The 2019 season brings uncertainty, as the protracted appeal over a ridiculous "scandal" with a single actor still has not been resolved. On the field, Mizzou faces what appears to be a much easier schedule than in years' past. The early season is loaded with home games before a protracted road stretch from mid-October through November.
Schedule:
Spoiler!
8/31 @ Wyoming
9/7 vs. West Virginia
9/14 vs. SEMO
9/21 vs. South Carolina
10/5 vs. Troy
10/12 vs. Ole Miss
10/19 @ Vandy
10/26 @ Kentucky
11/9 @ Georgia
11/16 vs. Florida
11/23 vs. Tennessee
11/29 @ Arkansas
Recruiting:
Spoiler!
Commits:
Jalen St. John, OG: **** 5.8 RR, St. Louis, MO
Brady Cook, QB: *** 5.7 RR, St. Louis, MO
Jay Maclin, WR: *** 5.7 RR, Kirkwood, MO
Mitchell Walters, OL: *** 5.7 RR, St. Louis, MO
Kevon Billingsley, DE: *** 5.7 RR, East St. Louis, IL
Robert Wooten, DE: *** 5.7 RR, Stafford, TX
Drake Heismeyer, OL: *** 5.6 RR, St. Charles, MO
Elijah Young, RB: *** 5.6 RR, Knoxville, TN
Cooper Davis, DE: *** 5.6 RR, Melbourne, FL
Will Norris, LB: *** 5.6 RR, Columbia MO
Dominique Johnson, RB: *** 5.6 RR, Crowley, TX
Ray Curry, OL: *** 5.5 RR, Memphis, TN
Harris Mevis, K: Unranked, Warsaw, IN
Javian Hester, WR: **** 5.8 RR, Tulsa, OK
Jalen Logan Redding, DE *** 5.6 RR, Columbia, MO
In-state talent is noticeably better than 2019, but the depth is not as impressive as the 2018 class that Missouri missed badly on. There are 7 4+* recruits per rivals, and as per usual, Ohio State has poached one of the two best in-state recruits, with Notre Dame taking the first 5* prospect in several years, Jordan Johnson. The program has de-invested in Georgia after making inroads in and around Gwinnett, and has dug further into Texas to compensate. Whether or not this is a good strategy is yet to be borne out.
The previous best recruit, Antonio Doyle, an ILB from St. Louis, decommitted on Thursday
The Class Rankings are in the low 50s from Rivals and 24/7 and again near the bottom of the SEC.
Hamas' Crystal ball sees a lot of variance. I could see this team winning as few as 7 and as many as 10 games. Georgia is the only certain loss. Florida is likely still overrated by name, but time will tell.
Official prediction: 9-3. Recruiting prediction: slightly disappointing
Jimmy Lake has already been named the new permanent HC there. Harsin not an option at Mizzou, though. He wants a PAC job and will probably wait for one.
I don’t get the sense Sterk has an actual plan, guys, from what I’m hearing.
This is headed into “Frank Haith?” Territory, I fear.
Unless people are clamoring for Willie Fritz or Troy Calhoun or McElwain or Blake Anderson.
There are a few names on there that could be good, but no one that achieves what Sterk said he was aiming to achieve. [Reply]
:-) So Mizzou really did fire Odom just because he said some mean stuff after Sterk wouldn't give him a vote of confidence and they got butthurt. Can we get rid of Sterk too? [Reply]
Originally Posted by Superturtle: :-) So Mizzou really did fire Odom just because he said some mean stuff after Sterk wouldn't give him a vote of confidence and they got butthurt. Can we get rid of Sterk too?
That seems to me like as good an explanation as any. I think Sterk is doing a lot of things, but I think it’s all reactive and he’s not sure where he’s going to end up. [Reply]
So was the plan to keep Odom around until he ran his mouth? Because it seems like that's the case given the lack of any plan whatsoever. Holy shitballs, there are some SERIOUS implications of incompetence at Mizzou. Hopefully they get lucky. [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
Jimmy Lake has already been named the new permanent HC there. Harsin not an option at Mizzou, though. He wants a PAC job and will probably wait for one.
I don’t get the sense Sterk has an actual plan, guys, from what I’m hearing.
This is headed into “Frank Haith?” Territory, I fear.
Unless people are clamoring for Willie Fritz or Troy Calhoun or McElwain or Blake Anderson.
There are a few names on there that could be good, but no one that achieves what Sterk said he was aiming to achieve.
Exactly the impression I got within hours of the firing.
My first thought was that he did it so quickly that he had a deal in place and it was all a matter of timing. Now I realize the dude couldn't hold his wad, fired his coach, had no idea what kind of interest around the profession there actually IS in this job and now realizes that it's tepid at best.
He's gone in 24 months. Sterk Haith'd the shit out of this hire. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
Exactly the impression I got within hours of the firing.
My first thought was that he did it so quickly that he had a deal in place and it was all a matter of timing. Now I realize the dude couldn't hold his wad, fired his coach, had no idea what kind of interest around the profession there actually IS in this job and now realizes that it's tepid at best.
He's gone in 24 months. Sterk Haith'd the shit out of this hire.
I imagine Cuonzo Martin will likely be out around the same time.
But hey, I get told to fist my mother for rightfully claiming Mizzou athletics are an embarrassment. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Superturtle:
So was the plan to keep Odom around until he ran his mouth? Because it seems like that's the case given the lack of any plan whatsoever. Holy shitballs, there are some SERIOUS implications of incompetence at Mizzou. Hopefully they get lucky.
I'm not saying that Sterk has handled this brilliantly, but when a coach goes out and starts telling assistants, players, and recruits that he's been fired before that decision has been made, it's not exactly an easy situation to deal with.
Odom has a hand in this too, and not only for the piss poor product he put on the field. [Reply]
Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins:
I'm not saying that Sterk has handled this brilliantly, but when a coach goes out and starts telling assistants, players, and recruits that he's been fired before that decision has been made, it's not exactly an easy situation to deal with.
Odom has a hand in this too, and not only for the piss poor product he put on the field.
Can't really speak to any of that, but if it's true then you're probably right. He probably gave the program little choice.
That said...may I ask what difference a 'vote of confidence' truly makes? If Sterk really gave a shit, he could've made some non-committal response rather than tell Odom to fuck himself. And if he really told Odom that he's not going to back him, don't you think the writing was on the wall either way?
Odom's not wrong - lame duck status in CFB is as bad as being fired. It's really just a slow march down death row at that point. Recruiting falls to hell, enthusiasm craters. If there was any chance that Sterk was going to keep Odom, he really did have to give that 'vote of confidence' even if it didn't mean anything.
And it NEVER means anything.
Yeah, Odom isn't necessarily blameless either, but that doesn't mean that Sterk's actions haven't put this program in a really damn tough spot.
I do like the point that Duncan made, though - Heupel's role in this is forgotten. The QB room is the cause of Odom's demise, IMO. He's here for another couple of years if they have ANYTHING in the pipe that could've stepped in after Lock and not made us scrap the entire offense and turn it into something that Dooley and crew clearly weren't up for. But Heupel's performance there yieled us Taylor Powell and a dude who made a greater impact at WR than at QB (Micah Wilson).
You can trace a lot back to Heupel's seeming awareness that he'd be long gone by the time Lock needed to be replaced so he just mailed that task in. [Reply]
