Dorial Green-Beckham: Why Top Wideout Prospect Will Regret Joining Missouri

ESPNU 150's No. 3 overall prospect and No. 1 wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham made his long-awaited college choice on Wednesday when he announced that he would attend Missouri. I believe DGB will ultimately regret that choice, however.

It's certainly nice to see Missouri outflank national powers like Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas for Green-Beckham's services, but I don't think Mizzou was the right choice for Green-Beckham as a football player. The 6'6", 220 lb. athletic freak will want his talents to be showcased, but I'm not sure the Tigers can do that sufficiently.

Missouri isn't a terrible passing team as quarterback James Franklin threw for 2,865 yards and 21 touchdowns last season as a sophomore, but the Tigers are committed to the run. Franklin ran for nearly 1,000 yards and 15 scores, while running back Henry Josey will return from injury next season and likely be the focal point of the offense.

T.J. Moe led the Tigers in receiving this past season with just 649 yards, so there will have to be a fundamental shift in Missouri's offensive philosophy in order for Green-Beckham to put up the numbers that he is obviously capable of.

I'm sure that staying close to home was a major deciding factor for the Springfield, Mo. native, and I can definitely respect that, but from a football perspective his best choice would have been Oklahoma. While he will be able to grow with the young core Missouri has built, he could be an instant star with the Sooners.

Quarterback Landry Jones is coming off two 4,400-plus-yard seasons and will be looking to put up monster numbers as a senior in anticipation of an NFL career. On top of that, wide receiver Ryan Broyles is graduating, so there is no question that Jones would have looked in Green-Beckham's direction quite a bit.

There is no question that Oklahoma is committed to passing the ball. It could be argued that DGB's effectiveness would be curtailed in a spread offense, but because of his size I think head coach Bob Stoops would have allowed him to do what he does best by operating down the field.

For the short term I think it is obvious that Oklahoma was Green-Beckham's best choice as everything is in place for him. I would be surprised if a player of DGB's caliber plays more than three collegiate seasons, so he is really banking on Missouri becoming more of a passing team in a short time.

Three years isn't a great deal of time for Green-Beckham to prove himself to NFL scouts, so I think he should have gone with the sure thing as he would have been an instant success at Alabama. I'm not saying that success is impossible at Missouri, but I don't think that there's any doubt that he will initially take a backseat to Franklin and Josey.

Over the long haul Missouri's future as a team looks pretty bright, but there will be an adjustment period of Green-Beckham. DGB undoubtedly has the ability to be the focus of an offense from day one, and because of that I think he will regret passing up a chance to play in Oklahoma's run-and-shoot offense.