COLUMBIA, Mo. — It was quite a day for the Missouri Tigers football, landing one of the biggest recruits in school history in Lee’s Summit North defensive end Williams Nwaneri.

Nwaneri is the second-ranked pass rusher and 12th overall in the 2024 class, according to the ESPN 300 and Mizzou was able to keep him in state.

He chose Mizzou over Oklahoma, Georgia, Oregon and Tennessee. Nwaneri stated Mizzou’s genuineness as a big reason he committed there.

“It was the hardest decision of my life, really,” Nwaneri said. “I felt like it was genuine, it didn’t feel like [Mizzou] was trying to sell me something. I feel like it was real relationships.”

Nwaneri will play out his senior season at Lee’s Summit North before heading to Columbia next fall.

He helped lead the Broncos to a state championship appearance during his junior season, finishing with 10 tackles for loss and 12 sacks.

The commitment drew a rousing response from head coach Eli Drinkwitz and his staff on social media, with coaches yelling and jumping up and down in elation.

Mizzou was able to get a top-player in the state once again, as Luther Burden III joined Mizzou with the class of 2022. He was the number one ranked receiver in his class and in the state and eighth overall nationally.

He is the sixth five-star recruit in the program’s history joining Burden III, Terry Beckner Jr., Dorial Green-Beckham, Sheldon Richardson and Blaine Gabbert.

The Tigers will look to build on this momentum in the recruiting trail as they vie to compete in the always-challenging SEC.