Missouri football gets 5th commit in a week, lands 4-star East St. Louis safety Charles Bass
You can add another name to the East St. Louis to Mizzou pipeline.
And another pledge in the Tigers’ scorching-hot July.
Missouri football secured a commitment from four-star, Class of 2025 safety Charles Bass on Wednesday afternoon when the defensive back announced during a livestream with the recruiting service 247Sports that he is the latest East St. Louis High product to pledge to Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz’s team.
Bass is the fifth player to commit to the Tigers in the space of the week, four of whom have been four-star prospects, and the 17th player total in this cycle.
And he’s come from familiar recruiting grounds for Drinkwitz and Co.
Star wide receiver Luther Burden III and now-Georgia Bulldog Dominic Lovett both signed from East St. Louis back in 2021, and new transfer cornerback Toriano Pride Jr. also is a product of the high school.
Bass, the seventh-ranked prospect in the state of Illinois in the Class of 2025, is a major regional victory for Missouri.
The safety picked Mizzou over Kansas State, in-state Illinois and SEC rival Arkansas. He held at least 20 Power-conference offers. Bass is listed at 6-foot-1, 190 pounds and is the No. 97-ranked overall player and the No. 9 safety in his class, per the recruiting service Rivals’ rankings.
He’s the second safety pledged to the Tigers’ Class of 2025, following Demopolis, Alabama, product Dyllon Williams, a three-star recruit.
Here is what Bass may bring to the Tigers in the near future and how a frenetic recruiting run has impacted the Tigers in the national and conference recruiting rankings:
More: Three transfers who could help define Missouri football’s success in 2024 season
How will Charles Bass fit in at Missouri football in the 2025 season?
Safety was an important position for MU to address in this cycle.
Three current starters or key depth pieces are down to their final seasons of eligibility. Joseph Charleston, Tre’Vez Johnson and Sidney Williams Sr. each look set to be done at the end of this campaign.
If everyone currently on the Missouri roster returns in 2025, that leaves five scholarship players coming back at safety for that season.
Daylan Carnell will exhaust his eligibility by the end of the 2025 season, but could also opt to explore NFL opportunities at the end of this campaign.
More: Missouri football’s blistering recruiting run continues with 4-star O-Lineman Lamont Rogers
Fellow St. Louis-area product Marvin Burks Jr., a Cardinal Ritter alum, looks set to take the wheel at strong safety for the foreseeable future as he enters his sophomore campaign in 2024. And Phillip Roche showed a lot of promise as a true freshman last season and likely is next in line for MU’s star safety spot after Carnell.
Three-star prospects Austyn Dendy and Jackson Hancock will be true freshmen safeties for MU this upcoming season, while four-star recruit Trajan Greco may either play safety or corner.
That means Bass and Williams look likely to at least compete for depth reps as soon as they arrive on campus.
Where does Mizzou football’s Class of 2025 now rank?
An all-time week has brought about an all-time high.
Mizzou has now secured five recruits since Thursday, July 4, and that has taken the Tigers to new heights in the national recruiting rankings.
After Bass’ commitment, Missouri is expected to become the No. 11-ranked class in the country, leapfrogging Michigan and Auburn, and the sixth-ranked class in the SEC, per the recruiting service 247Sports' class calculator and existing composite rankings. That’s two spots higher in the national rankings than at the beginning of the day.
One week ago, before Bass, four-star wide receiver Jayvan Boggs and Donovan Olugbode and offensive linemen Lamont Rogers and Keiton Jones had verbally pledged to MU, the Tigers were ranked 35th in the country and 12th in the SEC in those selfsame rankings.
The number of commits and the recruiting heights are one thing. The schools the Tigers are going toe-to-toe with are another altogether.
More: Missouri football opponent preview: Why Texas A&M could be among MU's most important games
Mizzou had to hold off prominent regional rivals for both Bass and Jones, including Illinois, Arkansas and Kansas. For the likes of Boggs, Olugbode and Rogers, Mizzou fought off schools from Georgia to USC to Washington to Florida, in some cases heading into their own state to pluck those prospects.
Missouri is well on track to put together its best recruiting class since the star system was introduced to recruiting. In 2021, luring the No. 3 prospect in the country in Burden helped the Tigers put together the No. 15 class of that cycle, which is currently MU's best year on the trail.
It’s likely that MU is nearly finished putting together its 2025 class. There’s a chance Mizzou brings some uncommitted prospects to campus for visits during the upcoming season, of course, but for now, no commitments appear to be lined up in the immediate future.
But, in the month of July, the Tigers have gone 5-for-5.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football's recruiting stays red hot with 4-star pledge Charles Bass
