Wright will look around
For the few weeks, Namon Wright had gone completely silent. The Mizzou signee's future with the Tigers was in limbo and Wright wasn't talking. He broke that silence in a series of tweets on Thursday afternoon.
Wright wrote: "Recently I met with coach Anderson, and I believe he is a really good guy and wants big things out of the program. Our time together was great. That being said, Coach Anderson, Mike Alden and NLI offices have granted me permission to talk to other schools/coaches, with restrictions. I will still strongly consider going to Missouri, I just need to make sure I'm in the right situation for me. #MizzouMade."
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Wright signed with the Tigers when Frank Haith was the head coach last fall. With Haith gone, Kim Anderson made a trip to California on Tuesday to meet with Wright. He was accompanied by assistant coaches Tim Fuller and Bryan Tibaldi. That was the meeting Wright referenced.
In a follow up text message to PowerMizzou.com, Wright said, "Sorry for not responding to previous texts, etc. I wanted to make sure everything was good before I reached out to anyone. Hopefully I can made a decision as soon as possible to make it fair to everyone."
Utah, Cal and UCLA have been widely speculated as possible landing spots for the No. 73 player in the 2014 Rivals150. In addition, his relationship with Haith could put Tulsa in the picture. But Wright did not share a list of schools with PowerMizzou.com.
"I'm not sure, I haven't talked to any coaches yet," Wright said. "But me and my family have to talk things through to make sure I'm happy."
Wright never specifically said Missouri has released him from his Letter of Intent and requests from Missouri officials for that information have not received a response. However, once a letter of intent is signed, the rules state that "prospective student-athletes are no longer subject to further recruiting contact and calls." Further rules state that once a letter is signed, no contact beyond a greeting is permitted between a recruit and other institutions, regardless of who were to initiate the contact. Thus, explore options with other schools, Wright would have to be released by Missouri first.
Wright said that he was "granted permission to talk to other schools/coaches, with restrictions." Neither Wright nor Missouri provided details when asked what restrictions had been put in place. Missouri officials confirmed that the Tigers are recruiting Wright, but they are precluded from making any other statements because Wright is a recruitable student-athlete. Specific to the Southeastern Conference, SEC bylaw 15.01.2 states the following:
A student athlete who has signed an SEC Financial Aid Agreement with a member institution and is eligible to receive the athletic scholarship on the institution's first day of classes of the academic year specified on the financial aid agreement, but who does not enter that institution or who does enter and withdraws from that institution before fully completing his/her first semester or quarter (except when the recipient of an athletic scholarship award enters military service before enrolling in the awarding institution and remains in military service for a period of eighteen months or more), shall not be eligible to receive an athletics grant-in-aid during the student-athlete's first two years in residence at the second SEC institution.
Therefore, Wright cannot go to another SEC school on scholarship. But none of the schools thought to be under consideration are SEC schools anyway.
At this point, Wright is exploring his options. Missouri is still included in those options. The rest remain a mystery. PowerMizzou.com will continue to follow Wright's recruitment, along with the rest of the developments in the Tigers' 2014 class. Missouri currently has three scholarships available with Wright back on the market.