Charles "CJ" Bass originally started as a quarterback when he arrived at East St. Louis (Ill.) High.

He then moved to wide receiver before his coaches realized his height and length projected best on the opposite side of the ball.

The East St. Louis staff started Bass a little early as a defensive back his sophomore year, but the potential was off the charts. Bass had the height, and it was a matter of time he physically grew into his frame.

Whether it was outside at cornerback or inside at safety, Bass wanted the challenge of guarding the best player his senior season.

"You win some and lose some and realize you get to live another day in the DB world," East St. Louis assistant coach Harith Mitchom said. "You start to gain confidence of what you can do and not so much react to the few times that plays get made on you."

Bass grew into a vocal leader of the secondary, which ended up being a long journey from the sophomore who stepped into a starting role, lacking physicality as an underclassman.

"I always really speak to sophomore year, because that's when he started, that's what's important," Mitchom said. "You could barely get two words out of him."

Bass provided East St. Louis with essentially a coach in the field of play. He signaled for adjustments based on his reads, moving into tougher matchups to prevent offensive targets beating a defensive back more than once.

The four-star safety found comfort in this new role.

"We hadn't necessarily seen that fire," Mitchom said. "We had heard that he had it in him. ... But this year we saw that fire."

Bass prioritized development and a platform to show off his talents, signing with Missouri on Wednesday. He pledged to the Tigers in July over Arkansas, Illinois and Kansas State, choosing to stay close to home and become the next top recruit to play for the Tigers.

"People can watch Luther (Burden III) and see the results of Luther to where he just announced he's going to the Draft," Mitchom said. "So Mizzou seems like a good option for a lot of the kids locally, and that's something that intrigues him as well."

Bass knows Tigers sophomore Marvin Burks Jr. well. He's taken notice of Burks' early contributions to the Missouri defense as a starting safety, putting an emphasis on enrolling early and contributing as soon as he's ready.

Mitchom doesn't know where Bass will end up at the next level, given the Class of 2025 recruit's prowess at safety and cornerback, but he sees it as a good problem to have as a coach.

"If anybody knows about the East St. Louis pedigree, you got Luther and Toriano Pride (Jr.) at Mizzou, you got Dominic Lovett at Georgia and you got Javontez Spraggins at Tennessee," Mitchom said. "You got a few SEC kids from East St Louis in there. We're very familiar with what it takes to play at that level."