COLUMBIA, MO. • When Missouri coach Barry Odom unveils his second recruiting class in a few weeks, the casual fan might have trouble distinguishing most of the prospects. A thin pool of in-state recruits pushed Odom’s staff beyond the state border to fill the 2017 class, a strategy Odom planned before the bulk of area prospects committed elsewhere.
Odom continues to assign assistant coaches to recruit regions of the country, but his staff also recruits for their specific position group. That’s led to a more national approach for this year’s class. Odom’s staff has crisscrossed the map from New Mexico to Michigan to New York to land commitments.