The phone call went exactly as Alex Sanders had hoped. Now he’s a Tiger.
Sanders, the big Glendale High School wide receiver verbally committed to the University of Missouri’s football program Friday night during a phone conversation with coach coach Gary Pinkel.
After a workout with Missouri officials in Columbia Friday, Sanders called Pinkel. The Missouri coach extended the 6-foot-5, 205-pound Sanders a scholarship offer, one he had hoped for.
“I had a feeling they would offer and I’m glad they did. That’s where I wanted to go all along,”
said Sanders, who had just finished up a workout at Kansas on Saturday.
Sanders said he had also received offers from Kansas and Missouri State and had been recruited by Iowa and Vanderbilt. Pinkel cannot comment until recruits sign a letter of intent on National Signing Day, which is February 4, 2009.
The reason Sanders chose Missouri? The offense.
Schooled in Glendale’s spread offense, Sanders was an all-state receiver with 71 receptions for 1,171 yards and 12 touchdowns last year as a junior.
Combine those numbers with his 6-5, 205-pound frame and he fits the Missouri tight end mold.
The Tigers’ No. 2 and No. 4 leading recievers last season were tight ends, mostly lined up in the slot. Martin Rucker, a fourth-round pick by the Cleveland Browns, caught 84 passes for 834 yards and eight touchdowns and senior Chase Coffman caught 52 passes for 531 yards and seven TDs.
Both are 6-6, with Rucker at 255 pounds and Coffman pushing 245. Sanders said the coaching staff wants him to add 40 pounds to his 205-pound frame.
Then there’s the Tigers’ success. It was a banner year for Missouri (12-2), which reached No. 1 in the national polls, won the Big 12 North championship for the first time and were the only team to have wins over two Bowl Championship Series schools (Kansas and Illinois).
“I grew up going to games and that’s where I always wanted to go,”
Sanders said.
Division I recruits from Springfield are rare. Hillcrest's Chris Earnhardt, who will be a redshirt freshman next season at defensive end for Misouri. Earnhardt was the first Springfield D-I football player since Kickapoo's Jared Helming in 2000, who went to Nebraska
