Be Wary of Recruiting Reports, Especially About Green-Beckham

Editor’s Note: First and foremost, all recruiting “scoops” like this should be taken with a grain of salt. It’s irresponsible journalism to lean on other people’s unnamed sources, so throughout recruiting season we’ve declined to generate easy traffic by simply re-posting other people’s recruiting information. But now the story has taken on enough of a life of its own that it would be negligent to not report what is and isn’t known about Dorial Green-Beckham’s potential future with the Missouri Tigers.

Tulsa World reporter John Hoover reports wide receiver recruit Dorial Green-Beckham has chosen to attend the University of Missouri after visiting Columbia last weekend:

"A source told the Tulsa World that Dorial Green-Beckham, the consensus top-rated high school football prospect in the nation, will announce on Wednesday that he’ll be attending Missouri.Green-Beckham, a senior receiver at Hillcrest High School in Springfield, Mo., will announce live at 9 a.m. on ESPNU that he’s choosing the Tigers over offers from Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas and Alabama."

CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd spoke to Green-Beckham’s adoptive father, who denied the report.

The denial could easily mean Green-Beckham hasn’t chosen yet. It could also mean Green-Beckham’s father doesn’t want to take away from his son’s moment in the national spotlight on Wednesday, when Green-Beckham announces his decision on ESPNU at approximately 9:00 a.m.

Either way, conflicting reports will continue to emerge. Disregard them, because the truth of the matter is, your guess is as good as mine or anyone else’s.

What can’t be disregarded is Green-Beckham’s skill set. Most high school recruits’ highlight films look good simply because the player being featured is so much bigger and faster than his opponents. In Green-Beckham’s case, his fundamentals are top-notch as well. He runs great routes, has excellent hands, catches the ball well in traffic and possesses the size and physical nature to push off press coverage and avoid being re-routed. In addition to his rare combination of size, speed and skill, Green-Beckham also has excellent vision when running after the catch and is superb at taking angles that make him hard to catch. Whichever school he chooses will immediately have a major weapon lining up at wide receiver.

Until Wednesday, we simply won’t know what school that will be.