Missouri football lands state’s No. 1-ranked prospect in Class of 2025

In back-to-back years, Missouri football has landed the top prospect from within the state borders.

The top-ranked player in the state of Missouri in the Class of 2025, Eureka High offensive tackle Jack Lange, committed to Missouri football on Wednesday, announcing his decision during a live stream from his high school. Lange, who is a four-star prospect currently listed at 6-foot-8, 275 pounds, is rated as the 15th-best offensive tackle and the No. 144 player nationally in his class, per 247Sports’ composite recruiting rankings.

Lange chose Missouri over Michigan, Nebraska and Wisconsin. He is the fifth player to commit to Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz’s next recruiting class.

In a bit of a break from recent tradition, it took Missouri five commitments in this cycle to land a player from within the state borders.

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Among Missouri’s committed members to the Class of 2025: four-star quarterback Matt Zollers, who is the No. 1-ranked player from Pennsylvania; four-star linebacker Dante McClellan, an Ohio native; three-star defensive tackle Jason Dowell out of Illinois; and three-star defensive end Joshua Lewis from Louisiana.

In keeping with an emerging trend, Missouri landed its home state’s top prospect.

Williams Nwaneri, a five-star edge rusher and the state of Missouri’s top-ranked prospect in the Class of 2024, is due to arrive in Columbia this summer.

It had been nine years since Missouri had recruited the Show Me State’s top player to stay home — quarterback Drew Lock in 2015 — since Nwaneri’s commitment. Luther Burden III, one of the top players in the Class of 2022, was recruited out of Illinois’ East St. Louis.

Now, the Tigers have gone back-to-back.

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Drinkwitz, as per his Day 1 mission statement, has recruited the state more successfully than most.

But the Tigers' recent efforts on home turf certainly haven't been hurt by House Bill 417, a piece of legislation passed last summer that allows Missouri-based high school student-athletes to profit off of their name, image and likeness before ever signing a national letter of intent, provided they are committed to a Missouri-based secondary institution.

In this case: Mizzou.

State’s across the nation have since mimicked the law.

Missouri recently missed on the state’s No. 2 prospect, wide receiver Isaiah Mozee, who committed to Oregon. But the Tigers remain firmly in the running for other top-10 prospects including Christian Brother College wide receiver Corey Simms and Hermann edge rusher Daeden Hopkins.

Lange’s commitment comes on the same day the Tigers secured a commitment from an offensive tackle five years his senior: SMU transfer left tackle Marcus Bryant.

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This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football lands state’s No. 1-ranked prospect in Class of 2025