Mizzou Footbal Signings

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Official Sports Report for February 7, 2008

Tigers Wrap Up Big Signing Class
by OSR Staff
Columbia, MO. - With mini-dramas playing around the nation in various recruiting circles, the University of Missouri had a nice, calm, boring day, as Gary Pinkel and his staff signed all 23 high school student-athletes that it had expected to sign.  All 23 signatures came into the Tiger Football offices by 11:30 a.m., putting the finishing touches on the highest-rated class ever assembled by Pinkel and staff.

The class of 23 recruits was ranked as the nation's 24th-best by Rivals.com, which is the highest ever in Pinkel's tenure at Mizzou.  It also ranked MU 5th-best in the Big 12, which was the highest the Tigers have rated in league standings.

The gem of the class, by analyst rankings, is quarterback Blaine Gabbert, a 6-5, 225-pound signal caller from Parkway West High School in the St. Louis, Mo., area.  Gabbert is the first five-star recruit in the Pinkel era, and was ranked by Rivals as the nation's top pro-style quarterback, as well as the unanimous number-one player in the state of Missouri.

Pinkel was naturally pleased with the results.

"I'm very pleased with our class," Pinkel said.  "I watched a little bit of TV today and it's kind of like the NFL Draft and all of this stuff that's happening nationally in recruiting and everybody's got opinions and everything else.  It's just funny, because I've never, ever heard a coach come out on recruiting day and say, 'You know, we just didn't do a very good job, it just didn't work out good.' "

"I'm not going to say that today either," he said.

"I feel very good about our class, I think we continue to recruit speed and athleticism, I think since the day we got here.  That's why we run faster now and that's why we have better athletes than we used to have.  I think that this class is significant in that way," he said.

"This always is an exciting day, because the players that we just signed today are the future of Missouri football.  We work very hard at it, it's a non-stop process.  We're working very hard on 2009 right now.  I'd like to certainly thank my staff who does just an exceptional job," he said.

"I know that we did a good job in the state of Missouri, and that's real important to us.  We also did a real good job in Texas, and certainly that's got something to do with the Cotton Bowl, but I think it also is the consistency of winning in our program," Pinkel said.