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Notebook: Mizzou might not be done adding to 2020 class

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National Signing Day typically represents the end of a recruiting cycle, a shift from coaches spending nearly every day on the road to focusing on the players on campus during upcoming spring practices. But while Missouri signed five more players Wednesday, bringing its total to 17, and head coach Eliah Drinkwitz met with reporters for a press conference, the Tigers might not be done adding to their roster. Drinkwitz left the door open for the addition of a transfer or two between now and the start of fall camp.

“We do already have some roster flexibility if the right person or fit comes available,” he said Wednesday.

Whether or not schools can add players after signing day typically depends on two factors. First, no school can sign more than 25 players in a calendar year. Missouri is in no danger of reaching that limit. Second, scholarships are capped at 85 each season — for most teams. As a result of NCAA sanctions from an academic fraud case, Missouri lost four spots and so will have to compete with 81 scholarship players in 2020.

Due to the addition of seven players — five high school prospects, a junior college transfer and a graduate transfer — since December’s early signing period, Missouri currently sits at exactly 81 scholarships. That means for each player the staff adds to the roster between now and fall camp, someone would have to leave (not unusual attrition by any means). Drinkwitz said the coaching staff always planned to allow itself a spot or two for a late addition.

“I think college football and roster management has changed over the past two years because of the transfer portal, the ability to add players and manage a roster through transfers and have immediate eligibility, and so been fortunate to be able to utilize that in my past, and will utilize that moving forward.”

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New Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz said the team could still add a transfer or two to the roster before next season.
New Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz said the team could still add a transfer or two to the roster before next season. (MUTigers.com)

Drinkwitz didn’t specify whether Missouri could look to add more than one player from the junior college, traditional or graduate transfer market, nor did he disclose which positions the staff would prioritize.


“I don't know that yet, because I have not seen these guys and I’ve tried not to formulate opinions based off previous schemes or tape,” he explained. “... We do have roster flexibility but I'm not committing to one or the other yet, I'm not going to make any judgments until I see it with my own eyes my own ears and our staff can collaborate on what we need to do moving forward to be competitive.”


Hazelton expected to play right away

Drinkwitz and Missouri have already added one graduate transfer in the 2020 class in the form of former Virginia Tech wide receiver Damon Hazelton Jr. Hazelton signed with the Tigers on Feb. 1.

Initially, there was some confusion about whether Hazelton, like most graduate transfers, would be immediately eligible to see the field due to the fact that he had already transferred once before, from Ball State to Virginia Tech after his freshman season. Drinkwitz assuaged those concerns Wednesday, saying “I would say I’m not concerned about it at this time.”

Hazelton should help fill one of Missouri’s more pressing needs. Drinkwitz called him a “touchdown-maker” at a position where all of Missouri’s returning wideouts combined to catch two touchdowns a season ago. Hazelton caught eight scores each of the past two seasons.

“That’s a big get for us,” Drinkwitz said. “... We know he can play in man, beat man-to-man coverage. Got great size, great catch radius, and so we're excited about him and know that maturity he brings to that room and the competition he brings to that room, which is something we needed.”

Recruiting areas coming into focus

One thing Drinkwitz has been vocal about changing from former head coach Barry Odom’s regime since he took the Missouri job has been how his staff recruits. Odom had assistants primarily recruit by position. Drinkwitz prefers a regional model, where each staff member sticks to a geographic area.

Drinkwitz said the approach will be employed on both a local and national level. Not only will each assistant recruit a given area of the country, each will man a region within Missouri, Drinkwitz included. Every time they’ve spoken with the media, both Drinkwitz and his assistants have emphasized the importance of in-state recruiting, with Drinkwitz noting Wednesday that 26 of the past 41 NFL Draft picks from the school have come from within state lines.

“We have to close the borders, we have to emphasize our state, do a great job of evaluating and make it a strength, and that's the point of emphasis that I made to our staff,” Drinkwitz said. “We're going to see the high schools in this state, we're going to see the players and we’re going to evaluate them. That doesn't mean we're going to take every player in the state; it means we're going to take the kids we can help us win the SEC East, and we're going to trust our evaluation and our eyes and ears, and we're going to be in those schools to make those evaluations.”

Aside from Missouri, Drinkwitz mentioned Dallas and the Midwest (Iowa, Minneapolis, Chicago) as areas of emphasis. He specifically harped on the importance of recruiting the Dallas metropolitan area, mentioning that doing so was key to Gary Pinkel’s success at Missouri. While defensive coordinator Ryan Walters and cornerbacks coach David Gibbs already have some ties to the region (the duo was instrumental in landing cornerback Ennis Rakestraw over Texas and Alabama Wednesday), Drinkwitz said running backs coach Curtis Luper also brings deep ties to the area. Luper spent the past eight seasons as an assistant at TCU.

“Coach Luper does outstanding job of coaching, but was a dynamic recruiter in Dallas,” Drinkwitz said. “I know in the past the Dallas metro area has been a huge part of Mizzou’s success, especially under coach Pinkel, and I wanted to tap into that again.”

Drinkwitz slips in shot at Arkansas

The past six years, Missouri has concluded its football seasons with an annual “rivalry” matchup against Arkansas. Most of the time, however, the Battle Line Rivalry has felt a bit forced. But this offseason, when the Razorbacks hired Odom after he was fired by Missouri, has injected some animosity between the two fanbases.

Drinkwitz might have taken it up a notch by slipping in a shot at Arkansas near the end of his press conference.

As he was discussing offensive line commit Dylan Spencer, Drinkwitz noted that Spencer was “really being pressured by an in-state school” as well as “another school in the SEC East” when he chose the Tigers. He also noted that Spencer was hearing from “a school south of us, who seemed to keep offering every single person that we offered.”

Arkansas and Missouri went head to head several times during this recruiting cycle. Three players formerly committed to Missouri under Odom — Ray Curry, Jalen St. John and Dominique Johnson — wound up signing with Arkansas. In addition, three of the five players who signed with Missouri Wednesday — Spencer, Rakestraw and Kris Abrams-Draine — received offers from Arkansas in the past six weeks.

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