The top player in the Show Me State is staying home as Scottie Adkinson (St. Louis, Mo.) officially signed with the Mizzou men’s basketball team on Wednesday. Adkinson’s signing caps the day for the Tigers, who finished with the nation’s seventh-ranked class.
The 2026 Missouri Player of the Year in Class 5 and the 2025 Missouri Gatorade Player of the Year, Adkinson ranks as high as the nation’s No. 30 recruit by 247Sports. A record-setting scorer at Webster Groves High School, Adkinson averaged 27 points per game as a junior – shooting 62.0 percent from the field, 45.1 percent from 3-point range and 85.0 percent from the free-throw line.
“We developed a very strong connection with Scottie right from the start,” said Whitten Family Men’s Basketball Head Coach Dennis Gates. “He is our earliest verbal commit during our time at Mizzou and that speaks to how strong our relationship is with Scottie and how much he values becoming a Tiger. He has only continued to blossom as a player since that initial commitment, becoming a prolific scorer and decision-maker as his team’s point guard. Scottie is also a strong two-way guard who plays with a toughness and a motor the entire length of the court and we’re excited that he is staying home to play for Missouri.”
A 6-foot-4 point guard, Adkinson is just the third player in the 41 years of the Gatorade Player of the Year program to earn Missouri’s top honor as a sophomore – joining Jayson Tatum (2013-14) and Aminu Mohammed (2020-21). He holds Webster Groves’ all-time scoring record, breaking the career mark as a junior and entering his senior campaign with 2,005 points. He also helped lead the Statesmen to the program’s sixth state championship in 2025.
In addition to his 27 points per game during the 2025-26 season, Adkinson added 5.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.9 steals per contest. Playing for MOKAN Elite on the Nike EYBL circuit this past year, Adkinson averaged a team-high 15.2 points to go along with 3.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists.
Adkinson has also earned invites to Team USA U18 minicamp, the Nike Elite 100 camp, the NBPA Top 100 camp and the Mamba Invitational, where he took home MVP honors.
“Mizzou fans should be extremely excited to have Scottie on board,” said Webster Groves head coach Justin Mathes. “They’re getting a tremendous player and an even better young man. He impacts winning in every facet of the game, and his competitiveness is second to none. He brings a rare combination of skill and physicality that will allow him to make an immediate impact from the get-go.”
Adkinson joins Cameron Barnes and Devin Cleveland to form the nation’s seventh-ranked signing class. It marks the third time in four years that Gates landed a top-10 class, joining the fourth-ranked Class of 2024 and the eighth-ranked Class of 2026.