Recruiting gets going under Odom
After a whirlwind Thursday and Friday new Missouri football head coach Barry Odom is diving head first into recruiting. It actually started on Thursday, before he had even been publicly introduced, when the Tigers 32nd head football coach offered Columbia (Mo.) Rock Bridge fullback Hayden Johnson a scholarship.
Every indication is that the three-star prospect is solidly committed to the Razorbacks. It speaks to what coach Odom thinks of the versatile athlete, though, that Johnson was the first player to receive an offer from Odom in his new role as Mizzou head coach.
On Saturday the recruiting efforts of Barry Odom and his staff ratcheted up another level. With recruiting being severely hampered since Gary Pinkel announced his retirement on November 13, there is a significant amount of time to be made up by the staff.
Atlanta (Ga.) McNair defensive back Christian Holmes set up his official after talking with Ryan Walters and Cornell Ford. The two-star Missouri commitment will be in Columbia on January 24.
Dallas (Texas) Wilmer Hutchins defensive back DeMarkus Acy was, from what PowerMizzou has been able to learn, the first prospect to get an in-home visit from Barry Odom. The three-star Missouri commit hosted Odom and Ryan Walters Saturday evening. Acy was planning January official visits to Texas and Kansas, but perhaps a visit from his head coach, recruiting coach and position coach will change that.
Odom and Walters undoubtedly saw more prospects while in Texas. With three current commitments in the Houston region it makes sense for the coaches to take trip there as soon as possible.
Houston (Texas) Cy Falls linebacker Trey Baldwin has long planned to graduate early from high school and enroll at Mizzou in January. With so much turmoil at Missouri over the last month, though, a change to those plans would have been understandable. Yesterday, however, Baldwin reaffirmed his intentions to graduate in December and enroll at Missouri early.
Missouri offensive lineman commitments Mackenzie Nworah, Trystan Castillo and Royce Newman have all maintained their commitments despite each having taken or about to take visits to other schools. Castillo has unofficially visited Oklahoma and is at Minnesota for an official visit this weekend. Nworah is looking at officially visiting Indiana while Newman has an official visit scheduled to Nebraska on December 11.
With all that swirling around the Tigers offensive line commits the Missouri coaches are planning to offer East St. Louis (Ill.) three-star prospect Trevour Simms. According to a coach at East St. Louis, Missouri hasn't officially offered the Illinois commit yet. It is expected to happen when Cornell Ford visits Simms school early this week.
Missouri hasn't given up on their current OL commits by any means. Coach Odom will be in Nashville (Ill.) tonight to do an in-home visit with Newman in an effort to try and solidify his commitment. While in the area it would make sense for Odom to also see O'Fallon (Ill.) kicker commit Tucker McCann. The three-star prospect had been planning on enrolling early at Mizzou prior to the coaching change.
This coming weekend Missouri will begin hosting official visitors. Hinds (Miss.) C.C. safety Greg Taylor told PowerMizzou Saturday evening that he and Hinds teammate Natereace Strong will be in Columbia for their official visits on December 11. They may also bring another Hinds teammate. Georgia wide receiver commit Javon Wims is being recruited by Cornell Ford, but a visit is not set in stone at this point.
Taylor told PowerMizzou he had a good talk with Ford when he set up his official on Saturday evening. He added that everything is finally starting to feel back to normal for him after a turbulent few weeks. That's good news for the December graduate as he is expected to be in Columbia in roughly a month.
Whenever a new head coach and staff are put in place there is an opportunity to re-recruit players that were missed on by the old staff. Whether that translates into actual commitments is yet to be seen, but four-star Kansas City (Mo.) Rockhurst athlete A.J. Taylor,a Wisconsin commit, and three-star Wildwood (Mo.) Lafayette tight end Brendan Scales, a Alabama commit, told PowerMizzou that they would listen to Missouri if they reached out.
Now that the new staff is coming together, it should be a mad dash to signing day for Barry Odom and his coaches.