Mizzou’s Eliah Drinkwitz gets commitment from coveted transfer while at Royals game

The recruiting cycle truly never stops. For Eliah Drinkwitz on Wednesday afternoon, that saying couldn’t have been more true.

The Missouri football coach went with several players to watch the Kansas City Royals play the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium. Between watching baseball, making a mid-game radio appearance and having conversations over Twitter with Mayor Quinton Lucas, Drinkwitz also posted a graphic — a Tigers logo emitting from a searchlight — that’s come to signal that a recruit’s commitment to Columbia is imminent.

Just over an hour later — and with Drinkwitz still at Kauffman Stadium — someone answered the call.

Allie Green IV, a transfer cornerback from Tulsa, committed to Missouri via Twitter on Wednesday afternoon. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound senior was a three-year starter for the Golden Hurricane and was nominated as a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award last season, given to the top defensive back in college football.

Missouri beat out the likes of Texas Tech, Arkansas, Louisiana Tech and Hawaii for Green. The Austin, Texas native had taken an official visit to Texas Tech the weekend of June 4.

Green will join his former Tulsa teammate in the secondary, Akayleb Evans, who committed to the Tigers this past Friday. Green never made an official visit to Columbia, but Evans’ announcement quickly made the Tigers the favorites to nab Green — who was offered a scholarship shortly after Evans committed — per reporting from Rivals.

Tulsa’s pass defense ranked 18th in the country last season, allowing an average of under 200 yards per game in 2020 through the air. That group was mentored last season by then-cornerbacks coach Aaron Fletcher, who joined Drinkwitz’s staff as defensive backs coach in the offseason.

The Tigers’ secondary, which was expected to be one of Missouri football’s weak points for next season, has looked to have rapidly improved with Evans’ and Green’s pledges. Since spring practices ended in March, three members of Missouri’s pass defense, including two-year starter Jarvis Ware, have entered the transfer portal.