From Williams Nwaneri to recruiting wins, Eli Drinkwitz talks Mizzou football 2024 class

Social media rumors circulated. Message board posts speculated. At the height of the charade, reporters asked about the high school senior’s choice of crimson and cream gloves after Lee’s Summit North games.

But Eli Drinkwitz didn’t lose sleep over the future of his headline recruit, Williams Nwaneri.

“He’s been an oak,” Drinkwitz said. “Never once worried about it. Not one time.”

Twenty players signed their national letter of intent Wednesday, college football's early national signing day, to officially commit to Mizzou football, giving the Tigers their third top-25 recruiting class in the past four seasons. Before that, Drinkwitz noted, Missouri had managed just two such classes in the previous 20 tries.

Nwaneri, the top-ranked defensive end in the Class of 2024 and the No. 2 overall recruit, per 247Sports’ composite rankings, was just about as big of a lure as they come. The Tigers had to fend off a platoon of potential suitors to land the five-star edge rusher out of Lee’s Summit in Kansas City.

But what they didn’t have to do, the head coach said, was fret about him once he was on board.

“I think Williams was — when he made his commitment in August, I don’t think (he) ever even kinda wavered,” Drinkwitz said, “contrary to what other people might have reported on Twitter.”

Indeed, as of late, Missouri hasn’t had much to worry about.

The No. 9-ranked Tigers are heading to the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 29 to face No. 7 Ohio State in Arlington, Texas. If that had slipped anyone’s mind amid college football’s busy December, Drinkwitz showed up to his national signing day press conference in a black, Cotton Bowl-emblazoned jersey.

Sleek, stylish — and a clear symbol of the recent successes in Columbia.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Missouri has lured four players out of the transfer portal since it opened. Drinkwitz can’t talk about them yet due to league regulations, but he did quip “green and gold” is close to his heart because it’s the jersey color of his hometown Alma Airedales.

Oklahoma transfer Cayden Green, indeed, will soon be among the newcomers wearing MU gold.

The Tigers went into Wednesday on a week-long recruiting tear that saw their class jump rankings leap with four supplemental pledges in six days.

Drinkwitz said he traveled with offensive coordinator Kirby Moore and running backs coach Curtis Luper to Lancaster, Texas, to visit four-star running back Kewan Lacy on the day the Tigers’ Cotton Bowl berth was announced. Another coach — unnamed — visited Lacy, and the tailback told the Missouri coaches he wasn’t going to visit that school anymore. Drinkwitz left Texas feeling good about Missouri’s chances.

For good reason: Lacy committed to the Tigers over Ole Miss and Alabama last Thursday.

“I think he sees an opportunity … with our team, with two seniors graduating, (for) an opportunity to come in and earn playing time,” Drinkwitz said. “And I think he will have more than enough talent to do that.”

There was Jaren Sensabaugh, too. The cornerback and Tennessee native was widely expected to end up at his home-state Vols. Drinkwitz said he went to the cornerback’s school on the day he officially visited UT. That was Dec. 8.

Missouri earned Sensabaugh’s final official visit, which was seven days later. The corner is now Missouri-bound.

“We knew we were going to be in a really difficult fight there,” Drinkwitz said. … “Ultimately, we were able to convince him that this is the best place to be.”

In Arkansas, Drinkwitz’s home state, Missouri has lured three of the top-10 ranked players up north, including once-upon-a-time Razorbacks pledge and four-star wide receiver, Courtney Crutchfield.

All together, the future is looking rosy.

All in all, the 20 players who entered Wednesday verbally committed to Mizzou ended up signing up.

Drinkwitz said there was a 36-hour period when he met with eight different players on visits, meeting for coffees, lunches and stopping in the schools and homes of recruits. They spanned from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale to some spots he won’t yet name, perhaps hinting at more to come.

Nwaneri, once a player who might have given MU fits trying to keep, is the cornerstone; Exhibit A; the proof in the pudding. The MU head coach said Nwaneri, further still, was an integral part of Missouri’s recruiting efforts down to Wednesday’s wire.

They’re not selling anything new in CoMo, Drinkwitz said. One of the main goals of the program — play for championships — hasn’t changed.

But, as the whirlwind, wondrous 2023 season nears its conclusion, the selling point is a little closer to reality.

“You know, this year we were able to be a lot closer to that, and we can show a pathway of how we can compete for a college football playoff spot, which then means you're playing for a national championship,” Drinkwitz said. “Again, … whatever we've done this year doesn't guarantee us anything toward next year, other than we have the capabilities.”

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Mizzou football coach Eli Drinkwitz discusses 2024 recruiting class