Missouri signed 21 players to kick off the 2023 class on Wednesday. It’s a common saying in college football that recruiting never stops. If that was true before, it’s never been more true than it is in the era of the transfer portal. So while the news of the day is the 21 new players, the news now is what Missouri will do going forward.
The Tigers added two transfers on day one. Wide receiver Theo Wease comes to Mizzou from Oklahoma where he caught 63 passes for 1039 yards and 10 touchdowns over three healthy seasons. Wease is likely to slide directly into the starting lineup and allow the Tigers to move Luther Burden into the slot receiver position that was vacated when Dominic Lovett entered the transfer portal.
“He allows us to really have the opportunity to play him at X and potentially move Luther around in our offense a little bit more,” head coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “We really felt like in order for Luther to be as successful as he could (this year), we needed to kind of put him in a position. Now that we have Theo, who can handle that X, that will allow us to move Lu around and kind of create some matchup issues.”
MORE SIGNING DAY COVERAGE: WATCH: Drinkwitz's press conference | Mizzou flips Georgia DL Sam Williams | Signing Day Central | PowerMizzou Live Show
The other transfer in for Mizzou on Wednesday was Northwestern defensive end Austin Firestone. Firestone played just three games as a true freshman for Northwestern, which allowed him to maintain his redshirt and come to Columbia with four years of eligibility remaining. Getting a defensive end was a must because Isaiah McGuire, D.J. Coleman and Tyrone Hopper are leaving for sure. With Trajan Jeffcoat’s return not set in stone, Mizzou was facing the possibility of having just two defensive ends—Johnny Walker Jr. and Arden Walker—on scholarship. Along with high school signees Jahkai Lang and Serigne Tounkara, Firestone helps to replenish the numbers there a little bit.
“That allows us with three defensive ends to kind of replace the three that we for sure lost,” Drinkwitz said. “We anticipate adding potential one or more defensive ends if the right fit comes for us in the portal.”
The other position Drinkwitz said Missouri will actively pursue is safety. The Tigers transitioned from a three-cornerback team to a three-safety team in 2022 under Blake Baker with Martez Manuel and Daylan Carnell manning the STAR position, a hybrid safety and linebacker. Manuel is leaving and Jaylon Carlies could have the option to enter the NFL Draft. Jalani Williams graduated and entered the portal. Even with young safeties Isaac Thompson and Tyler Hibbler, Drinkwitz said the Tigers could look at a safety, with a particular emphasis on what they want to do at the STAR spot.
But in reality, Missouri—like everyone—is looking at every position on the roster as the portal becomes the main focus over the next four weeks.
“Everybody. We’ll recruit anybody,” Drinkwitz said. “When we attack the portal, we never really promise starting position, all we promise is an opportunity to compete and we wouldn’t offer that if we didn’t feel like they had the necessary tools and talents to compete. If we can find a player that we think can help us win then we owe it to the University and this team and our staff to explore every opportunity that becomes available.”
So does that mean they’ll recruit a transfer quarterback? It’s the question every Missouri fan has been asking for weeks. Brady Cook showed significant improvement in the second half of the season, but was it enough to lock down a starting job in 2023? It certainly didn’t sound like it on Wednesday.
“I’m not really in a hard and fast stance on that one way or the other right now,” Drinkwitz said when asked about adding a quarterback. “I’m looking forward to our game on Friday and seeing Brady and Sam (Horn) finish this thing out and then we’ll talk all the information that we have and make the best decision that we need to make for our football team going forward.”
With Seattle four-star Gabarri Johnson signing on Wednesday, the Tigers will have three quarterbacks on campus in the summer. Is that enough?
“There’s no such thing for me as adding a player for numbers,” Drinkwitz said. “Going into this year we really had three scholarship quarterbacks on our roster.”
In other words, if the Tigers go after a quarterback, they’re going after a guy they expect to compete for the job next season. Whether they will or not remains unseen.
Recruiting is in a dead period for high school players through January 12. There is a window between January 4-8 where transfers can take visits. Drinkwitz indicated January 17 will be the next big visit weekend for the Tigers in terms of the portal.
Wednesday brought a conclusion to phase one of the 2023 class. The pause won’t last long. Recruiting, now more than ever, never stops.
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