Some Missouri fans say they were confident this morning, but honestly most Missouri fans were at the very most cautiously optimistic that the No. 1-ranked player in the nation, Dorial Green-Beckham, would commit to be a Tiger on National Signing Day.
In a press conference televised by ESPNU, Green-Beckham did in fact announce that he would be a Missouri Tiger for at least the next three years, choosing Missouri over Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama.
With the most-hyped press conference in Springfield’s history behind us, the fact that Green-Beckham chose to stay in his home state and attend the University of Missouri tells us a lot about both the player and the team.
With his decision, Green-Beckham has put himself in one of the more pass-happy offenses of the past 10 years, joining a great group of young receivers including Marcus Lucas, L’Damian Washington, Jimmie Hunt and Bud Sasser. Along with those young guns, Green-Beckham will be learning leadership and toughness from senior wideout TJ Moe.
It’s not just his fellow receivers either. Green-Beckham will be catching passes from quarterback James Franklin for the next two seasons, most likely, but the Tigers also have a lot of young and promising depth behind him. Corbin Berkstresser, a former 4-star recruit, was said to have the best arm strength on the team last year. Pinkel also picked up a gem in this year’s recruiting class in Maty Mauk, a 3-star quarterback that was named the Ohio High School Player of the Year and holds national records for passing yards, completions and touchdowns.
In the sense of teammates surrounding him, this is the perfect situation for the No. 1 recruit in the nation.
It’s not like Green-Beckham won’t be getting any exposure either. We are all probably sick of hearing about Missouri’s move to the SEC, but DGB said in an ESPNU interview that the school’s conference change had a big effect on his decision.
For Mizzou, this kind of recruiting win couldn’t have come at a better time. With Green-Beckham picking Mizzou, a “less prestigious program” that the other finalist, Arkansas (that is debatable), he has singlehandedly improved the credibility of Missouri recruiting to levels that were unthinkable for the school only five years ago.
Gary Pinkel, Dave Yost and their staff showed that they can go out and seal the borders of Missouri, keeping any level of recruit in the state to play their college football at Mizzou.
By securing the number one player in an entire class, the coaching staff can use this signing as evidence that they can get anyone in the nation.
Some are worried that expectations are too high for the No. 1 player in the nation, but when you look at the stats, he warrants that kind of attention. Green-Beckham set the national record for career receiving yards with 6,356 yards, so it’s not like his success has been overstated and its not like he doesn’t have a lot of potential. People may say he is overrated, but Missouri really has never had a recruit at this level. Excitement is warranted for Tiger fans.