Using Hindsight to Rank Eli Drinkwitz's Best Freshman Class: The Extra Point

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Eli Drinkwitz now has a handful of the top-20 classes in the nation behind him, but which of those classes have actually led to on-field results for the Missouri Tigers?

The 2022 class featured two players who ended up being selected in the top-40 picks of the 2025 NFL draft. The 2023 class featured six starters on the 2024 team. The 2020 class featured five multi-year startes cruical to the program's turnaround, but Drinkwitz's staff wasn't around for most of that recruiting cycle. However, they do deserve credit for beng able to re-recruit those players after taking over from the previous staff.

Though it's too early to tell for the two most recent classes, the 2024 and 2025 groups are shaping up to be two of the best Drinkwitz has recruited. Although, four of the top-five highest-rated players from the 2024 class transferred out after one season with the program.

There's no doubt Drinkwitz can recruit at a high level. The next question for he and his staff to answer though is whether or not that recruiting can be turned into on-field production. How the careers of the 2023-2025 classes end up playing out will be a significant factor in answering that question.