Mizzou offensive lineman announces he's entering NCAA transfer portal
Jack Buford was a 4-star offensive lineman in the class of 2019. He went to Lutheran North High School in St. Louis.
He was the second-highest rated player in the Tigers’ 2019 class — behind S Jalani Williams and ahead of QB Connor Bazelak.
He opted out of the 2020 season, and now it seems he’ll be looking for a new home. As you can see below, Buford announced via Twitter on Tuesday evening that he was entering the NCAA transfer portal:
Thank you mizzou nation🤞🏽 next chapter on the way 🖤 pic.twitter.com/LzUeJUqIS2
— Jack Buford (@jackjack2k19) February 16, 2021
Buford did not appear in any games in 2019 and, as mentioned above, opted out of the 2020 season. Where he ends up next remains to be seen.
Per the 247Sports composite rankings, Buford was the No. 21 offensive guard in the 2019 class and the No. 7 overall recruit from the state of Missouri.
I wish I could take 2 years off.
Ditto.
Why would he wait till now to decide this? Maybe to see how signing day left depth charts in the programs he felt he could play in?.. Or maybe he’s had coaches or family members fishing for an offer and just got one. Or maybe to see how Missouri’s O-line recruits looked compared to him?
He mentions Odom and Brad Davis, I’m assuming Odom recruited him away. So no well wishes here if he heads to Arkansas. And Brad Davis’ O-line sucked so if he’s following him. Now if it works out like it did last year at Arkansas and Pittman is coaching him I can see why he’s doing it. But if he gets Davis he might want to watch some Mizzou game tape from his time here.
Yea I remember him being one of the top recruits Odom’s staff managed to land, a much bigger get than Bazalak according to the “experts”.
If the pigs have schollies left he might get one, or he might wind up walking on at UTEP.
Last I heard Arkansas has none, so I dont think he’ll be headed south.
Not sure how, but Arkansas has three scholarships available, and Pittman has already said he wants more linemen on both O and D, so I think there is a decent chance the kid heads to Fayetteville.
Mizzou has a few schollies left, with over 400 3star plus players in the portal that are so far unclaimed, there is really no chance schools like Arkie and MU won’t fill out a class of 25.
We already have a high 4star portal lineman coming so I’m not worried at all about losing one here and there. Drinkz is already looking head and shoulder above Odom/Pinkel when it comes to recruiting.
Mizzou does a decent job of sending offensive linemen to the NFL, really not sure why he’d want to leave. Bummer though, wish he would stick it out.
He had a chance to play football last year at Missouri. So there is a big issue there, ?injury, studies, attitude? If there was anything good about C-19, finding out who were the ready athletes were vs. the ?something else.. was one thing. If he can block at the D1 level why didn’t he do it last year. His High School, Lutheran North in the St. Louis area, is not in the high enrollment 4A or 5A class so he wouldn’t have to be great to get himself on some high school video, but that video was against 2A two years ago and maybe 3A last year. They play other high schools that have near zero D1, or few if any D2 defensive linemen, defensive line-backers, etc. and a lot of those schools are public schools that can’t recruit talent. To make matters worse they are notorious for running up the score. I saw a score of 90-6 on their schedule a while back (yes you read that right). So the statistics from their seasons are skewed. Don’t take this wrong, I hope any high school player can find a college program that fits them and enjoy the whole college student-athlete experience but NAIA, D3, and D2 games are also great football games, so play where you fit …. and for cryin out loud…. don’t sit a year out if you are “ready” and maybe he wasn’t.