Pinkel makes important stop

Missouri coach Gary Pinkel and Tiger ace recruiter Andy Hill are in the Kansas City area today and one of his most important stops was at Smithville, Mo., where he spent time visiting with the coach of Rivals250 to watch tight end and Tiger commitment Andrew Jones.

The visit was definitely a priority, because there had been some interesting rumors floating around about how solid Jones' commitment was to the Tigers.

"I don't know how the rumors of me de-committing really got out there," Jones said. "I got a call from Blaine Gabbert, and he said people from more than one college told him I was de-committed. Then I got some texts from coach Yost at Missouri asking me what's going on. I wasn't really able to talk to coach Pinkel today when he came to school, but I told my coach to make it clear to him and coach Hill that I'm solidly committed to Missouri."

Jones explained further about his status.

"People call me, but I don't answer the phone a lot," he said. "And I don't call them back either. I also really don't text anybody either. It was kind of funny right when the calling period started, I got a lot of calls from numbers that I had never seen before. I found out that it was just coaches calling that had already offered me. I had told them no, so they were calling me from different numbers. It was insane. I was like, what the heck."

One call did catch his attention – well kind of.

"The Florida State coach called and said they needed to recruit a four-star tight end this year," Jones said. "He wanted to know if they recruited me if I would be interested. I told him that I did like them when I was growing up, but I told him that I just didn't know if I could visit them since it's that far away."

But at this point it sounds like a moot point. Jones, who is up to 22 scholarship offers, said he definitely sees his future in Columbia and is still doing his best to help the Tigers secure a highly ranked recruiting class.

"I'm going to a combine today, and Chris Harper is going to be there," Jones said. "I'm going to talk to him about being a Tiger. I'm also talking to Blaine about every day. It seems like he's still very confused. Anywhere he goes he comes back in love with them, and then that wears off and he's just as confused as ever."