[eazyb81]

Excellent Mizzou publicity from the KC Star.

Kansas City is clearly a Mizzou town.

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/29...ng-ground.html

Posted on Sun, Apr. 29, 2012
MU football not losing ground in KC-area recruiting

Tigers’ area football recruiting hasn’t been affected by move to the SEC — except maybe in a good way.

By TEREZ A. PAYLOR
The Kansas City Star

Clay Rhodes grew tired of the recruiting process weeks ago. The letters, the calls … it’s all been so exhausting.

That’s part of the reason Rhodes, a three-star offensive tackle at Blue Valley High School, intends to make a college decision this week. Several schools covet the 6-foot-6, 265-pound Rhodes, but after months of deliberation, the senior-to-be announced Saturday that he’s narrowed his choices to Missouri and Oklahoma State.

And while Rhodes insists he’s not sure which school he’ll pick, he said Missouri’s move to the Southeastern Conference doesn’t hurt its chances.

“I’m one of those guys that like challenges,” Rhodes said, “and it’s definitely a challenge playing the big guys down there in Alabama, Georgia and Florida. You’re going against five-star, four-star defensive ends every game, and you can prove you can compete in the NFL. Every young football player dreams of that.”

Rhodes isn’t the only prospect from either the Kansas City area or the state of Missouri to fall in love with that concept.

As of Sunday, Missouri has landed nine commitments to the Class of 2013, and all but one is an in-state prospect. Three are from the Kansas City area. If they all stick, the Tigers will have their biggest in-state haul since 2009, when they secured 10 Missouri commitments before signing day.

The Tigers’ red-hot start has eliminated any concerns about whether the SEC move would affect local recruiting. Signing day is still 10 months away, and the coaching staff — led by receivers coach Andy Hill and offensive/recruiting coordinator David Yost — has not forgotten about its February pledge to recruit Kansas City.

“Yeah, there are some guys who say it is Big 12 country and all that stuff,” Hill said on signing day. “But Missouri is still Missouri. And we’re still going to be recruiting guys in Kansas City. We’re going to recruit guys in the state of Kansas.

“There are a lot of unknowns going to the SEC. But we do know we’re going. We still have a lot of advantages.”

Ones that have come into focus the last few months.

In addition to nabbing two of the Kansas City area’s top 2012 prospects in Lee’s Summit West offensive lineman Evan Boehm and Staley running back Morgan Steward, Missouri has secured commitments from three of the area’s best 2013 prospects in Staley quarterback Trent Hosick, Lee’s Summit West linebacker Nick Ramirez and Hogan Prep cornerback Anthony Sherrils.

Sherrils, a three-star prospect according to Rivals.com, committed early to Missouri, which was his first offer. Ramirez and Hosick had offers from Big 12 schools Kansas and Kansas State and others. They spurned them for the chance to measure themselves against the best at Mizzou.

Hosick and Ramirez, in particular, did it in style. Once Hosick sat down with his brother and decided, he called up his buddy Ramirez and made a request.

“I gave him all my reasons for committing,” said Hosick, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound dual-threat quarterback, “and I asked him to commit with me.”

Ramirez, a hard-hitting 6-foot-1, 228-pound four-star linebacker, could not find fault in Hosick’s logic — Mizzou was close to home and there’s no doubting the SEC’s pedigree. On the morning of April 14, the day of the Black & Gold game, they said they would become Tigers.

Ramirez said Missouri has a great coaching staff and he has a lot of friends on the team. But as much as he loves the school, he’s not sure he would have committed if it weren’t for the move to the nation’s most prestigious football conference.

“I don’t think I would have played in the Big 12,” said Ramirez, who chose Missouri over Nebraska and Iowa. “I wanted to play in the Big Ten or SEC, because I feel I’m that type of linebacker. When Missouri moved to the SEC, it just set them apart.”

But while the SEC move is clearly attractive to prospects, Ramirez said it’s important not to undervalue the Dorial Green-Beckham factor when considering reasons for the fast recruiting start.

DGB, as he’s become to be called, was the nation’s top-ranked 2012 recruit, a 6-foot-6, 220-pound Randy Moss clone from Springfield who could have gone to any school he wanted — and chose Missouri.

Recruits noticed.

“It’s definitely kind of cool to get an offer from the place where the No. 1 prospect went last year,” Rhodes said. “I ate lunch with him on one of my unofficial visits; he’s a great guy that knows how to sell the program.”
Ramirez agreed.

“When he picked Mizzou, it showed that he believed in the team and he wanted to make a name here and be the reason something special happens,” said Ramirez, one of MU’s two four-star commitments for 2013 along with Fort Zumwalt South running back Chase Abbington. “That’s something we all want to do.”

Both Rhodes and Rockhurst offensive tackle Zach Hannon say players who’ve already committed to Mizzou are gently working on them and extolling the virtues of joining the family.

“Trent told me his goal is to prove that Kansas and Missouri kids can win a national title,” Rhodes said of Hosick, whom he calls a friend. “That’s his goal, and it would be an unbelievable feat.”

Hannon, a 6-foot-5, 295-pounder who projects as a guard, comes from a Missouri family — his mother, father and grandmother went there — but is every bit as intrigued by the chance to join a recruiting class that could be the Tigers’ best in years.

“It weighs heavy on my decision,” Hannon said. “I know every single one of these guys, so I’m like ‘Wow, why not commit, these are all my friends?’ I have to look at what’s best for me, but it’s definitely a deciding factor.”

Hannon is friends with LS West defensive end Jamone Boyd, a 6-foot-4, 250-pounder, and said that the two have flirted with the idea of committing to the same school at the same time, like Hosick and Ramirez.

“I talked to him about it (Friday),” Hannon said. “We have the same top schools, except for one. We’re both possibly waiting on other offers, but that’s what we were talking about.”

Hannon expects to make a decision this summer, but Rhodes can’t make his soon enough.

Rhodes’ father isn’t sure which school his son will pick, but he does know conference affiliation could be a factor.

“That’s something we’ve discussed,” Randy Rhodes said. “Kids work so hard … it would be frustrating if conference realignment made it more difficult for that to happen for a kid that spends five years at a school.”

He acknowledged travel is an issue, noting the faraway schools in the SEC East.

“But the stability of the SEC,” he said, “and the opportunity to measure each week outweigh any concerns about that.”

Besides, Oklahoma State is his son’s other finalist, and while Stillwater is five hours away from Kansas City, Columbia is only two. That’s something Randy Rhodes is thinking about more than Clay, who is primarily concerned with the coaching staff and his chances of going pro.

“The main thing the coaching staff said to me is that the true big dogs go to the SEC,” Clay said. “I like that a lot.”

And if you think a kid with NFL aspirations wasn’t watching the NFL Draft, where 42 SEC players were selected — leading the nation for the sixth straight year — think again. No one knows how Missouri will fare on the field in its new conference come the fall, but when it comes to recruiting, it’s safe to say the Tigers are doing just fine.

“I did make a mental check of it,” Rhodes said of the NFL Draft, “and I said to myself, ‘Man, that could be me.’ You never know.”