What are the next steps for the Mizzou Football Class of 2025? (2024)

The Mizzou football coaching staff seems to be taking a short breather just two weeks after an EPIC run of recruiting victories. That run from July 4-10, which saw the Tigers’ team recruiting rankings jump to #13 in the 247sports composite and #11 on Rivals, might go down as the greatest single week in Mizzou recruiting history.

To recap: on July 4, four-star receiver and Ohio State de-commit Jayvan Boggs committed to Mizzou followed up on July 5 by another Florida four-star receiver in Donovan Olugbode. July 6 saw four-star offensive lineman Lamont Rogers commit to the Tigers and then July 7 brought another lineman in three-star Keiton Jones. The week wrapped up with East St. Louis-area four-star cornerback Charles Bass staying close to home and committing to Mizzou.

Now that it has been two weeks since the most recent commitment, let’s take a pause along with the Mizzou coaches to re-evaluate the class of 2025 and think about what positional additions the coaches may want to focus on bolstering between now and the December signing day.

The class of 2025 currently sits at 17 commitments. Historically, in his four years on the job, Drinkwitz has signed an average of 20 high school recruits per year. With the rise of the transfer portal and an increasing emphasis on bringing in talented and experienced players from other programs, as well as the potential for stricter roster limits being imposed by the NCAA in upcoming years, it would be surprising if Drinkwitz goes above that number of 20 high school signees this season. So where does the staff look to fill those remaining three-ish spots? Well let’s take a look at what positions they have filled first:

For what seemed like quite a long time following the commitment of Matt Zollers in February (in reality it was only a couple months) the staff seemed to be only landing defensive player commitments. However since June 14, six offensive players have signed in including three receivers, a running back and two offensive lineman. Now with nine commitments on the offensive side of the ball, it would be surprising if the staff brought in any more than one additional player.

Looking at the illustrious list of four-star talent on this side of the ball, the one area the staff might be interested in bolstering is the running back position. Jamarion Morrow is a talented player, as evidenced by his status as a four-star recruit in the 247sports composite rankings. That said, he is not a big guy (5-9, 170 lbs) and his ability to to withstand a full season of SEC hits has yet to be determined.

With two seniors in Marcus Carroll and Nate Noel exhausting their eligibility after this season, the Mizzou running back room is quite backlogged at the back-up running back position with Jamal Roberts, Tavorus Jones and Kewan Lacy all competing for starting spots in 2025. Not to wish anyone off the roster, but in the age of the transfer portal it is unlikely that all three of those players will still be Tigers next season. This makes it all the more important to rebuild the position room for future seasons. While it’s hard to gauge their interest, Mizzou does have offers out to at least three uncommitted three-star running backs in Shekai Mills-Knight, D’Shaun Ford, and Tomir Bransford.

The other offensive position that might draw fan interest is the offensive line, however with four commitments, including two four-star players, the Tigers should be quite set at line depth in this class. That all goes out the window, however, if Drinkwitz should somehow land five-star tackle Michael Fasusi. Fasusi is rated the 12th player nationally and despite expert predictions that he ends up at Texas, Mizzou is in his final five. Fasusi is an automatic take no matter what the state of the offensive line room looks like. Next, lets look at the defense:

With eight commitments on the defensive side of the ball, the coaching staff may want to add at least a couple more defensive players to their 2025 class. When looking at the above list, what pops out is that the one position with only one commitment is defensive tackle. Outside of offensive line, perhaps no position in football is more important for depth than interior defensive line. While 2024 Tiger newcomers Chris McCellan and Sterling Webb will have eligibility in 2025, it is vital to continuing rebuilding the depth lost after last year through high school players.

The transfer portal does allow Drinkwitz to supplement positions as he can, however sustainable depth is built through high school recruiting and player development. It would not be surprising if Mizzou looks to add two more defensive linemen in this class and call it a (successful) day. The Tiger staff has offers out to several uncommitted linemen, including four-star Jarquez Carter and three-star players Walter Mathis, Floyd Boucard, and Dilan Battle.

The Tigers do have two EDGE players already committed in Daeden Hopkins and Joshua Lewis, but they could always look to add another, especially if five-star phenom Iose Epenesa forgoes his family ties at Iowa and chooses Mizzou. With two linebackers and three defensive backs, it probably isn’t a priority for the coaches to add to those areas, but if a talented player pops up who wants to play in Columbia, they won’t be turned away.

After a run of unprecedented recruiting success, the Mizzou coaches are faced with the ability now to be picky about who they want to take. With 17 commitments on board, the last 2-4 names who sign on with the Tigers will be players that the staff really wants, not just who they can get. That’s a luxury Mizzou football hasn’t historically been able to enjoy.