Let’s talk St. Louis football recruiting
It’s never too early to talk football recruiting especially with spring football starting on March 11. I’ve been trying to keep up with some of Missouri’s potential football recruits from the St. Louis area, and periodically I’ll post updates about visits, camps, offers and other recruiting tidbits regarding our local preps.
NCAA football is in a recruiting quiet period until April 15, when the evaluation period begins. During the quiet period, in-person recruiting contacts only can be made on the member institution’s campus. No in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts or evaluations may be made during the quiet period. However, prospective recruits can call the coaches.
So offers are being dolled out during junior days and in the mail, but the heavy recruiting will begin in the summer.
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Webb waiting for a Mizzou offer
Union High School quarterback Jordan Webb hasn’t received an offer from Missouri yet, but he is probably the most qualified of any local quarterback to run the Tigers’ system. That’s because Webb has been playing in a version of Mizzou’s spread offense for the last two seasons and has put up numbers that would make any coach of a spread offense take a second look.
In two seasons, Webb has completed 59.7 percent of his passes for 7.438 yards and 135 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. His 4,279 yards and 55 touchdowns this season were 1,500 more yards and 30 more touchdowns than second-best quarterback in the area. His gaudy numbers earned him a trip to the U.S. Army All-American Bowl National Combine last December.
“We do a lot of the same stuff as Mizzou,” said Webb, the Post-Dispatch All-Metro first-teamer. “Coach (David) Yost and (Union) coach (Brent) Eckley talk quite often about that kind of stuff. We take some stuff from them.”
What Webb’s numbers haven’t earned him is college scholarships, in part because of his size. Webb is listed a 6-foot, 204 pounds, which so far has been attractive to only Kansas, Webb’s only offer. Like Missouri, Kansas utilizes a smaller quarterback in 5-foot-10 Todd Reesing to run its spread offense. Webb seemed liked a natural fit after he visited the Jayhawks’ junior day in mid-February.
Webb also will attend Iowa’s junior day on March 30 and has received interest from Indiana and Wake Forest.
Webb went to Missouri’s junior day last month and met with quarterbacks coach David Yost. Yost expressed interest but wasn’t ready to pull the trigger on another quarterback with Parkways West phenom Blaine Gabbert coming in this season, and Blue Springs South quarterback Blaine Dalton already committed to the Tigers for the 2009 season. Current quarterbacks Dominic Grooms and J.P. Tillman will be seniors in 2009.
“They already have one quarterback committed for my class so they said they’re going to be taking their time on the second one if they go for a second quarterback,” Webb said. “I think it would be fun to compete with those guys (Dalton and Gabbert). I definitely wouldn’t be scared away by the competition. That’s not going to be much of a factor when it comes to whom I’m choosing.
“I just want to go where I’m wanted most. Wherever I feel that is, that’s where I think I’d go. With Kansas being the first to offer me, it does sort of give them an edge, but it’s early.”
Moe not ready to commit – yet
There have been several rumors floating around that Fort Zumwalt West athlete T.J. Moe is ready to commit to the Tigers, and he wants to set the record straight.
“That’s false,” Moe said. “I won’t be committing anywhere this early.”
Moe, who led Fort Zumwalt West in passing with 160 completions for 2,326 yards and 17 touchdowns, and rushing with 216 carries for 1,497 yards and 24 touchdowns, also has an offer from Kansas, but said he’s leaning toward the Tigers. Moe said Mizzou cornerback Carl Gettis, who was high school teammates with Moe, has been talking up the program.
But for as much as Moe likes Mizzou, he’s weighing his options as recruiting starts to pick up. He’s heading to Louisville’s junior day on April 5, and received invites to attend the junior days and spring games for Illinois, Vanderbilt, Ohio State and Colorado. Moe said Louisville’s junior day would be the last he attends, but he is planning to go up to Illinois with Saint Louis University High running back Ronnie Wingo before the Illini spring game on April 19 (Moe is going to Missouri’s spring game on April 19). Wingo, who has offers from Mizzou, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Tennessee, will visit the Illini this weekend.
“I’ve got to step back and look at my options a little bit and make sure Mizzou is the right fit for me, but I will probably commit somewhere before the beginning of the football season next year,” Moe said. “I will say that I really do like Mizzou a lot, but I think everyone already knows that.”
Offers and invites pour in for Ford
Hazelwood East offensive lineman Darris Ford is expecting his third scholarship offer to arrive in the mail this week. Minnesota joins Kansas State and Missouri as Ford’s potential suitors. Ford attended both Missouri junior days and said he’ll probably attend Iowa State’s on March 29. Ford has also picked up invites to attend junior days and spring games for Miami, Alabama and Indiana.
Despite all the extra attention, Ford said he’s still a heavy Mizzou lean thanks to his father who’s a big fan of Missouri’s St. Louis recruiter Cornell Ford.
“Mizzou’s got my dad in their corner,” Darris Ford said. “Oh, most definitely (I’m still favoring Mizzou). Always the hometown.”
I wish Wingo would quit trying to recruit for The Illini. I would love to have him at Mizzou, but it seems as though he has made up his mind. He needs to just go away. He doesnt realize that unlike himself these other kids get the fact that Mizzou is the premier football school in the mid to upper midwest. He is making a huge mistake to listen to the “salesman” Ron Zook, whom will tell you whatever you wanna hear. Hey WINGO…you will be all by yourself when it comes to Missouri kids going to Illinois.
Hey MIKE…quit crying about Wingo - he knows that the Illini are the better team this year and for the future. “Mizzou the premier football school in the mid to upper midwest”? Put down your crack pipe, pal. Have you ever heard of Ohio State and Michigan? Mizzou had its chance for a national championship game and blew it. Have fun watching the Illini (and Mr. Wingo and other Missouri kids) winning the Big 10 and BCS Championship in ‘09. Mizzou might be a local favorite, but Illinois is building its program with top national recruits because the Illini are going to start playing for national titles. Get used to it. GO WINGO / GO ILLINI!!
Mike, what is wrong with you? You can not honestly be serious in saying that Illinois is better than Mizzou! I think you are pulling that out of your you know what. In the initial poll on ESPN.com, the one before spring football, it has Mizzou ranked number 4 or 5 and Illinois 23rd! I hope you are getting the picture here! MIzzou is now a powerhouse and will be for a long time! I can not wait until August 30th when Mizzou pummels Illinois at the Edward Jones Dome, that will be a nice way to start our National Championship run! Good luck stopping Daniel, Maclin and Coffman! The Illini have nothing on Mizzou! It is not even close! Oh and Wingo wont change that!
Wow! These two schools have not been respectable (MIZZOU for decades) for a while. I am glad to see such strong support for your teams. I am wondering how early you guys started drinking. Both teams will be good, but National Championship talk as an absolute is a little out there. Keep up the trash talk kids.
Oh if MU’s future rest on Wingo then they are not that good. There are a number of good to great running backs out there. Work on the kid, but if he wants to go to the Illini (and I can’t guess why he would want to) respect his decision and find another back. If MU is that good it will not be a problem. It is not like the kid is going to be a KU Chickenhawk
Someone close to Wingo told me he plans to room with Illini basketball star Eric Gordon when he arrives on campus in Champaign.
Oh Boy !
Here we go again !
I am really tired of hearing people pound the drum for Big Ten football. Granted Ohio St. is a good team and so is Illinois, but please tell me you have watched the Title game the last two years, and would have to agree they had no business even being there either time. These three yard and a cloud of dusters have got to wake up! Like they say in the south ” Big Ten football… football in slow motion ! ” The statement could not be any more true. Yes MU has had alot of down years, and for those of us who have had to endured it deserve to gloat a little. As for St. Louis kids going to Illinois or Missouri, I cannot, and will, not fault them for either. I for one am just happy to see them not going further out to Pac Ten or SEC schools. I love college football as much if not more than anyone out there, but remember they are kids and you can’t rip them for trying to make a choice that they feel best fits their needs.
Go Tigers !
Dave L.
I just want to make sure that everyone realizes that Wingo is just visiting Illinois this weekend. He’s not staying.
Dave L: the big ten is finally starting to realize that speed kills… as much as is pains me, Rich Rodriguez will being Michigan back to being Michigan… Zook is turning Illinois into a “SEC” type team… but I appreciate that you aren’t going to bash a STL kid simply for going to IL over MU…
nunya: why would a top back pick IL? have you heard of this dude named Mendenhall? just askin’
mike: “the premier football school”? really? I appreciate the run you guys had last year and honestly hope you can sustain it… but one good year does not make you the top dog… could they become it? sure, but come one man, let’s be realistic here…
Graham (and anyone else interested in responding),
Several questions:
1. Is Ronnie Wingo leaning toward the Illini?
2. While I would love to see him at Mizzou, he seems to be much bigger than the smaller, speed backs the coaches tend to favor behind a huge o-line — Temple, Woods, Jackson, and Goldsmith are under 5′10″. Is this their plan or is it that they haven’t previously had a shot at a back with Wingo’s size?
Thanks,
Matthew
“Have fun watching the Illini (and Mr. Wingo and other Missouri kids) winning the Big 10 and BCS Championship in ‘09″, posted by krushemillini …
Well I must say that’s as dumb a comment as i’ve seen in a while. I guess you didn’t see the score of the BCS game Illinois was in (USC 49, Ill 17), pretty pitiful. Really looked like a “contender” huh? I can gaurantee MU would have made a better showing than that. We were obviously much more deserving of the game anyways. And we beat Illinois last year in a crappy game on MU’s part. Wingo can go wherever he pleases as long as we get Montee Ball who’s just as good if not better. Kids want to go to MU because they are building a program that can compete on a national stage now, not just the bottom half of the Big 12, face it, it’s a fact. And I can’t wait until August 30th so we can show people like you who the national contender really is!
M-I-Z…