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.”