Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel will be grinding until the bitter end to secure his 2012 recruiting class.
The angst in Boone County is palpable. Wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham from Springfield’s Hillcrest High School is MU’s top target. He is, in fact, ranked the No. 1 prospect overall by Rivals.com. MaxPreps.com has him atop its Players to Watch list.
Tiger fans are anxiously tracking his every move. Internet message boards are jammed with updates and speculation.
Green-Beckham is arguably the most decorated prospect Pinkel has ever been in on. Here is what expert Tom Lemming wrote about him:
It's taken 17 years but I've finally found a WR who is as good as Randy Moss. For years I've said Randy Moss was the best high school player I have seen, and Mr. Beckham has similar skills. He has great size, long arms, . . . 100-meter time of 10.5, and superior production. The nation's No. 1 player, he appears to have no weaknesses.
Green-Beckham is holding his decision until his Feb. 1 news conference at his high school. ESPNU will carry the event live.
Pinkel swooped in by helicopter to visit him last week. He and his staff are attempting to maintain a full-court press on the lad, who makes his visit to Columbia this weekend.
Alas, the entire seven-man panel from ESPN.com’s Recruiting Nation predicts he will sign with Arkansas. Oklahoma, Texas and Alabama have also been in the hunt.
This has been an especially stressful recruiting period for Mizzou. Recently, defensive back Will Hines from Waco, Texas, reneged on his commitment to the Tigers while zeroing in Arkansas.
On the other hand, Levi Copelin, a defensive back/receiver from Broken Arrow, Okla., bailed on Houston and committed to Missouri.
The MU staff will spend this weekend trying to corral the 17 recruits committed to Missouri while staying in the hunt for the uncommitted, like DGB.
MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE
Questions to ponder while wondering when Alex Steen and Andy McDonald will return to the Blues lineup:
How will Ozzie Guillen enjoy managing media darling Logan Morrison this season?
Is there a way to make soccer way more entertaining?
Does Cowboys owner Jerry Jones really look like the St. Louis University Billiken?
Should the Cardinals worry about a magazine cover curse?
QUIPS ‘R US
Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing:
Mike Freeman, CBSSports.com: “This is nothing personal against Greg Schiano, so please don't take it this way, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers making him their head coach is one of the worst coaching moves of the past 10 years, if not longer. To borrow a phrase: There's a mistake, then a joke, then six feet of sludge, then below all of that is this hire. Greg Schiano? That's the best the Buccaneers could do? Schiano? Really? Brad Childress wasn't available? Somewhere Jim Zorn is saying: ‘Hell, I shoulda dropped my name in there.’”
Michael Rosenberg, SI.com: “Tony Dungy coached the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a while, coached them well. The Bucs fired him because they were tired of losing in the playoffs every year. They hired Jon Gruden, who immediately won a Super Bowl, but then the team declined and they fired him, too. They hired Raheem Morris because they wanted some youthful enthusiasm, but then his team showed too much youth and not enough enthusiasm. So they fired him. And then, this week, they hired Rutgers coach Greg Schiano. I'm sure each of these moves made sense in a vacuum. Seriously. Go stick your head in a vacuum. Then this will all make sense. How do you go from Tony Dungy to Jon Gruden to Raheem Morris to Greg Schiano? Does that seem like progress to anybody on this planet?”
Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports: “Here’s how it’s going to work out. Peyton Manning will be cut by the Indianapolis Colts prior to the March deadline that calls for the team to pay him $28 million. Manning, if he is healthy, will be free to sign with whatever team he chooses. In April, the Colts will draft Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck with the No. 1 pick. Life will go on. There’s a new day dawning in Indy.”
Jeff Schultz, Atlanta Journal Constitution, on Jose Canseco: “He apparently watched the movie ‘Moneyball’ and it prompted him to go on a Twitter spree Sunday night, during which he asked Oakland general manager Billy Beane for a tryout. He would’ve had better luck if asked NASA. The Tweets: 10:42 p.m. I am going to play this year. 11:07 p.m. Billy beane call me would love to dh for you just give me a tryout that’s all I ask. 11:09 p.m. Billy beane email me Jc7264@yahoo.com. 11:21 p.m. I am hitting at on deck baseball academy in Vegas ask Andy about me. 2:32 a.m. (Monday): Baseball hates bill James but the Boston red sox hired him .that’s from the movie money ball. baseball hates me maybe they can hire me. I think I liked Canseco better when he was losing to wrestlers.”
MEGAPHONE
“It's a football game for us. It might be the Super Bowl for everybody else, but for us, we're going there to try to win a football game, so put all the distractions aside and don't let anything get in the way of our preparation. That's ultimately what's most important. This game, everyone will remember for the rest of their life. Hopefully it's a good memory.”
— Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, chatting up the Super Bowl to reporters.
