New national offers coming in for Missouri 2024 LB Melvin Laster

There’s so much talent in the 2023 and 2024 classes in the Kansas City metro area that it’s sometimes hard to keep track of all the trending targets. One future star that hasn’t gotten lost in the shuffle is Liberty (Mo.) North linebacker Melvin Laster.

The 6-foot-2, 230-pound Laster already had a solid list of offers from Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas State and Kansas. But as coaches have been visiting Kansas City during the evaluation period his offer list has doubled.

Melvin Laster said he added new offers from Tennessee and Oregon on Wednesday. Those new offers join a recent offer from Iowa State, giving the star linebacker seven offers with more on the way.

The offer from the Ducks came from new head coach Dan Lanning, who was in Kansas City on Wednesday. He’s a North Kansas, City, Mo., native and it appears the Ducks plan on being a major factor for talent in the region.

For example, the Ducks also offered Platte City (Mo.) Platte County EDGE Chandavian Bradley and Lee’s Summit North stars Williams Nwaneri and Isaiah Mozee on Wednesday.

Laster admits it’s still early in the process and “isn’t in a rush to make a decision.” But he’s already starting to take a number of unofficial visits to interested schools.

He’s visited Arkansas three times already early in the process, and the Razorbacks are currently listed as the top team on his list, according to On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine. He’s also taken two visits to Mizzou and additional trips to KU and K-State.

Melvin Laster dominated in 2021

The attention for Melvin Laster is well worth it. Laster won the 2021 Buck Buchanan Award. The award goes to the best big school lineman/linebacker in the Kansas City metro area.

He was named the Suburban Gold defensive player of the year. Laster tallied 81 total tackles, 7.5 sacks, 12.5 tackles for loss, two interceptions, three fumble recoveries and scored one touchdown.

Laster helped lead Liberty North to the Missouri Class 6 State Championship game against CBC.

“I never thought I’d be in this position today. I’ve been working for it my whole life basically, since second grade. I’ve always had this dream and stuff, so it feels great,” Laster told KSHB in Kansas City after winning the award.

Melvin Laster currently has an On3 NIL Valuation of $5,000. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.