Eli Drinkwitz only has one recruit locked in for 2026, and fans are starting to worry.
It’s May 23, 2025. We’re 195 days from the theoretical start of the early signing period for high schoolers.
Mizzou has one recruit on the books.
After the recent decommitments of D’Montae Tims and Anthony Kennedy, Jr., only Gavin Sidwar remains as a Tiger commit. That could change as soon as this weekend, but you should never count your chickens before they sign their NLI. So here we stand, looking at a one-man class of 2026.
Of course, this could be a sign of shifting priorities in the staff room for Mizzou Football, who have prioritized getting transfers right over the past few years. Still, you can’t build a foundation without bodies, and the high school ‘crootin game is a great way to bring bodies in. So this week, we asked if you’re concerned about the lack of recruiting wins going on in Columbia these days. And in a result that should surprise no one:
Yeah, I get it. It’s hard not to be at least a little puzzled when the guy who has been so good at getting ‘croots is barely making any head way this time around. And even if you’re not concerned Eli Drinkwitz will end up getting the job done, you can still be concerned at the current state of affairs.
In the interest of not getting too negative — Mizzou has back-to-back double digit win seasons under their belt and a lot of hope at a third this fall — we asked y’all what you see as Drinkwitz’s best quality as a head coach. The answer isn’t too surprising, but the margins could be depending on who you ask.
The immediate strength of Drinkwitz’s tenure was his ability to load Mizzou up with Top 20 high school recruiting classes, and that strength has elevated the floor of this Mizzou program. He’s also proven to be an adept buyer in the transfer portal, which has arguably elevated the ceiling as well. But maybe the most important part of being a college coach — instilling a culture that players, fans and staff buy into — has been Drink’s biggest success. Fans see that and identified it in a major way.
I have to ask, though… any possibility we could get that 3 percent a little higher moving forward? Just to see what happens?