Missouri, Gates keep four-star guard Aaron Rowe home
The newly souped-up Missouri recruiting machine continued to hum on Tuesday afternoon, when the Tigers' first commit of the 2025 class fell into place. When four-star Aaron Rowe chose the Tigers over Tennessee and Kansas State, he became the cornerstone to the next Mizzou class and another marquee recruiting victory for head coach Dennis Gates.
Below, Rivals explores what Missouri is getting in the four-star point guard as well as what it means for the bigger picture.
WHAT THE TIGERS ARE GETTING
The 6-foot-1 Rowe is one of the most battle-tested point guards in the country, as he’s spent a chunk of his career proving it against top-flight competition as a member of nationally relevant Link Academy as well as perennial EYBL powerhouse MoKan Elite. Rowe transferred away from Link to return to Father Tolton High School in his hometown of Columbia, Mo. this season, but the four-star floor general made his name at the top-flight academy before doing so. Regardless of where he's playing, Rowe is a proven shot-maker that comes with impressive levels of wiggle and shiftiness that allow him to routinely get by his man and into the teeth of a defense. He’ll need to add weight, continue to develop as a scorer and take sizable steps as a long-range shooter. He averaged three assists and 1.7 turnovers per game in the EYBL this summer while shooting just 5-for-15 from three-point range in 13 games. That said, Rowe has the quickness, creativity, ball-handling ability and frame to be an elite level guard in the SEC down the road. He thrives in an up-tempo offense that allows him to showcase his end-to-end speed and ability to push the pace.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR MIZZOU
It’s becoming nearly impossible to dismiss the Tigers string of high-profile recruiting wins as some isolated hot streak. Instead, SEC rivals need to grapple with the fact that this is the level at which the program will recruit under Dennis Gates. That realization is a particularly scary one when you consider that Gates won 25 games a season ago, well before he was equipped with a roster full of high-profile prospects. There are few programs with a brighter-looking future than Mizzou, which seems to be building a sustainable model for consistent contention.
IN HIS WORDS
“The [Missouri] fans show me a lot of love around the city. I like that.” – Rowe to rivals this summer
“(I like) just how cool [the coaches are] are. They're super honest. So like, they wouldn't sugarcoat nothing, but it's really all love. So they're just super nice.” – Rowe to PowerMizzou this summer