MU ****Official 2018 Missouri Tigers Football Thread**** - Page 39

The beginning of the 2018 season is a little under five weeks away. Missouri enters the year projected to finish 4th in the East, and may be a borderline Top 25 team according to some projection systems. After a disappointing recruiting cycle last year, pressure is on Odom to restock the cupboard after the senior years of Lock and Beckner, who will go down as two of the better Tigers in history and likely first round draft picks.

Schedule:

Spoiler!

Recruiting:

Spoiler!

At this point, the class is ranked 68-69 nationally by Rivals and 24/7. Odom is going to have to rely on Pinkel's diamond-in-the-rough approach. It looks like they've pulled back considerably from Georgia, focusing more upon Texas, which is what they should have always done. Unfortunately, they've done horrific in-state, and I think that will likely end up being the nail in Odom's coffin after the 2019 season.

12/19 Update: A strong finish late in the cycle moved the class up significantly. Securing commitments from grad transfer Kelly Bryant and TCU transfer Shawn Robinson has solidified the QB position in the short and intermediate term. A class that was ranked in the 60's at the beginning of the season is now a top 20-30 class factoring in transfers.

Hamas' Crystal Ball: 8-4; 4-4 in the SEC (wins vs. Ark, Tenn, Vandy, Kentucky)
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Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins:
The one thing that we've always known is that any coach in any sport at any level (Larry Coker, Barry Switzer, Frank Haith, Les Miles, et al) can win with someone else's player's, but it's a hell of a lot harder to do it with your own.

Where are the impact players that Odom has brought in? His best defender, his QB, and his #1 WR are all Pinkel's recruits. Albert O signed when Pinkel was still here, as did Nate Brown. There are some good lineman that they've signed, like Durant, but most of those were either signed before Pinkel resigned or they're JUCO guys. The one thing he has done is brought in good RB talent, but Crockett has not looked like the same player from two years ago, when he was one of the most dynamic freshman in Missouri history.

The cupboard is extremely thin, and it's thin because Odom can't recruit in this state worth a damn. A lot of us said it a while back, but him striking out on all that in-state talent in the last recruiting cycle was going to be his downfall. Given that he hasn't shown an ability to recruit top end talent or find enough diamonds in the rough (the development of pass rushers has completely disintegrated since Kuligowski left) there is almost nothing to hang his hat on. The coach after Odom is going to have nothing to work with.

Can't wait to see who our Football coach equivalent of Kim Anderson is going to be.
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