Top national recruit Green-Beckham selects Missouri

The Springfield, Mo., native's commitment boosted the Tigers' class to No. 21 in the country, according to ESPNU.

By Nate Atkins

Published Feb. 1, 2012

A year of history-making for the Missouri football program has taken another step into uncharted territory in wrapping up perhaps its top profile recruit in school history.

Hillcrest High School senior wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham, the No. 1 overall recruit by scouting services Scout and Rivals, announced his decision to join the Tigers at a news conference Wednesday, which was broadcast on ESPNU from his hometown of Springfield, Mo. The announcement came on what is commonly known as National Signing Day, which is the deadline for most college football recruits to make their decisions and the first day athletes can sign a Letter of Intent.

Green-Beckham made the announcement by putting on a Missouri hat and then sat down to make his signature to play for the Tigers.

“Just having a good relationship with the coaches, the people, the players, the whole atmosphere has been outstanding for me, to be able to fulfill my dreams at the University of Missouri,” he said on ESPNU in front of a crowd of more than 13,000, most ecstatic about his selection of the hometown Tigers.

Those fans were far from the only ones cheering. Along with Tiger fans throughout the country, the excitement spread beyond the Hillcrest High School gymnasium -- nestling in particular in the offices of the coaches who saw their last four years of work pay off with one flip of a hat.

"I didn't want to watch it," coach Gary Pinkel said of his pre-announcement jitters. "I was just hoping that someone would start screaming... It was a great moment for the University of Missouri. It was a great moment for our football program, our athletic department and our fans."

Missouri edged previous favorite Arkansas as well as final contenders Oklahoma, Texas and Alabama for the star recruit. Missouri made the very first offer to Green-Beckham prior to the receiver's freshman year of high school.

"(Dorial) is one of the most talented guys we've seen on high school film -- size-wise, athletics, speed, all that stuff," said wide receivers coach Andy Hill, whom Pinkel tabbed along with offensive coordinator Dave Yost as the primary recruiters of Green-Beckham.

Green-Beckham's high school production certainly justified the hype. The 6-foot-6-inch, 220-pound recruit is the nation's all-time leading receiver with 6,447 career yards to go along with 75 touchdowns.

He was also a decorated athlete in other sports, such as track, where he claimed individual titles in the 100-meter dash and triple jump and a second-place finish in the long jump. He was the Hillcrest basketball team's most valuable player en route to a Class 5 state championship in 2010.

The all-around athleticism leaves Pinkel, Yost and Hill with a plethora of options for orchestrating him into the offense in future days, providing, as Hill was sure to note, he goes out and proves himself.

"If you watch the highlights… he did a lot of these same things in high school," Hill said about incorporating his new recruit into the Tigers offense. "You'll see (Hillcrest) motion him out there, run the jet sweep with him, they're doing bubble screens to him. A lot of the stuff we did with (former) players he did in high school."

It was the past success of those former players -- college stars-turned-NFL producers such as Rams wide receiver Danario Alexander and Eagles wide receiver Jeremy Maclin -- that provided Hill with his best pitch to the man many refer to as simply "DGB." Both Alexander and Maclin were All-Americans at wide receiver for the Tigers in offenses largely designed around their skill sets.

"We can say, 'This is what we've done with a guy like you,'" Hill said. "'It's not some sales pitch. It's been done. If we can get you doing the same things, we'll have a lot of happy fans at Faurot Field.'"

Green-Beckham made his final college visit to Columbia this past weekend, during which he was present on the bench for the men's basketball team's 63-50 victory over Texas Tech at Mizzou Arena.

"That was awesome," Pinkel said of the student body support. "That's what Missouri Tigers should be like."

The news was clearly relieving to Pinkel, Hill and all who went to work recruiting the No. 1 prospect over the past few years. But the end didn't come without its share of heart attack.

"You were either going to be at the top of the world or jumping off the Hearnes Center at 10 this morning," Hill said of the announcement.