Show-Me Recruiting Notebook

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With spring practices in full swing now for a couple of weeks, players have been able to get on college campuses and meet with coaches while watching their potential future team put in work, and envision themselves playing there and how they might fit in. This helps recruiting really begin to take off this offseason. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It's been a busy week with a couple of big verbal commitments from top ten players in the 2027 class in state.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Missouri has landed a verbal commitment from Francis Howell Central 2027 TE [player_tooltip player_id='1130985' first='Jack' last='Brown'] (6'5" 221) who picked the Tigers over Illinois among others. Brown has been a heavily offered player in the state for the last couple of seasons. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Mizzou Tigers have picked up the verbal commitment from a second top ten ranked prospect in speedy 2027 WR prospect [player_tooltip player_id='1590186' first='Chris' last='Harris'] Jr. (5'11" 180) who picked the home state school over schools like Tennessee, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Missouri State and a few others. His recruitment had begun to be on the uptick recently with Alabama offering, but he decided to shut it down following a recent spring practice visit. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kansas landed a verbal commitment from Oak Park 2027 speedy WR prospect [player_tooltip player_id='1590182' first='Deng' last='Tong'] (6'1" 175) who chose the Jayhawks over Iowa State, Texas State, Missouri State, Miami University and others. Tong is also a track star and one of the top sprinters in the state.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kansas is after another Missouri speedster and offered Ladue 2027 CB/WR [player_tooltip player_id='1325176' first='Evan' last='Via'] (6'0" 185). Via is another prospect who has seen his recruitment pick up heading into this spring. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Northwestern has offered Republic 2027 S [player_tooltip player_id='1324009' first='Keiran' last='Govan'] (6'2" 200) who I wrote about having his recruitment explode with offers from schools like Alabama, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Kansas State and Kansas among others just this month. Govan took in a Mizzou spring practice just a little over a week ago. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Colorado State offered Marquette 2027 DE [player_tooltip player_id='1726900' first='Andrew' last='Oldham'] (6'5" 230) for his latest. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eastern Michigan recently offered Lift For Life 2027 WR prospect [player_tooltip player_id='1131028' first='Eke' last='Henderson'] (6'0" 175). Henderson is beginning to see his recruitment pick up after having a breakout season in 2025. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dartmouth came into Missouri and has targeted a couple of prospects in Lee's Summit 2027 OL [player_tooltip player_id='1667951' first='Will' last='Seiler'] (6'6" 295) and Springfield Glendale (6'2" 185) WR [player_tooltip player_id='1883278' first='Joelle' last='Rover']. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Northern Iowa was the first D1 offer for Jefferson City 2027 OL prospect [player_tooltip player_id='1188450' first='Ethan' last='Leonard'] (6'3" 285). The athletic lineman is also a talented baseball player. He is starting to see more schools showing interest as of late. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lindenwood University was the first D1 offer for Raytown (6'3" 175) WR prospect [player_tooltip player_id='1198810' first='Traice' last='Collier']. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>UCLA has offered De Smet 2028 national recruit [player_tooltip player_id='1294184' first='Ridge' last='Janes'] (6'5" 235) adding to his already massive offer list. Janes is still playing basketball for his Spartans, and will play in a final four game on Friday. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Louisville is the latest offer for SLUH 2028 LB prospect [player_tooltip player_id='1598541' first='Anthony' last='Busby'] Jr. (6'1" 210) who is also a rising prospect on the recruiting trail for colleges to get a look at. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Iowa State was the first D1 offer for Mid-Mo rising OL prospect [player_tooltip player_id='2067366' first='Liam' last='Davis'] (6'6" 310) who will be one of the more heavily recruited prospects in the state in his class. Davis just won an MVP award at the recent 2026 Elite Combine. He moves extremely well for his size and showed why he is a D1 caliber prospect. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->