Pinkel Welcomes Loaded 2015 Recruiting Class

Gary Pinkel could not watch.

Missouri was one of four finalists for East St. Louis Defensive Lineman Terry Beckner Jr. The high school senior announced his college decision on national television during Wednesday’s National Signing Day.

After Beckner raised the Mizzou pennant, the announcement became must-see-TV for Pinkel and his staff.

“It’s one of the things that you just hope the right hat or thing is held up with the right team on it,” said Pinkel. “I was in my office, and I wasn’t staring at the TV. I was working on something else and I expected to hear yells or expected to hear nothing at all.”

Beckner said he had not contacted any of the coaches from his top four choices, Auburn, Florida State University, Ohio State and Missouri before his announcement on national television.

When it was all said and done on National Signing Day, Mizzou football was able to recruit some of the top players in the country. With the commitment of Beckner, MU added the top-ranked players from Illinois, Missouri (Drew Lock, QB) and Kansas (A.J. Harris, OL). The Missouri coaching staff attributes the strong recruiting haul to their recent success in the Southeastern Conference.

“We have won 23 games the last two years,” said Pinkel “That’s lent itself to the respect that we have kind of earned.”

This fall, Coach Pinkel will welcome, what national pundits are calling, one of the best recruiting classes during his tenure at Missouri. On paper, this class has a chance to rival the recruiting class of 2010

The 2010 recruiting class featured names such as Bud Sasser, Henry Josey, James Franklin, Kony Ealy and Marcus Murphy. Those players became key contributors on the 2013 and 2014 Mizzou teams that won back to back SEC East Championships.

“Time will always tell, and hopefully you are right that it is one of our great classes,” said Pinkel when asked about 2015 possibly being his best class as the head coach at Missouri.

Because of the early commitments from blue chip offensive prospects Drew Lock and A.J. Harris, Pinkel was able to focus his attention on the Defensive Line as National Signing Day approached.

In addition to the signing day commitment of Terry Beckner Jr., the Tigers were able to convince Nate Howard, who previously committed to Wisconsin, to flip to Missouri late last week after he reopened his recruiting process.

The Tigers signed 20 other players and Pinkel believes his team did a good job of filling needs with the 2015 class.

“You always want to hit your position goals as far as numbers of players you recruit at each spot,” said Pinkel. “If you don’t you generally are going to pay for it a year or two down the road, and I thought we hit those.”

The 24 players that Mizzou Football signed include:five Wide Receivers, four Running Backs, four Defensive Linemen, four Offensive Linemen, two Linebackers, one Quarterback, one Kicker, one Tight End, one Defensive Back and one Athlete.

Chase Abbington, RB, Hutchinson, KS.

Franklin Agbasimere, LB, Montverde, FL.

Terry Beckner Jr., DT, East St. Louis, IL.

Malik Cuellar, OL, San Francisco, CA.

Marquise Doherty, RB, Kansas City, Mo.

Corey Fatony, K, Franklin, TN.

Richaud Floyd, WR, Gulfport, MS.

Marcell Fraizer, DE, Weed, CA.

Emanuel Hall, WR, Franklin, TN.

Terez Hall, LB, Lithonia, GA.

AJ Harris, OL, Stilwell, KS

Cam Hilton, ATH, St. Louis, Mo.

Nate Howard, DE, St. Louis, Mo.

Tyler Howell, OL, El Dorado, KS.

Tyrell Jacobs, DE, Metairie, LA.

Johnathon Johnson,WR, Memphis, TN

Drew Lock, QB, Lee’s Summit, Mo.

Josh Moore, TE, Olathe, KS.

Tanner Owen, OL, Kearney, Mo.

Ronnel Perkins, WR, University City, Mo.

Justin Smith, WR, Dublin, GA.

Netereace Strong, RB, East St. Louis, IL.

T.J. Warren, DB, Conyers, GA

Ryan Williams, RB, Lee’s Summit, Mo.