Castillo's heart still in Missouri
For eight months Webb City offensive lineman Trystan Castillo was completely set on graduating early and enrolling at Mizzou for the 2016 winter semester. He committed to Mizzou a couple days after receiving an offer from the Tigers and knew he wanted to play for Gary Pinkel in Columbia.
During November a lot happened on and around the Mizzou football team. Eventually, Pinkel announced he was retiring in order to battle non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Barry Odom was named Pinkel’s replacement the first week of December.
During all the commotion around Mizzou, Castillo decided he needed to take a step back and make sure the new direction of the program was going to fit him. He delayed his enrollment to the normal summer timeframe and decided to listen to recruiting pitches from other schools.
Minnesota and Iowa State made a very hard run at the 6-foot-4, 280 pound prospect, but in the end he felt it was best to stay home in Missouri.
“Whenever I got back to Missouri, before I even talked to the coaches or any of the players, I got that feeling again. Just getting back to Columbia I got it. It’s just a feeling you’re going to have when you know you’re at the right school,” said Castillo.
“For me I just fell in love with Columbia all over again this past weekend. Hanging with the players. Getting more familiar with the new coaching staff,” he continued. “After that it was pretty obvious to me that my heart was still in Missouri.”
It wasn’t an easy decision for Castillo. The Gophers and Cyclones both made the No. 9 ranked player in Missouri a top priority. Each school visited Castillo in Webb City multiple times and he took official visits to Minneapolis and Ames.
“It was a lot tougher decision than I originally thought it would be. I really did like Minnesota and Iowa State a lot. It was nothing against their programs or anything like that. I had great relationships with both coaching staffs. I loved both campuses,” explained Castillo. “The coaches understood my decision and I respect them for that. I wish both of those schools nothing but the best.”
Castillo found out about a part of recruiting that is often overlooked. Everyone understands that it is a really big, and sometimes difficult, decision to select a school that you are going to spend four to five years at working towards the ultimate goal of playing in the NFL.
What a lot of people may not think about, and what Castillo said was the hardest part for him, was telling schools, “I’m signing somewhere else.”
With that behind him now and his decision final, Castillo is looking forward to signing his NLI on Wednesday, February 3 and then getting to work preparing for Mizzou.
“I’m hitting the weight room hard. I going to come in and compete for a spot from day one. I’m going to make it hard for them to decide to redshirt me,” the No. 37 ranked guard in the country said.
Castillo was told by the Mizzou coaches that it will be a wide open competition and everybody will get an opportunity to win a starting job. He will play on the interior of the offensive line, but it has not been decided if it will be guard or center.
Keeping Castillo was one of Odom’s top priorities when he became head coach. With the help of Andy Hill and Glen Elarbee the Tigers were able to get it done. Now they can focus on adding to the 2016 class instead of having to replace commitments.
Keep checking PowerMizzou.com for all the latest updates on Mizzou recruiting as National Signing Day approaches.
Talk with other Tiger fans on The Tigers' Lair about Castillo remaining committed.
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