The Decision: Star likes being 'close to home'

Published Feb. 2, 2012.

After a tumultuous upbringing, which included foster homes and an adoption a little over 13 months ago, relationships are important to Dorial Green-Beckham.

That partly explains why the No. 1 football recruit in the nation stayed close to home Wednesday, announcing that he will attend the University of Missouri.

Green-Beckham, in a packed gymnasium at Hillcrest High School and on live television nationally on ESPNU, picked the Tigers over finalists Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

"Just to be home," Green-Beckham said about important factors in his decision. "To be close to family members and have everyone come out to support me."


He referred to Columbia as "close to home" several times, despite the Arkansas campus in Fayetteville technically being closer to Springfield. That's probably a credit to Mizzou coaches like offensive coordinator David Yost and wide receivers coach Andy Hill who spent so much time in Springfield trying to make Green-Beckham comfortable with Mizzou.

Yost first met Green-Beckham before his eighth-grade year at Reed Middle School. The long-haired coach thought Green-Beckham was a high school athlete and said he tested in a combine camp that day ahead of most of the high school prospects.

"It's been really fun recruiting him," said Yost, MU's recruiting coordinator for head coach Gary Pinkel. "To get to know the whole family and all the stories and all the different things. I always thought he wasn't going to go a long way from home."

Yost anticipates moving Green-Beckham inside and outside of his spread formations, which he said will cause havoc against SEC defenses used to facing pro-style attacks. The coach likened Green-Beckham to former star Mizzou Danario Alexander, although noting Springfield's standout has more God-given ability.

Yost said the Mizzou coaches did not bother Green-Beckham in the past couple days, and said that probably helped their cause.

Added Tracy Beckham, Dorial's adoptive mother: "They're not high-pressure, sales kinds of coaches. They're genuine and so is coach Pinkel. We think that Dorial is going to be really happy there. We think they're going to take real good care of him. ... They're really good men."

In Columbia, the blue-chip wide receiver will join a program that will move to the powerful Southeastern Conference this fall under Pinkel, who helped win over Green-Beckham with recent trips to Springfield in a helicopter and also in a luxury bus.

Green-Beckham's last of three official visits was to Columbia last weekend. There, Green-Beckham mixed well with hosts T.J. Moe and Kip Edwards, Tracy Beckham said.

Another key was the continuity of the staff, she said.

John Beckham, his adoptive father and high school coach, said former Arkansas offensive coordinator Garrick McGee leaving to take the head coaching position at Alabama-Birmingham in December hurt the Razorbacks. McGee was a key recruiter for Green-Beckham.

John and Tracy took in Green-Beckham and his younger brother, Darnell, after years of the pair bouncing back and forth between Springfield and St. Louis with various caregivers in difficult environments. The Beckhams have fostered many children over the years and officially adopted the Green brothers in late December 2010.

"Despite Dorial's age, and Darnell's age, we're still a young family," John Beckham said. "We need to, as a family, experience this with him. We felt like at a Texas, we couldn't do that. But at Missouri, we could."

Dorial Green-Beckham said he made up his mind on Monday, but John and Tracy told him to sleep on it. Tuesday morning, he told his parents he was sure. The family met last night and Dorial revealed his intentions to them.

"We kept it tight," Dorial Green-Beckham said. "When it was time to make a decision, we made it as a family."

Media members asked numerous times about the impact Mizzou moving to the SEC had on the decision. Green-Beckham and John Beckham denied the move was of much importance.

The signing does not put Mizzou's class in the top 25 nationally, Rivals.com analyst Mike Farrell said. But it was a needed jolt for the Tigers heading into the SEC.

"For them, it sends a huge message as they go into the SEC that they can recruit with the big boys," Scout.com recruiting analyst Brandon Huffman said. "They beat a Top 10 program from the SEC (Arkansas) to get him. The No. 1 player from the country is staying with them and it couldn't come at a better time because he's the caliber of player that they need to compete in the SEC."

Green-Beckham said playing basketball in Columbia was a "possibility," and that he would "probably" run track. He has said in the past it was unlikely he would play basketball in college.