First, in regards to the recruiting rankings, you are

Posted on: July 29, 2016 at 07:33:49 CT

absolutely correct, there's been a lot of excitement but it looks like we're going to end up where we normally end up if not lower.

Pinkel was fantastic at player development, he had his 'system' that melded two and three star players into teams that could outplay teams of three and four star players. Can Odom do this? We'll see.

Also, Pinkel was looking to build on the Florida State/Alabama/Ole Miss style of football operations. That means extreme player enabling. However, Mizzou/Alden couldn't stomach it. We got too outraged at DGB & Maty. And we stepped back from winning at all costs.

I believe Pinkel was on the verge of building Mizzou into a mini-Florida State. Those SEC East Championships could have been parlayed into National Championships, but you can't suspend/dismiss players for pushing a girlfriend down some stairs or snorting cocaine. No charges? No suspension. That's how the big boys do it. Instead we lost both players and turned the 2015 team into a bit of a witch hunt. No one knew who we were or what was expected. How far can a player cross the line?

Now we're in no mans land. If we have a zero tolerance policy for player misbehavior, that's going to start showing itself here shortly - something will happen. And if that is the case, it doesn't even matter if we get the top recruiting classes, because to keep them, you have to enable them - that's the way the big boys do it.

So for now cross your fingers that Odom can just make the Arkestra rock. It's a mix of unrealistic player expectations, low ranked recruiting classes, quasi-support from the community at large and the state at large, and a core of intensely passionate believers (or at least hopers) who would like to elevate us to the top tier on fan love alone.

Any way you look at it it's an interesting mix and no one knows what's going to happen.

Edited by RayKinsella1922 at 07:39:13 on 07/29/16