Mizzou football adds verbal commitments from Alabama quarterback, Arkansas D-lineman

University of Missouri football coach Barry Odom has gained two verbal commitments to his program over the past 24 hours, with Fayetteville, Arkansas defensive tackle Akial Byers and Montgomery, Alabama quarterback James Foster both committing, by way of Twitter, to MU.

Byers is rated a four-star prospect who had committed to Alabama last summer, but had to go the JUCO route in 2016 due to academic qualification issues.  Byers signed with Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.

Coming out of high school, Byers had been offered by some of the biggest names in college football, including Michigan, Oklahoma, and Ohio State.  In the Class of 2016, he was rated the nation’s #17 defensive tackle by 247Sports.com.

The announcement of Byers commitment to Missouri via Twitter, read “First I would like to thank god for this opportunity his (sic) blessed me with.  Next I would like to thank my family & coaches that has been by my side throughout the recruitment process.  With that said I will be attending the University of Mizzou!”

The announcement by Byers, made just past midnight this (Thursday) morning, followed the Wednesday verbal commitment by Foster to Missouri.  A product of Sidney Lanier High School in Montgomery, Alabama, Foster has been Missouir’s #1 quarterback target for this year’s recruiting class for months.  He is a three-star prospect (247Sports.com) and rated the country’s #17 dual-threat quarterback in the Class of 2018.

Foster, in February, noting how long Coach Odom and the Tigers had shown interest in him, announced Missouri has the favorite in his top eight schools, with the others “in the mix” being SEC rivals Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisville, Southern Miss, Mississippi State, and North Carolina State.

Foster, in his Twitter announcement (@YungSimba4) on Wednesday, said “I would like to thank God for giving me his blessing and opportunity to be able to play the game I love dearly. I would like to thank every college coach and Universtiy that recruited me! I’m thankful to have some great people around me I appreciate everyone who have gotten me to this point but At this time I Will Be Committing to Play Football @ The University of Missouri.”