Mizzou football’s recruiting vibes are quite different than this time last year. What does that mean for the ‘26 class?
Finals are the name of the game on the Mizzou campus and as the weather warms, so too does the high school recruiting trail for college football coaches. Or at least, it usually does. The spring transfer portal is closed and after a fairly active period of portal pulls for the Mizzou staff, all of their recruiting attention has ostensibly turned to the high school ranks where rising seniors are ripe for the picking. Yet, to date, Eli Drinkwitz and company only have three high school commitments for the class of 2026, which is a far cry from the haul they had made at this time last year.
In May 2024, the it seemed as if the recruiting vibes were immaculate for the Tigers program. Coming off the best season in a decade and a win over future national champion Ohio State, the Mizzou staff had experienced a run of recruiting victories throughout the spring, starting with four-star quarterback Matt Zollers and ending with the local product in four-star defensive end Daeden Hopkins from Hermann, Mo. That April run left the Tigers with seven commitments in the class of 2025, three of which were ultimately rated 247 composite four-star recruits, before summer had even struck.
Fast forward to this spring and Mizzou has only three commitments, only one of whom is a composite four-star according to 247’s rankings:
- Anthony Kennedy, Jr., Defensive line
- D’Montae Tims, Safety
- Gavin Sidwar, Quarterback
Beyond the fewer number of commitments in this cycle versus last, the recruiting vibes for the program feel… different. While the word “immaculate” seemed accurate at the time when describing last year’s vibes as of mid-May, this year’s vibes are a bit more… tepid. So what’s the reason for the difference? Why has a traditionally excellent recruiting staff slowed their roll a bit so far in 2025? Let’s take a look at a few possible reasons:
Missouri wide receiver Luther Burden III (3) just misses catching a Brady Cook pass during the second half of a game against Boston College on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, at Faurot Field. (CAL TOBIAS/ROCK M NATION)
Disappointing 2024
Perhaps the easiest (and most obvious) explanation for a cooling on the high school recruiting trail was the disappointing season, relative to expectations, that the Tigers experienced on the field this past fall. Let’s be clear: any 10 win season at Mizzou is a successful season. However, entering the 2024 season the Tigers had all the momentum in the world, coming off an 11-win season and entering a navigable SEC schedule that had them as a popular playoff pick.
All eyes were on Mizzou in 2024 and despite finishing 10-3, impressions of the program both from fans and from onlookers across the country, were undeniably underwhelming. While perhaps not as impactful for in-state recruits who are more in touch and aware of the trajectory of the program under Drinkwitz, recruits on a national level may have been slightly turned off, or at least cooled, on the prospect of Mizzou as a serious and consistent playoff contender. That said, all three of the Tigers’ recruits are out-of-state, with Kennedy coming from Arkansas, Tims hailing from Florida and Sidwar continuing the Pennsylvania pipeline. It’s a relatively down year for in-state talent in Missouri so that could explain fewer commits from the Show Me State so far this spring than last year (there were three in April 2024) but there are at least a few SEC-caliber players from Missouri who have yet to make a decision. Perhaps they need a bit more selling.
Return to precedent
Prior to last season, the precedent for Eli Drinkwitz-run recruiting operations was to experience extremely slow springs and then ramp up big time in June and July. In the class of 2024, the Tigers only had two commitments by May (Whit Hafer in February 2023 and Ryan Jostes in March 2023). That class went on to earn an national ranking of 21. In the class of 2022, Mizzou once again earned only two commitments before June (Brett Norfleet in November 2021 and Gabarri Johnson in May 2022). That class finished ranked 32.
The class of 2021 was the result of COVID and was a weird year for everyone, so we aren’t counting it, but for the class of 2022, the Tigers grabbed eight commitments prior to mid-May (Marquis Gracial, Sam Horn, Isaac Thompson, Ja’Marion Wayne, Armand Membou, Tristan Wilson, Carmycah Glass and Curtis Peagler). That class finished ranked 18th. 2024’s class ranked 14th. Whether or not it’s Mizzou precedent to have fewer or more commitments by mid-May, it’s clear that the trend shows the more Eli Drinkwitz secures early in the cycle, the higher-ranked his classes shape out to be by signing day. Hopefully that trend ends this season.
Change in priorities
During the most recent winter transfer portal window back in December, Drinkwitz made it abundantly clear that he values production over potential when determining the amount of resources he’s willing to invest in specific players. While he was addressing questions involving decisions regarding portal recruitment and retention, there’s a great chance that mindset is also bleeding over into high school recruitment decisions as well.
The staff (and Mizzou NIL funders) spent a great deal of time and resources earning the commitments of blue-chip high school talent in recent years. While those efforts were an unequivocal success in the example of Luther Burden III, other big money high school recruits, namely Williams Nwaneri and Jaylen Brown, turned out to be duds on the field as freshmen who then packed up and took their services elsewhere.
It’s highly likely that the slightly singed, if not completely burned feeling Drinkwitz, his staff, and NIL supporters must be feeling following the loss of those high-priced recruits this past off-season is impacting their strategy in who and how to target high schoolers this cycle. Why invest six or seven figures into an 18-year-old who may never see the field and/or transfer after six months on campus? It’s a question that coaches across the country are asking, especially those with limited resources relative to their peers in the SEC. Eli Drinkwitz is looking for the biggest bang for his buck, and that may not be in volatile tip-top ranked high school recruits.
Further, success on the field and on the recruiting trail over the last three years has led the staff to aim higher in the caliber of recruits they are courting. It’s certain that the Tigers could have many more commitments if they lowered their standards to the two and three-star recruits past Mizzou regimes focused on early in the cycle. Drinkwitz and company are swimming in different waters these days. Coupled with potentially a new strategy for investing NIL in high school players, it may be a much slower-paced recruiting cycle than Mizzou fans are used to. Let’s just hope slow and steady really does win the race.