The Missouri football program kicked off the early signing period with a bang Wednesday, signing 19 high school or junior college prospects to go along with three Division I transfers. The class currently ranks No. 31 in the Rivals.com national rankings, but that doesn't account for transfers Kelly Bryant, Jonathan Nance and Shawn Robinson.

At the team's Wednesday afternoon practice, we caught up with the coaching staff and asked them about each signed prospect in the class.

Head coach Barry Odom: "I’m excited about our quarterback class. And Connor is — he led his team to the state championship. He tore his hamstring or pulled his hamstring in the state semifinal game, but then went out and played in the state championship game. He’s tough, he’s got tremendous leadership skills and a great skillset, and he’s going to be a really great player.”

Odom: “He’s a really good player. Got experience. He’s played in big games, and he has the opportunity to also come here and learn for a year. And the way that the rules are with his situation, he’ll be ineligible this year as a transfer, but then has an opportunity to play two years after that, and there will be great competition. I’m excited to get him here on campus.”

We've already covered Bryant's decision to transfer extensively, but in case you missed it, here is Odom talking about landing Bryant as well as Bryant on why he chose Missouri.

Running backs coach Cornell Ford: "Crazy numbers. He's got all the qualities that we're looking for in a running back. He plays within his pad level, he's got the ability to make people miss, he's got pretty good speed and he's got tons and tons of production to back that up. He's got size, he's a kid with big hands, which for a running back is awesome. He checks all those boxes off. He reminds me a lot of (Larry) Rountree in many ways. He's probably a little quicker than Larry is, but his qualities are very similar to that. I remember seeing him in the spring and watching him out catching balls. He's at wide receiver, he's at returner, he played a little bit of defense. There's nothing the kid couldn't do. So it just shows you how athletic he was. Then I was sitting there, and I was like, why is no one recruiting him? You're right there, he's right down the road, probably 10-15 minutes from the campus of TCU. And I don't know. You know what? I really don't care. We're going to go by our evaluation and he fits the bill around here in what we're looking for in our running backs."

Wide receivers coach A.J. Ofodile: "Long, rangy. A 6-3, 6-4 kid, his overall body control, ball skills, skillset — he’s really just a really developed player, and his ability to stick his foot in the ground and come in and out of cuts at his height is really rare.”

Ofodile: "C.J. really did do a good job of communicating with guys and sparking up friendships and selling the university and all those things. … C.J. is a 23-plus (foot) long-jumper, state champ long-jumper, so he has really good speed and all of the markers to have really elite speed as he develops and continues to get bigger and stronger.”

Ofodile: "Just the way our room is set up, it was kind of a good fit to bring in someone who would be a one-year guy in that room, and he’s a great kid, another kid who’s got a great personality. He’s been productive in the SEC already, so there’s not a question-mark piece there. You’ve seen him do it against our competition level, so he brings polish to the table, he brings some speed to the table, production. ... He’s a kid I spent a lot of time with during the recruiting process and I feel like I know him really well and I’m really excited to have him as part of the program."

“I think he’s a guy that you can move around, and going forward, that’s kind of what we want to do. ... He’s a guy that because of his skillset, you hope you’d be able to move him inside and outside, do some pretty multiple things with him.”

Ofodile: “He’s a kid that kind of bloomed a little bit later, came on the scene a little bit later, and we had Dom (Gicinto) in that way a year ago, and that’s who I would compare him to as a recruit, although we didn’t have (Hea) in camp. But he was a guy that, you compare junior to senior film, just light-years different. You go back and watch him as a senior, and I think what happens with guys like that, and we try to be the opposite, but what happens with a lot of programs is, if the junior film wasn’t enough to get you in, you move on. And we’ve done a great job I think as a program of really understanding that kids develop at different rates and really evaluating seniors hard, and he’s one of those guys, when you watch senior tape, it’s eye-popping. The things he does as a pass-catcher — he’s a big guy who can get in and out of breaks, he’s got great ball skills, he’s really good running with the ball after the catch. Way faster than you would think for a 6-4-and-a-half, 225-pound kid who’s going to end up being a 250-plus pound kid. And then he’s also great in the classroom, too, so you start checking off all these boxes of what you’re looking for in a tight end, and he’s a no-brainer. Really, really underrated kid.”

“That’s the other thing that’s a bonus, kids that really really want to be here, that are excited about it. … I think we’ve got a bunch of guys who are invested into making this place something special, and he’s one of them. You could see by his reaction when he got the offer.”

Offensive line coach Brad Davis was not available to comment on the three signees.

Odom on the group as a whole: “I think physically, just the stature that they need to be, number one. Walking in the door, you’ve got the ability to put on the weight that they need to, or in one case cut the weight that he needs to in order to get structurally where he needs to be to be able to play in this league, just to hold up. But then all three are very athletic, play with good pad level and understand the game. And they’re not just run-blocking guys, they’ve kind of done it all, so we’re excited about those three guys.”