By Matthew Osborne
SouthernPigskin.com

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While Texas A&M appears poised to become a perennial contender in the SEC West, Missouri could be destined for the Eastern division cellar if significant improvement is not made in the very near future.

It has been less than one calendar year since Missouri and Texas A&M officially became members No. 13 and 14 in the Southeastern Conference, but it is already remarkable to witness how rapidly the programs are moving in opposite directions.

Though not much was expected out of Texas A&M in its inaugural SEC campaign, the Aggies rallied behind the dynamic play of Heisman-winning quarterback Johnny Manziel to finish the year with 11 wins, including a victory over former Big 12 foe Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl.

It was a much different story approximately 800 miles north in Columbia, Missouri, as the Tigers limped their way to a 5-7 record in their first foray through the SEC gauntlet.

While a sub-par debut season in its new conference was certainly disconcerting for the Missouri program, the more depressing news has to be the fact that the Tigers do not appear to be doing much to increase their future prospects in the nation’s toughest conference.

According to recruiting services Rivals.com, 247Sports.com and ESPN.com, the Tigers finished with the lowest-ranked recruiting class in the SEC in the 2013 recruiting cycle.

In the meantime, Texas A&M was able to capitalize on its move to the SEC, bringing in what many experts believed to be the greatest recruiting class in program history.

Gary Pinkel and his staff had never been noted for their outstanding recruiting skills, but the Tigers had previously been able to circumvent their mediocre efforts on the recruiting trail by relying on schematic efficiency against Big 12 competition.

Transitioning to the SEC, it was painfully obvious from the start that a recruiting resurgence would be in order if the Tigers were to keep pace with the remainder of their new conference brethren.

Much to the dismay of the Missouri faithful, such a recruiting resurgence has yet to come to fruition.

Early in the 2014 recruiting cycle, the Tigers appear to once again be on pace to finish at or near the bottom of the conference in recruiting.

With six early verbal commitments, the Tigers have just two commitments ranked as three-star prospects by Scout.com; the remainder of Missouri’s four commitments have not yet received rankings from the scouting service, generally an indication of a two-star rating for those players.

Perhaps the more disconcerting aspect of Missouri’s current recruiting troubles is the fact that the Tigers are having serious troubles competing for prospects against other SEC teams. According to Scout.com, none of Missouri’s commitments have a scholarship from a rival SEC program.

Through 10 months in the SEC, there could not be a much larger disparity in how things have played out for Missouri and Texas A&M.

While the Aggies appear poised to become perennial contenders in the SEC West, the Tigers could be destined for the Eastern division cellar if significant improvement is not made in the very near future.