MO recruiting notes: ’22 QB commits; LB flips to MSU; new offers

As the Missouri high school football season came to a close this week, recruiting action has started to heat up. This past week included one of the state’s top senior quarterbacks making his college commitment, another senior quarterback receiving his first Division I offer, a Class of 2022 tight end whose recruiting is heating up and a 2023 standout who received his first offer. <strong>CBC’S HEITERT COMMITS TO SEMO</strong> CBC senior quarterback <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="37608" first="Patrick" last="Heitert"]</strong> had a week he will never forget. He capped off his career with the Cadets by leading them to the Missouri Class 6 championship on Saturday and then committed to play college football at Southeast Missouri on Wednesday. A 6-foot, 190-pounder, Heitert becomes the third quarterback in Missouri in the Class of 2022 to commit to a Division I school, following Lee’s Summit North’s [player_tooltip player_id="171825" first="Tre" last="Baker"] (Southern Illinois) and Lutheran North’s [player_tooltip player_id="37531" first="Brian" last="Brown"] (Southern Illinois). Heitert also had offers from Dayton, William Jewell and Benedictine. Heitert led CBC to a 13-1 record this fall. He completed 63 percent of his passes (197-313) for 2,974 yards, with 22 touchdowns against six interceptions, and ran for 461 yards and 12 touchdowns. As a junior, he completed 64 percent of his passes for 1,230 yards, with 15 touchdowns and four interceptions, and ran for 275 yards and two scores in six games. He also had four catches for 44 yards while playing tight end. <iframe src="//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/11108812/61a6b346a018c60b24b5dfcc" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <strong>WEST PLAINS’ LAIR FLIPS PLEDGE</strong> West Plains senior standout <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="96259" first="Connor" last="Lair"]</strong> committed to Southern Illinois months ago, but recently had a change of heart. On Thursday, Lair announced on Twitter he was staying home and would play his college football at Missouri State. Lair, a physical 6-1, 225-pounder, is a beast at linebacker, fullback or halfback but projects as a linebacker in college. He chose the Bears over offers from Southeast Missouri, Northwest Missouri State, Lindenwood and Pitt State and a preferred walk-on offer from Missouri. <strong>HOLT’S BROWN GETS DIVISION I OFFER</strong> Holt senior quarterback<strong> [player_tooltip player_id="37580" first="Cooper" last="Brown"]</strong> has put up some monster numbers during his time in high school. This week he picked up his first Division I offer from Murray State. Brown, who previously picked up offers from Ottawa University, Culver-Stockton and Benedictine, threw for 6,679 passing yards and 84 touchdowns over his four years at Holt. He led his squad to a 13-1 season as a senior but suffered an injury in the Class 5 semifinals and had to miss the state title game, which Holt lost 26-21 to Webb City. This fall, Brown completed 72 percent of his passes for 2,978 yards, with 37 touchdowns and five interceptions, and ran for 399 yards and eight scores. He threw for 2,057 yards with 32 touchdowns and six interceptions as a junior and 1,356 yards with 13 touchdowns and four interceptions as a sophomore and 288 yards with two touchdowns and one interception as a freshman. <iframe src="//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/10219042/6151f82590ef3107f425c016" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <strong>PARK HILL SOUTH STANDOUT BJORN ADDS OFFERS</strong> Park Hill South 2022 tight end <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="172619" first="Jack" last="Bjorn"]</strong> was late to the game of football, but is an intriguing prospect at 6-feet-7 and a lean 250 pounds. He made the decision to start playing football last offseason and it has paid off as he has emerged as a Division I prospect with Power 5 offers. Bjorn, who could play tight end or offensive line in college, picked up four offers during the month of November — from Kansas State, Toledo, Kansas and Iowa State — and will be a hot prospect until he signs. Bjorn was a second-team all-conference selection this fall after recording 11 receptions for 222 yards, an average of 20.2 yards catch, and scoring two touchdowns. <iframe src="//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/12060379/619333fa7bd3670b9c575180" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <strong>CHAMINADE’S GRIFFIN ADDS BIG TEN OFFER</strong> The recruiting of Chaminade senior wide receiver-safety <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="103078" first="Elijah" last="Griffin"] </strong>has been relatively quiet for an athletic 6-4, 195-pounder who had previously announced offers from Kansas, Kentucky, Arkansas State and Buffalo, but that should change in the next few weeks. On Friday, Griffin’s recruitment jumped up a notch when he received an offer from Nebraska. Griffin led Chaminade in receiving — his 21 receptions for 458 yards and six touchdowns were more than twice his closest teammate in each category — and added 31 tackles, three interceptions and a sack on defense. As a sophomore, Griffin had a breakout season while catching passes from now-Missouri quarterback Brady Cook. Griffin caught 34 passes for 750 yards and eight touchdowns. <iframe src="//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/11610973/6176cbdd0c5417052037a61b" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <strong>DE SMET’S THOMAS PICKS UP BIG FIRST OFFER</strong> De Smet Class of 2023 defender <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="244904" first="Elijah" last="Thomas"]</strong> is poised for a big offseason after a breakout junior season that saw him rack up 51 tackles, three sacks, three fumble recoveries and an interception. Thomas, a 6-2, 190-pounder who could end up playing safety or outside linebacker at the next level, received his first offer this week from the University of Arkansas. Thomas has a long and lean frame capable of adding good weight and plays with good anticipation, effort and speed. He also trains with one of the top speed and performance coaches in the St. Louis area, Brendan Thompson, who was a sprinter at the University of Iowa. <iframe src="//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/13476379/6189e506b5347c07e4b06ebc" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <em><strong>You can follow Nate Latsch on Twitter at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/natelatsch">@natelatsch</a>.</strong></em> &nbsp;