Three keys to closing strong

The Missouri football staff will be very busy between today and signing day on February 3rd. Here is a look at three keys to finishing strong for the Tiger coaches.

Missouri had a rash of decommitments in December, but the ship has steadied of late. There are still three or four prospects that are looking around at other schools though. Albert Okwuegbunam, Trystan Castillo, Royce Newman and Tre'Vour Simms (depending how you view his commitment status) are going on official visits in January or have said they are considering other schools.

Of that group Okwuegbunam seems most likely to remain committed and Newman seems most likely to decommit. All four are at significant positions of need. Offensive line is losing five seniors so there are lots of holes to fill. Missouri isn't expected to lose any tight ends, but there is a definite need for depth and playmakers at all the skill positions.

Cornell Ford has taken over as the lead recruiter for Okwuegbunam and built a good relationship in a short amount of time. Glen Elarbee is going to play a big role in securing the three offensive lineman. Developing a strong bond with each of those players in a short amount of time won't be easy, but that's why these coaches get the big bucks.

This late in the recruiting cycle the Mizzou coaches can't rely on only signing players that aren't currently committed to other schools. If they do it will be an underwhelming class. It appears the coaches understand that too because they are working on flipping several players including four-stars Dillon Sterling-Cole and Kyzir White.

The Tigers are also still recruiting in-state prospects committed elsewhere like Tre Bryant, Brendan Scales and Hayden Johnson. At this point Mizzou doesn't seem likely to flip any of those three prospects, but they are doing everything they can to give themselves a chance.

Javon Wims and London Iakopo are high three-star junior college prospects that Mizzou has been working on hard due to coaching changes at the schools each is currently committed too. It sounds like Wims could get a visit from Mizzou as soon as the dead period ends and Iakopo will get a visit from Greg Brown on January 19.

It seems like it should be easy enough to accomplish this, but for some reason coaches occasionally overvalue their ability to develop talent. For every Sean Weatherspoon there is an anonymous two-star that never saw the field.

No one is perfect when it comes to evaluating talent, so mistakes will happen. Due to the time crunch the Mizzou coaches are under with this class it could become even more enticing for them to take chances on players that they normally wouldn't.

It’s better to leave a couple scholarships unused than to sign players the staff isn’t convinced are good enough to play in the SEC.