Bigger. Faster. Stronger. Better. All words to describe the disparity in talent in today's game between Texas A&M and Missouri. The Aggies wasted no time jumping out to an early 1st quarter lead that proved to be insurmountable as they quickly dispatched the Tigers 35-14. Same story a week ago at home in a 62-24 blowout loss to Tennessee. "We’ve gotta recruit. We’ve gotta recruit, recruit recruit. We’ve gotta recruit, recruit, recruit.” Words spoken by Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz after another embarrassing home loss. Last season, the Tigers finished a respectable 5-5 and in the process entered the Top 25 CFP rankings. But after today's game even he had conceded that the Tigers simply do not have enough athletic talent to compete on a weekly basis with the depths of talent in the SEC.
In 2018 then-Missouri head coach Barry Odom and his staff set their sights on building the future of the program on what was being considered the state of Missouri's most talented in-state recruiting class. The "Tiger 10" as they were dubbed turned out to be a bust. When National Signing Day 2018 came to a close, only 1 out of 10 ended up committing to Mizzou. The one? Tight end Daniel Parker from Blue Springs. After a very disappointing 2019 season (Mizzou was projected to win 9+ games) came to a conclusion, the Tigers record stood at 6-6 and Odom was fired, never having put together a strong recruiting class that would be featured as the backbone of the program.
Currently, Mizzou boasts the 23rd ranked recruiting class in the country despite sitting at 3-4 in the standings. This coming off the heels of a 20th overall ranked class in 2021. The highest ranking that the Tigers finished under Odom was 34th back in 2019.
Missouri heads into its bye week before it's matchup with Vanderbilt in Nashville. But it's like Coach Drinkwitz said, "We can't skip steps." That crucial next step must be securing more commitments from recruits that can be positive different makers on the field, most notably 5-star wide receiver Luther Burden out of East St Louis.
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