Chaminade’s Brandon Hannah commits to Mizzou football

Chaminade junior Brandon Hannah has not played football since his freshman year of high school because of knee injuries, but the University of Missouri still wants him and he wants to be a Tiger.

He has made a verbal commitment to Missouri for 2011.

“It feels pretty good,” he said. “I believe I made a good decision. They have a good program. My parents love Mizzou. My parents would love for me to go there. I planned on going to Mizzou for a while.”

The 6-foot-3 Hannah, who said he will play wide receiver or tight end for the Tigers, caught 14 passes for a team-high 302 yards, an average of 21.6 yards per catch, and scored four touchdowns as a freshman in 2007.

He missed his sophomore season because of injured cartilage in his left knee and missed his junior season after blowing out his right knee during the summer.

The Missouri coaches, who offered him a scholarship last spring, stood by Hannah even though he hasn’t been able to prove his ability on the field yet.

“I think that says that he’s a pretty phenomenal kid, a pretty phenomenal prospect,” Chaminade coach Doug Taylor said. “He was offered (a scholarship) by Minnesota last week. Missouri really got hot and heavy on him last week.”

Hannah said the Missouri coaching staff wanted to make sure he was on his way to a full recovery from his knee injury last summer.

He said his doctor could clear him to resume working out in six weeks.

The Red Devils standout, who was able to recover from his first injury in time to help the basketball team win the state championship last year, is eager to get back on the field and show what he can do.

“I’ve been playing football all my life,” he said. “It’s like I’m missing a part of me. My senior year (in high school), I just can’t wait for that to happen. It’s going to be a good time. I’m looking forward to playing football again.”

Hannah is the first of at least three Chaminade players who will commit to Division I schools before next February’s national signing day.

Quarterback Christian Suntrup has scholarship offers from Nebraska, Stanford, Minnesota and Kansas. Running back Rob Standard, the 2009 Post-Dispatch offensive player of the year, has offers from Nebraska and Iowa State.

Hannah becomes the sixth player known to have committed to Missouri for its 2011 recruiting class and third from the St. Louis area.

He joins junior college defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson (Gateway Tech) and Gateway Tech defensive back Anthony Pierson.