Missouri hosted its first of two Elite Camps for high school recruits Thursday. While the number of events continued to shrink this season, the Tigers still got prospects to campus for a first round of summer evaluations.
A quarterback at St. Louis (Mo.) Christian Brothers College High, Daylen Austin-Harvey camped with Missouri for the first time. He learned to keep his eyes more down field when the pocket started to close and care about the minute details.
"They taught me that I can't crack under pressure and I need to be consistent on throws," the 5-foot-10, 150-pound signal-caller said. "Areas I've improved on since last year are my deep ball, accuracy, leadership and footwork. Things I need to improve on for my sophomore season are consistency, technique in testing events and gain some more weight."
With his third visit to Missouri since January, St. Louis (Mo.) University High linebacker Anthony Busby Jr. only put himself more in the eyes of linebackers coach Derek Nicholson, who received the commitment of Busby's teammate, Keenan Harris, in May.
In front of Nicholson and assistant linebackers coach Christopher Ball, Busby improved in his coverage ability while looking to strengthen his run fit and gap scheme this summer, which will slow down the game for the young linebacker.
"Coach Ball put out a great zone drop and getting to the ball drill that helped me a lot in 1 v. 1," Busby said.
One of two Atlanta (Ga.) Pace Academy basketball players to turn to football this offseason, Brian Clark II stayed true to his decision to camp at Missouri after being offered this spring by the Tigers, the alma mater of Pace head coach Sean Weatherspoon.
Even with defensive line coach Al Davis, who extended him a scholarship, no longer on staff, Clark spoke with multiple staffers, including Nicholson and head coach Eli Drinkwitz.
"I would say I was a top performer in the drills," Clark said. "But I've got catching up to do in the live 1-on-1's."
LJ McGhee, a Class of 2026 running back at Tulsa (Okla.) Union, learned from the two best people that fit him during his camp stay.
Running backs coach Curtis Luper played college football in McGhee's home state, frequenting Oklahoma every since. Freshman back Brendon Haygood, a late bloomer, was also involved in coaching up the 5-foot-9, 180-pounder.
"He is great dude, loved talking to him," McGhee said of Haygood. "He told me I just need to keep working cause it will all work out. ... I loved the hospitality they showed me after camp, giving me a tour. I also liked the encouragement from the players when it came to the drills and making me a better player."
Returning to Missouri after Junior Day in January, Brady Penister was another player tied to Davis. He's still shown a drive to get more on the radar of Division-I schools this summer, wanting to be immersed in a program's competition and work ethic.
"I got better today with tracking the ball when it's thrown," the Class of 2026 running back said. "Coach Lupe really helped me out on that."
Receiving an invite to Elite Camp during tight ends coach Derham Cato's April visit to Lee's Summit (Mo.) High, Max Trillo showed out with his footwork, excelling with agility and quickness during drills and 1-on-1 competitions.
"An offer from Mizzou would be really exciting for me," Trillo said "Because that is a school near me, which would definitely keep it on the map for me."
Offensive line coach Brandon Jones gave Warrick VanBlaricon a list of tools to work on ahead of the offensive tackle's junior season. Jones wanted to see the lineman setting quicker in pass protection and staying low and exploding off the ball during run plays.
"I mainly just need to focus on my stamina and run blocking," said VanBlaricon, who also improved his stance at the camp with help from junior guard Cayden Green. "Not coming from a strong running team really limits me from being able to work on my run game, but this offseason, it has been one of my main focuses."
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