Missouri recruiting notebook: De Smet duo make commitments

With the days ticking down until the official start of the 2021 football season, the recruiting action off the field has been picking up. Three of the state’s top prospects made verbal commitments to colleges this week, including one of the top Class of 2023 prospects in the nation. Here is a quick recap of some of the recruiting news from this week... <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="37655" first="Mac" last="Markway"], TE, De Smet (Florida)</strong> Markway entered high school as a freshman two years ago as a Division I prospect based on his size and family history, which included family members who played tight end at Iowa, Ohio State and South Carolina. It wasn’t long before Markway, who has grown to 6-feet-4 and 250 pounds, emerged as one of the top prospects nationally in the Class of 2023, attracting scholarship offers from powerhouse college football programs from coast to coast. Markway and his family made several visits this summer to check out the schools in person, including Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Florida, LSU and USC. He made a verbal commitment to Florida on Tuesday during a ceremony at his high school. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="37536" first="Kaleb" last="Purdy"], S, De Smet (Kansas)</strong> One of the driving forces behind De Smet’s rise to one of the top programs in the state, Purdy has made an impact in his first three seasons of high school football and goes into his fourth season as one of the better players in the state. Purdy recorded 39 tackles and two fumble recoveries as a freshman, had 48 tackles, one interception and one fumble recovery during De Smet’s state championship season as a sophomore and then racked up 52 tackles and three interceptions in seven games as a junior as the Spartans finished second in the state. On Friday, Purdy pledged to Kansas over reported scholarship offers from Iowa State, Kansas State, Michigan and Missouri. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="37545" first="Jimmy" last="Lansing"], OL, Chaminade (Southern Illinois)</strong> One of the top offensive linemen in Missouri, and arguably the top offensive tackle prospect in the Class of 2022, Lansing attracted scholarship offers from a variety of schools, including Kent State, Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia and Southern Illinois. On Thursday, the 6-7, 300-pounder made a verbal commitment to Southern Illinois, opting to stay closer to home where the Salukis look to be building something special under coach Nick Hill. <strong>Murray State offers good under-the-radar prospects</strong> Three of the better sleeper prospects in the Class of 2022 in Missouri picked up offers recently from Murray State: Pembroke Hill tight end [player_tooltip player_id="172296" first="Miles" last="Marshall"], CBC cornerback [player_tooltip player_id="171843" first="Justus" last="Johnson"] and Lutheran North defensive tackle [player_tooltip player_id="37593" first="Jaylen" last="Banks"]. Marshall, who also plays outside linebacker, is a 6-5, 225-pounder who is one of the top tight end prospects in a 2022 class loaded with them. Johnson is a long and lanky 6-1 cornerback who has been a been a solid contributor at CBC the past two seasons and has posted 4.5-second 40-yard dash times this offseason. He will start at corner this fall, opposite Ball State commit [player_tooltip player_id="37539" first="Blair" last="Schonhorst"], but could also see some time at wide receiver. Banks is a 6-4, 270-pounder who recently picked up offers from Murray State and Southern Illinois and has announced he will make his commitment soon. <em><strong>Follow Nate Latsch on Twitter at @natelatsch.</strong></em> &nbsp;