Missouri football flips another Class of 2026 prospect, plucking cornerback from BYU
- Story byColumbia Daily Tribune
- Missouri football flips another Class of 2026 prospect, plucking cornerback from BYU
The Gates have stayed open in Columbia.
Missouri football secured a verbal commitment from three-star cornerback Jaxson Gates on Friday, the Class of 2026 product announced via social media. Gates previously was committed to BYU, meaning the Tigers ' have extended a strong recent run of flipping pledges.
Missouri has landed 10 high school commitments in October. Seven of those pledges were either flipped commitments or recent decommitments from other schools.
Gates is listed at 6-foot-1, 170 pounds by the recruiting service 247Sports. He is from La Verne, California , and had taken Power-conference visits to Utah, Michigan State and Syracuse. Gates was on Mizzou's campus Sept. 27, which was the weekend the Tigers played UMass for homecoming.
The cornerback is the No. 662-ranked player in his class in 247Sports' composite rankings. He is the No. 48 player out of the state of California and the No. 56 corner nationally.
The Tigers also have now landed two cornerback commitments in the past week, as three-star Alabama native Ahmod Billins pledged to the Tigers on Saturday, Oct. 25.
Mizzou is expected to lose its top three corners — Dreyden Norwood, Toriano Pride Jr. and Stephen Hall — to eligibility at the end of the 2025 season, making the position an area of need.
Missouri is able to return four corners currently on the roster, with Nicholas DeLoach Jr., Shamar McNeil, Cameron Keys and Mark Manfred each eligible to play in Columbia next season.
The Tigers have shot up the recruiting rankings leaderboard in the past month, nearly doubling the size of its 2026 class and climbing more than 50 places on 247Sports' national team rankings.
More: Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz said team is still in CFP race. Is winning out enough?
More: Missouri football won't 'operate in fear' and stop calling QB run plays, Eli Drinkwitz says
Missouri now has 21 players committed in the next cycle, and the class makes up the nation's No. 24-ranked group, per 247Sports, and the No. 11 team in the SEC.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football flips Class of 2026 cornerback Jaxson Gates from BYU