report from Thursday's camp sessions.
Talk about the Tigers with other fans on our premium forum, The Tigers' Lair.
If you are not yet a subscriber, get your premium membership going today!