By Jim Henry

jhenry@joplinglobe.com

Six players from the southwest Missouri area are among the 25 high school players who signed football letters of intent on Wednesday with Missouri Southern.

In addition, the Lions secured four junior college transfers who could provide immediate help on defense.

Three transfers — defensive end Cody Furr and linebacker Alex Wong from Grossmont (Calif.) College and linebacker Zeke Williams from Highland (Kan.) Community College — are already enrolled at MSSU and will participate in spring football.

“We needed help at defensive end and inside linebacker, and we got it,” Lions head coach Bart Tatum said. “These guys are going to help us.”

The Lions also signed cornerback Dexter Fowler from San Bernardino Valley (Calif.) College. He’ll join the program this summer.

“We needed another cover corner,” Tatum said. “We have three cover corners that I feel strong about, but we know very well from first-hand experience that you have to have more than three cover corners. If one gets banged up and doesn’t suit up, then you’re one injury away from an emergency.”

The Lions’ area signees include running back Braxton Baker and tight end-linebacker Bart Starkey from Webb City, linemen Matt Bridges and Addison Rainwater from Neosho, defensive end Beau Bounous from Monett and linebacker Chance Mayden from Lockwood, whose older brother, Kyle, played for the Lions from 2003-06.

“We’ll recruit the heck out of a local kid if he’s close to as talented as other people at those positions,” Tatum said. “It’s good for the program, and it’s good for football in this area. We’re going to recruit local high schools as long as I’m the head coach here. We’re going to get us a good flavor of local talent each and every year, and I think we’ve done that again.”

The Lions also signed two players from Springfield — tight end-defensive end Diondre Johnson from Parkview and Scottie Hutchison from Central. Hutchison started four years at quarterback for the Bulldogs but is projected as a running back or wide receiver by the Lions.

“Scotty Hutchison is a former teammate of David Snell, who played for us last year as a true freshmen,” Tatum said. “People at the high school are telling us Scotty is a better athlete than David. I doubt David agrees with that, but we’re excited to coach those guys.

“I believe we met our needs,” Tatum said. “We had a strong need at defensive end and needed to pick up a couple of really good young offensive linemen, which I believe we did. We have a good nucleus of fast, young players, and I believe this signing class is going to solidify our speed and quickness as a team.”

The news wasn’t all good for the Lions on Wednesday.

“We lost our top receiver prospect at the midnight hour,” Tatum said. “The young man from the southeast Texas region verbally committed to us early on, and he went a different direction at the last second (signing with Kilgore College), literally today.

“That was the one disappointment. Other than that, there were no surprises, and there were a handful of pleasant surprises.”

Tatum isn’t ready to put a grade on his latest recruiting class.

“I’ll grade them in about three years,” he said. “I will tell you we really felt as coaches that we did our best job (recruiting) last year, and last year’s crop has exceeded expectations. I believe this group that we have coming in will bolster that group of young athletes, a lot of whom we redshirted and eight of them actually played as true freshmen. This class is going to enhance that speed and athleticism that we were able to get a year ago.”

And, the Lions may not be quite finished.

“We may take a guy or two,” Tatum said. “We will take a kicker for sure. There is another guy or two we could add late. It won’t be more than a couple of guys.”



Missouri Southern signees

High School Signees

Braxton Baker, RB-LB, 6-0, 190, Webb City

Beau Bounous, DE, 6-6, 230, Monett

Matt Bridges, DL, 5-11, 240, Neosho

Jason Davis, DL, 6-1, 265, Maryville

Chris Dolan, LS, 6-2, 280, Fort Smith Southside

Jeffrey Grimmett, DE-OT, 6-2, 250, Fort Smith Northside

Orlando Hill, DE, 6-4, 210, Staley

Scottie Hutchinson, WR-RB, 5-11, 175, Springfield Central

Diondre Johnson, TE-DE, 6-0, 230, Springfield Parkview

Matt Larson, OT, 6-5, 250, Kansas City Winnetonka

Patrick Lewis, DB, 5-9, 180, Alma (Ark.)

Chance Mayden, OL-DL, 5-11, 239, Lockwood

Jonathan Moore, WR, 6-2, 200, Liberty-Mountain View

Ed Pearl, WR, 6-4, 190, Fort Osage

Eric Pierce, DB, 6-1, 180, Staley

Mitchell Pluviose, DE, 6-2, 220, Port St. Lucie (Fla.) Centennial HS

Addison Rainwater, OL, 5-11, 245, Neosho

Scott Radmocher, S, 6-1, 190, Lone Jack

Sam Scheliff, LB, 6-0, 205, Fort Smith Southside

Bart Starkey, TE-LB, 6-1, 195, Webb City

William Stathem, G, 6-2, 305, Sedalia Smith-Cotton

Rodney Sutton, FB-DB, 6-1, 170, Elysian Fields (Texas)

Brian Urban, LB, 5-11, 215, South Grand Prairie (Texas)

Seth Vie, FB-DE, 6-2, 240, Lone Jack

Jordan Wade, RB, 5-10, 180, Lee’s Summit West

Junior College Signees

Dexter Fowler, CB, 5-9, 175, jr., San Bernardino Valley (Calif.)

Cody Furr, DE, 6-5, 248, jr., Grossmont (Calif.)

Zeke Williams, LB, 5-11, 205, jr., Highland CC

Alex Wong, LB, 5-11, 224, jr., Grossmont (Calif.)