February 8, 2011

By Jake Kreinberg

Love it or hate it, college football recruiting has taken on a life of its own, from scouting in high school all the way to the annual spring game, a glorified scrimmage designed to introduce the masses to the game’s (hopefully) newest stars.

The explosion of the Internet and the invention of rivals.com and other scouting websites have allowed fans to scrutinize 17-year-old kids playing a thousand miles away. Cool, huh?

There used to be a time when coaches were judged based on the quality of the players they coached. Now they need to worry about the caliber of kids they hope to coach.

That being said, the Missouri football team signed its 2011 recruiting class last week. Did you know?

Not that there was much to get excited about.

Missouri’s 17-member class was tied for the fewest in the Big 12, along with Oklahoma. Only Sheldon Richardson had drama surrounding him, and it’s likely Richardson will only attend MU for the summer and fall semesters.

The talent level in the state of Missouri was down this year, with no high school recruits from the hubs of St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield receiving significant national attention. Only four MU recruits were from the state, including Richardson, who attended junior college in California for the past two years.

Due to the dearth in local talent, Gary Pinkel’s newest streak of Tigers might be judged unfavorably by some, as only Richardson received a four-star (out of five) rating from Rivals, while the other 16 recruits were all given three stars.

Indeed, this can be considered a gap year of sorts, as last year’s class contained seven four-star recruits, including four from in-state and another from across the Mississippi River in Cahokia, Ill.

Next year’s class promises to be a defining point in Pinkel’s tenure, as several Missouri high school players are already on the radar of prestigious Midwestern schools, including Notre Dame and Ohio State. One of those players, wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham (Springfield-Hillcrest), was Rivals’ national Junior of the Year.

The Class of 2011 does present a few tidbits of interesting information, however. It is Pinkel’s first class to be solely composed of three-star or higher recruits since Rivals introduced the scale in 2002. While three-star players do little for fan excitement, they are likely to start and positively impact the team. And if there’s one positive thing that can be said for Pinkel, he maximizes the results from his recruits. He’s only landed two top-50 recruits since arriving in Columbia (Richardson and Blaine Gabbert), yet now has an established top-25 program.

Pinkel and his staff have been able to find hidden gems (Chase Daniel, Danario Alexander, and Sean Weatherspoon all received either two or three stars). Combine these players with premier in-state talent (i.e. Jeremy Maclin, Gabbert), and you have Missouri’s formula for success.

One such hidden gem in this year’s class might be Corbin Berkstresser (Lee’s Summit), a quarterback who played out of the spread formation in high school. At 6-foot-3-inches, 220 pounds, Berkstresser will likely compete for the starting job after redshirting next fall.

There is no off-season in college football. The spring game’s around the corner and plenty of work remains for the Class of 2012. After all, I just heard someone caught a one-handed touchdown pass on Stankowski.

Probably worth a recruiting visit.