Missouri downplays class that includes few of state's best

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Missouri's stirring Independence Bowl victory came too late to impact this year's recruiting class.

The Tigers got one national-caliber recruit, wide receiver Jeremy Maclin of Kirkwood. But they ended up with only four players on rivals.com's list of top 20 players in the state, and only two of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's list of the city's top 30 prospects.

Thus, on a day when coaches normally are optimistic to the extreme about their latest stack of signed national letters of intent, coach Gary Pinkel tempered his enthusiasm for a 21-player class that includes five junior college players.

So much for that comeback from a 21-point deficit to beat South Carolina.

"Our recruiting was almost over by the time we played our bowl game," Pinkel said. "Everything's so much faster now and it's amazing how quick things go."

Pinkel's stated goal is getting 80 percent of the state's top recruits, and this year he fell far short.

Zook happy at Illinois

Signing day could not have gone much better, Illinois coach Ron Zook said.

"It went exactly as we thought it would," he said. "That may be one of the biggest surprises, that there were no surprises."

Zook will welcome 26 new players in his first full season of recruiting after joining Illinois in early December 2004.

The list announced Wednesday includes 25 incoming freshman and one transfer, Akim Millington, a 6-foot-7, 320-pound lineman from Wheaton, Ill.