2002 Recruiting Class

As many of you know Gary Pinkel and Company get a great amount of criticism for the recruiting classes that Mizzou has had over the years. In the next few weeks I am going to go over the classes and we will see exactly who we remember playing and what stars they were. You will be interested in many of the things that have gone on.

Name	Position	Height	Weight	Stars
Fabian Bean	DE	6'3"	270	4
Howard Brissette	OL	6'6"	315	4
Joel Clinger	OL	6'7"	275	3
Brandon Coleman	ATH	6'3"	195	3
Mike Cook	OL	6'3"	315	2
Atiyyah Ellison	DT	6'4"	290	4
Todd Gohsler	K	6'0"	190	2
Marcus Guerrero-Bacon	DB	6'3"	190	3
Dedrick Harrington	ATH	6'4"	225	4
Josh Hibbets	QB	6'3"	190	3
DeQuincy Howard	TE	6'4"	215	2
Emmett Morris	LB	6'0"	210	3
David Overstreet	QB	6'2"	180	3
Alex Pettersen	K	6'4"	180	3
Steve Sanchez	OL	6'5"	300	3
Brian Smith	DE	6'3"	220	3
Corey Taylor	RB	6'0"	200	3
Phillip Tizzio	OL	6'6"	285	2
Mau Uiagalelei	LB	6'3"	235	3
Zach Ville	DE	6'2"	270	3
Mario Whitney	RB	6'0"	190	4
Zach Zwilling	TE	6'6"	250	4
Total = 22			Average: Stars	3.090909

Looking at the list I see 4 names that I remember hearing on the radio broadcasts.

1) Joel Clinger

2) Atiyyah Ellison

3) Dedrick Harrington

4) Brain Smith

Of those four, Ellison made it to the NFL with the Carolina Panthers and played some games for the Jaguars. He was cut by the Pats and isn't currently with a team.

Dedrick Harrington was a big time recruit from Mexico, MO and Pinkel even mentioned that he was just as nervous for the DGB signing as he was for Dedrick. Dedrick picked MU over Notre Dame. Doesn't have any stats from the NFL.

Brain Smith is still the Mizzou career leader in sacks with 31.5. This kid here was the most underrated player but the good news is that Pinkel and his staff can get good defensive play out of undersized players because we have good coaches.

Even that said you can tell that Mizzou was starting to make it's way up as you will see but the true help came from "diamonds in the rough." But those come in later classes so I will post 2003 when I get a chance and then 2004 all the way to this year.