5-Star Football Recruit Sheldon Richardson Spurns USC, Signs With Missouri

In what's quickly become a roller coaster ride, 5-star defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson signed a letter of intent to play football for Missouri this morning after decommitting from the Tigers just over a month ago and committing to USC. 

The University of Missouri released the information in press release shortly after. 

The coveted recruit ranked as the No. 1 prospect at his position coming out of high school in 2009 had danced between Missouri and USC over the last month or so. 

Originally the top prospect of the Tigers' 2009 recruiting class, Richardson had failed to qualify academically and spent the last two years at the College of the Sequoias in California.

While Richardson did not make his decommitment public until November 11, he had informed USC of the news over a week before and said at the time he chose to become a Trojan because he felt USC would give him a better chance to develop as a player. 

Richardson has the size of a defensive tackle, at 6'4" and 270 pounds, but the speed and athleticism to be just as good at defensive end—and that type of versatility and rare skill set makes him a very valuable commodity.

The news that he's back on board with Missouri is huge for the Tigers, whose recruiting class had a somewhat average look to it without him. 

Richardson is Missouri's only 5-star recruit of the 15 prospects committed for the 2011 season. The team wasn't even targeting any other 4- or 5-star defensive lineman so watching him stay with the Trojans would have been a very tough pill to swallow. 

Not that Richardson has signed his letter of intent, Missouri fans can breathe a sigh of relief though. 

Richardson will be a Tiger.