Late blooming big man picks Big 12

A year ago, Illinois native Justin Safford had a host of Division III schools offering him an opportunity to play for their program this season. Instead, the 6-foot-9, 215-pound forward went to Charis Prep in North Carolina and put in the work to fine tune his already existing skill set. Now, a year later, he's headed to the Big 12.

Safford, according to Charis Prep head coach Carlos Peralta, committed to Missouri on Monday morning.

Safford, who Peralta calls a gifted athlete, is a late-blooming big man that put in the work to improve his game this season. Peralta said Safford came to Charis with an existing skill set thanks in large part to his high school coach Jeff Wellborn in Illinois and improved as the season went along this year.

"It came to the point where it was a matter of what level of Division I school does he want to go to and not whether or not he was a Division I player," Peralta said. "He had to compete with a warrior mentality and compete consistently. So he decided to see what he'll do with it. He's been very successful and getting stronger."

Missouri was one of the first schools to seriously recruit the Bloomington, Ill., native.

"A lot of people had seen him and people had come from all over to get a look at him but no one really thought he was a Division I player," Peralta said. "But Justin started to get better and people started to really like him. (Missouri assistant coach) Melvin Watkins had been down to see him three or four times and he liked what he saw. So when Mike Anderson came down and saw what coach Watkins saw, he was ready to take him."

Safford ,who averaged 17 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks a game this season, visited Missouri unofficially a couple of times before and liked what he saw in Columbia.

Safford also held offers from Winthrop, Xavier, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Virginia Tech while Wake Forest was also seriously interested.