Recruiting is the lifeblood of college football

Of course the title of this post is obvious.  Like saying water is wet.  Without a steady stream of talent, no college football program will continue to succeed.  In the last 4 years, Missouri has won 40 football games despite not having classes that were considered to be the best.  This year the Tigers took a small class of 17, which would have been smaller without the early departures of their two most visible prospects, Blaine Gabbert and Aldon Smith.  Tiger nation has been bemoaning this class since Rivals ranked it 47th among FBS schools, behind such powers as Boston College, The University of Central Florida and kansas for God's sake.  However, I believe that once we take a look back in three years or so we'll find that this class was better than we thought, and I have some historical evidence to prove that as SI.com re-rated the 2008 class that was ranked 25th by Rivals that year.  We've got to remember that the services give higher marks for teams that sign more players, and well, sometimes they just miss it on how highly a player is rated.  A 3 star quarterback that was considered a little too short to be successful in D1 football named Chase Daniel ring a bell with anyone? 

This year the Tigers obtained a commitment from only one 4 start player, Sheldon Richardson who was a 5 star when he originally signed two years ago.  Sheldon had to detour to junior college in California, and flirt with USC before finally coming to his senses and re-signing with the Tigers after much soul searching and his mother threatening him with a cast iron skillet.  Everyone agrees that if he does in fact make it and is on the team this fall, that he's the kind of player that can make a huge impact on the defensive line, an area that improved greatly last year but still could always use depth.  Some guys that don't seem to be getting as much attention that I think will be very successful for Mizzou are Gerrand Johnson, a 270 lb defensive tackle from Rayville, LA and Kentrell Brothers, an undersized linebacker from Oklahoma that was voted the defensive player of the year in that state.  Yes, he's coming in at only 207 lbs, which is about 10 pounds heavier than an unknown kid from Texas named Weatherspoon and he seemed to turn out ok.  If Pat Ivey says he can grow them, I tend to believe him.  With 8 offers from BCS conference teams, offensive lineman Taylor Chappell may turn out to be quite a find also, as well as Shane Ray, a defensive end from the KC area who passed on offers from Wisconsin and Notre Dame, among others to sign with the Tigers.  

Depth on the offensive line was addressed with 4 signees, they got the quarterback they wanted as well as defensive players to replace guys like J. Smith, Lambert, Ebner and company after they graduate this year.  This simply wasn't a year they had anything they were desperate to address.  Coach Pinkel has depth across the board now and players that would have gotten offers 5 years ago just aren't getting them today.  This is evidenced by Darrien Miller, who some considered to be the best player in the state, not receiving an offer.  However, next year is huge and the staff will need to get a jump.  It's one of the best classes in Missouri high school football we've seen in the past 5 years, which is saying a lot considering some of the talent we've seen in 2008 and 2009.  But, I'm going to give Pinkel and company some credit.  At least until next season starts.  But we need to get a jump on a great class.  Maty Mauk from Ohio would be a great start.

Missouri fans, recruiting and other tidbits...

Well, the football regular season is over and we're working our way toward basketball season.  Nothing to do now except wait for the bowl games to begin, (1st 3 being on December 18th, just a few short days away) finish up with this years recruiting class, get out and support the basketball team, and, being Missouri fans, bitch like hell.  I hate to say that about a fan base, especially one that I consider myself to be a member of in good standing, but it's true.  I frequent a lot of message boards and am constantly amazed at the negativity our fan's.  The Tigers, by most were considered to be, before the season about an 8 win team, 9 if some things broke correctly.  Now, following a 10 win season, the third time in four years the Tigers have reached double digit wins, a large percentage of our followers choose to focus on the negatives.  Yes, we should have beaten Texas Tech.  And if you want to nitpick then yes, we probably also fell a couple of bowl games below where we could, note I said COULD have been selected, although our following the last couple of seasons probably doomed us there.  I choose to be happy myself about the fact that since the day Chase Daniel took over as quarterback in 2006, the Tigers have gone 48-18.  Folks with a bowl game to be played, Missouri has averaged over 9 wins a season.  Folks, the first Missouri game I can remember was played January 1st, 1966 in a 20-18 win over Florida in the Sugar Bowl.  Trust me on this one, these are the "good old days".

Now Missouri has the opportunity to send off our players to a great warm weather destination for a bowl game against a good, if somewhat underachieving Iowa Hawkeyes team from the Big Ten, the conference we hoped to be a member of this summer, yet we're complaining that we were passed over by the Cotton and Alamo bowls.  I get the snub from the Cotton Bowl and understand why folks are a bit pissed off by said snub.  They took a Texas A&M team that the Tigers throttled 30-9 at College Station a few weeks ago.  However, since that time the Aggies reeled off 6 straight wins, including victories over both teams that represented the conference in the title game, Nebraska and Oklahoma.  There is no way to say they weren't the hottest team in the conference down the stretch.  Their last trip to the Cotton Bowl was after the 2004 season, they have a huge fan base that's going to travel and put butts in the seats.  We forget that, outside of the BCS title game, the rest of the bowls are mostly concerned with showing a profit and making themselves look good.  While I don't agree with it, I get it and think they probably made a good choice.  As far as the Alamo Bowl, well Okie Lite finished with the exact same 10-2 and 6-2 conference record as the Tigers and the teams didn't play each other.  It's perfectly within their right to select the Cowboys.  And frankly, if you asked the Missouri players, I imagine they'd all prefer to spend a few days in Phoenix as opposed to Dallas or San Antonio.  Hell, the Insight Bowl even has a bigger payout than the Alamo so that's more travel money for Mizzou.  We need to get over the victim mentality and get behind this team.  The Tigers only lose 5 starters this year and the future indeed looks bright.

Another whine fest that I'm growing tired of is the one currently going on about the state of Tiger recruiting.  Yes, we currently lost 2 kids in Anthony Pierson and Sheldon Richardson that were our highest ranked recruits, but Big Shel has been uncharacteristically quiet since announcing he was flipping his commitment to USC while Pierson is reportedly heading to CoMo this weekend for an official visit.  I wouldn't write off either of these young men quite yet.  And even if they do both wind up elsewhere, why not concentrate on the kids we do have, such as Gerrand Johnson, a 270 lb defensive tackle that will graduate high school in December and enroll early at Mizzou.  Yep, he's only a three star kid, but take a look at his offer list.  The Tigers beat out such teams as Arkansas, Ol' Miss, Nebraska and Tennessee for his services.  He looks like the kind of kid that's going to pair with last years DT prize, Lucas Vincent to give Missouri a nice pair of tackles to build around once Dominique Hamilton and Terrell Resonno graduate next year.   

In short, it's time Missouri fan grew a pair and decided to get behind the sports teams at our university.  Mike Alden has hired a couple of quality coaches that have established winning programs and graduated their players.  I, for one am going to do what I can to support them.  You can either continue to whine and bitch, or you can open your checkbook, buy a bowl ticket, get out to watch a top 15 basketball team and make a wrestling match, volleyball game or do a bit of hot stove work taking a look at what could be very good softball and baseball teams this spring.  Frankly, it looks to be a much better way to spend your time as opposed to the glass half empty approach.  But hell, that's just me.