A pair of East St. Louis High School players have re-affirmed their commitments to Missouri as members of the 2016 class.

RB Natereace Strong, a former ’15 four-star commitment, and S Greg Taylor, a former ’14 three-star commitment, both originally pledged to Mizzou, but did not qualify academically. Now the two are teammates at Hinds (Miss.) Community College.

Both players currently are on track to be eligible to play for the Tigers in ’16, confirming their intentions to wind up playing college football in Columbia, Mo., on Thursday to PowerMizzou.com.

Strong, at 6-foot-1 and 201 pounds, ran for more than 1,600 yards and 12 touchdowns as a senior in ’14 and was one of the highest-rated members of Mizzou’s respected ’15 class before it became public that he’d need at least one year at a community college.

The team could’ve used him this year in the backfield, as Morgan Steward (hip) missed all of spring practice and Trevon Walters (ACL) likely will miss the ’15 season. But he’ll be a welcome addition to the team next fall.

Neither player has a star rating at the junior college level, as Taylor redshirted in ’14 and again, Strong was a high school senior.

Missouri entered the week without a single commitment for the ’16 recruiting class, but will exit with at least three, as offensive lineman Trystan Castillo committed on Sunday.