COLUMBIA, MO. • Four years ago Missouri gambled on a Kansas City football player so off the radar he was a mystery to those outside of Mizzou’s coaches — and too much of a risk to some within the staff.
Charles Harris, more of an accomplished basketball player and relative newcomer to football, didn’t have a profile on the national recruiting sites. But he had the physical ingredients Mizzou’s staff craved to construct model pass-rushers.
As national signing day loomed, Gary Pinkel’s staff had a few defensive line recruits back out of their verbal pledges, sending his coaches out for a late search for prospects who could rush the quarterback.