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Mizzou 2009, Part Fourteen: 2010 and Beyond

Bill C. — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:00:10 -0000

UPDATE: Depth Chart updated after news of Blaine Dalton's dismissal.

The season is barely over a week away, and it is impossible not to be intrigued and excited by the completely unexpected nature of 2009. We think we know what to expect from Blaine Gabbert, Danario Alexander, Andrew Jones, Andrew Gachkar, Kenji Jackson, Kevin Rutland, the lawfirm of Smith, Smith, and Coulter, and all the other guys who will be playing new roles this season, but we don't really know.

But there's an added variable of interest, at least for me, when it comes to the 2009 season: the 2010 season. We want to win another North title--as I was saying this time last year, if Mizzou wins the North in 2009, it's over ("it" being competition in the North division) for a while, thanks for playing, everybody go home. We want to win the division, make a nice bowl, prove that Mizzou is to "reload, not rebuild" stage, et cetera. But really, the single most prevalent, overriding goal of 2009 is simply to not mess up 2010 and beyond. In a major rebuilding/reloading season, Oklahoma went 7-5 in 2005, which would be like about 4-8 for Missouri, and then they won three straight Big 12 titles. It didn't matter whether OU went 5-6 or 7-5 or 10-2 that season--what mattered was that, even with the proceeding Rhett Bomar drama, they got experience, stuck together, and improved as the season progressed, and they were ready to go on a major winning streak when 2006 came around.

With that in mind, let's take a look at 2010 and 2011, and what could be in store if 2009 doesn't, in one way or another (catastrophic injuries, unexpected defection, damaged chemistry, etc.), derail the gameplan. For this exercise, we will more or less assume that the depth charts I've been projecting over the last couple of weeks come true, and we will use that assumption for the projected 2010 and 2011 depth charts.

2010

Boldface = returning (projected) starter
Asterisk = proj. number of years having started
x = no current scholarship player or known walk-on to fill the position

I'm intentionally leaving off any currently-committed recruits because Missouri has proven time and again that, while they'll almost certainly play some true freshmen, trying to figure out which ones ahead of time is a fool's game. A 2-star is almost as likely to come in and earn PT as a 4-star.

Pos.	Player	Pos	Player
QB	Blaine Gabbert (Jr.)* Jimmy Costello (Jr.) Ashton Glaser (RSFr.)	DE	Aldon Smith (So.)* Brad Madison (So.) Brayden Burnett (RSFr.)
RB	Derrick Washington (Sr.)** De'Vion Moore (Jr.) Kendial Lawrence (So.)	DT	Terrell Resonno (Jr.)* Jimmy Burge (So.) George White (So.)
WR	Jerrell Jackson (Jr.) T.J. Moe (So.) Kerwin Stricker (RSFr.)	DT	Dominique Hamilton (Jr.) Marvin Foster (RSFr.) Chris Earnhardt (Jr.)
WR	L'Damian Washington (So.) Rolandis Woodland (So.) Jaleel Clark (RSFr.)	DE	Jacquies Smith (Jr.)* Michael Sam (So./RSFr.) Marcus Malbrough (So.)
WR	Wes Kemp (Jr.)* Gahn McGaffie (So.) Brandon Gerau (Jr.)	SLB	Andrew Gachkar (Sr.)* Zaviar Gooden (So.) x
TE	Andrew Jones (Jr.)* Michael Egnew (Jr.) Alex Sanders (RSFr.)	MLB	Luke Lambert (Sr.)** Donovan Bonner (So.) Andrew Wilson (RSFr.)
LT	Elvis Fisher (Jr.)** Justin Britt (So./RSFr.) Kirk Lakebrink (Sr.)	WLB	Will Ebner (Jr.) Josh Tatum (Jr.) Tyler Crane (Jr.)
LG	Austin Wuebbels (Jr.)* Jayson Palmgren (Jr.) Mike Prince (Sr.)	CB	Carl Gettis (Sr.)*** Trey Hobson (Jr.) Kip Edwards (So.)
C	Tim Barnes (Sr.)** Travis Ruth (So.) x	CB	Kevin Rutland (Sr.)* Robert Steeples (So.) Munir Prince (Sr.)
RG	J.T. Beasley (Jr.) Daniel Jenkins (So.) Mark Hill (RSFr.)	FS	Kenji Jackson (Jr.)** Jarrell Harrison (Sr.) Tavon Bolden (RSFr.)
RT	Dan Hoch (Jr.)* Jack Meiners (So.) Chris Freeman (RSFr.)	SS	Jasper Simmons (Sr.)* Matt White (RSFr.) Randy Ponder (RSFr.)

K	Grant Ressel (Jr.)* Trey Barrow (So.)	P	Matt Grabner (Jr.) Grant Ressel (Jr.)
PR	T.J. Moe (So.)* Carl Gettis (Sr.)	KR	Jasper Simmons (Sr.)* Kendial Lawrence (So.)

This year, we enter the season with a combined seven seasons of starting experience on offense and six on defense. Next year, it looks like about 11 on offense and 13 on defense.

Notes about the depth chart:

It bears mentioning that there's no way in hell somebody doesn't transfer or quit (UPDATE: or get thrown off the team for driving while intoxicated...on campus, ahem) between now and 12 months from now. Look at some of the younger guys on the third-string, trapped behind guys just as young or younger (i.e. look at the defensive line), if you want to get some pretty good red flags in that regard.
There will also be some position changes, offense-to-defense switches, etc. I have my own ideas about who or what those changes will be, but I tried to stay as close as possible to current positions (OL and LB aside). I wanted to make as few assumptions as possible here.
THREE senior scholarship players on the offensive three-deep, and only seven on defense. This team will still be ridiculously young NEXT year.
Missouri currently has commitments from four defensive backs (five if Jimmie Hunt switches to defense), so it will be quite interesting to see how many (if any) are worked into the rotation, being that DB is about the only senior-dominated unit for 2010. I mean, that's a pretty stout rotation right there. I guess there's a potential slot available at SS, but otherwise a true freshman would have to come in and truly dominated to pass some of those experienced guys.
I can't tell you how curious I am to see L'Damian Washington and T.J. Moe in action this year (I'm just going to assume that neither redshirt). If one or both can play to at least the level that Jared Perry and Danario Alexander did as true freshmen, then this WR corps should be quite stout with Kemp and Jackson as the veterans, Washington/Moe as the third starter, and a host of other guys who will get a shot to show potential this year.
Good god, how good is the offensive line going to be in 2010 (and 2011)??

Now the schedule:

Date	Team	Comments
9/4	vs Illinois	No Juice or (probably) Benn, but...Eddie McGee!!!1!!! Mizzou will probably be favored in this one.
9/11	McNeese State	Yawn.
9/18	?	I'm curious who we aim for with this spot. Clearly it will be a home game, since it's Mizzou's turn to "host" Kansas at Arrowhead, and you have to figure it will be a non-BCS team as well (duh), but no idea whether we're aiming for a Nevada type or an Idaho type.
9/25	Miami-OH	They really haven't been very good for since Big Ben left.
10/9	Colorado	As down as I am about CU in 2009, they should be pretty experienced and potentially solid in the trenches next year. It looks like they'll still have Cody Hawkins at QB, of course, but they should be decent.
10/16	at Texas A&M	Never fun going to College Station, but this one's winnable.
10/23	Oklahoma	As Lou Brown would say, one of these days we're gonna figure out how to beat those guys.
10/30	at Nebraska	The 2009 NU offense will dictate what I think about the 2010 Huskers. No idea right now, but a trip to Lincoln is a trip to Lincoln.
11/6	at Texas Tech	Are you noticing something about the 2010 schedule yet? Only one game in Columbia after 10/23. Yikes.
11/13	Kansas State	Until Bill Snyder proves something the second time around, this is a win.
11/20	at Iowa State	Until Paul Rhoads proves something, anything at all, this is a win.
11/27	vs Kansas	Kansas loses Reesing, Meier, Briscoe (probably), Sharp, Stuckey, Thornton...pretty much every player you can name, they will be gone in 2010. KU has recruited well and looks to be in a "Mizzou 2009" situation next year (hoping to prove they reload instead of rebuild), but Mizzou will definitely have the experienced advantage in this one.

Knowing what we know, it's safe to assume that, even if Missouri wins the North in 2009, people will be picking Nebraska in 2010 (with Colorado as the sleeper), so we should just prepare for it now! Mizzou will clearly have a major role to play in the 2010 race, but a) a million things, good or bad, could happen between now and then, and b) the "almost everything on the road" home stretch is a little intimidating, even if Mizzou will potentially be favored in at least three of the five road trips.

2011

Clearly it's silly to get too worked up, one way or the other, about something that will begin 24 months into the future. But if people stay healthy and develop like Mizzou tends to develop players, then WOW is this team loaded, especially on an offensive line that will have at least three multi-year starters and return four starters overall, and on a defensive line that will be stacked and experienced...and this is without even considering Sheldon Richardson's presence.

Of course, the key to 2011 expectations will be Blaine Gabbert. At 6'5, 240, with a cannon attached to his right arm, he is exactly what pro scouts look for in a quarterback, and if he has any success at all in 2009 and 2010, people will be assuming he's going pro. If he comes back like Colt McCoy, or if he leaves like Josh Freeman, it will have a tremendous impact on expectations. There will be plenty of options if he leaves--~~Blaine Dalton,~~ maybe 2010 commit James Franklin, or of course Jimmy Costello or Ashton Glaser--but obviously the overall outlook will be clouded in part by Gabbert's decision*.

* The more I talk about this, the more I feel like I'm unleashing a monster jinx regarding Gabbert's health, so I'm goign to shut up about it now.

Pos.	Player	Pos	Player
QB	Blaine Gabbert (Sr.)** Jimmy Costello (Sr.) Ashton Glaser (So.)	DE	Aldon Smith (Jr.)** Brad Madison (Jr.) Brayden Burnett (So.)
RB	De'Vion Moore (Sr.) Kendial Lawrence (Jr.) Gilbert Moye (Sr.)	DT	Terrell Resonno (Sr.)** Jimmy Burge (Jr.) George White (Jr.)
WR	Jerrell Jackson (Sr.)* T.J. Moe (Jr.) Kerwin Stricker (So.)	DT	Dominique Hamilton (Sr.)* Marvin Foster (So.) Chris Earnhardt (Sr.)
WR	L'Damian Washington (Jr.)* Rolandis Woodland (Jr.) Jaleel Clark (So.)	DE	Jacquies Smith (Sr.)** Michael Sam (Jr./So.) Adam Burton (So.)
WR	Wes Kemp (Sr.)** Gahn McGaffie (Jr.) Brandon Gerau (Sr.)	SLB	Zaviar Gooden (Jr.) x x
TE	Andrew Jones (Sr.)** Michael Egnew (Sr.) Alex Sanders (So.)	MLB	Donovan Bonner (Jr.) Andrew Wilson (So.) x
LT	Elvis Fisher (Sr.)*** Justin Britt (Jr./So.) x	WLB	Will Ebner (Sr.)* Josh Tatum (Sr.) x
LG	Austin Wuebbels (Sr.)** Jayson Palmgren (Sr.) x	CB	Trey Hobson (Sr.) Kip Edwards (Jr.) x
C	Travis Ruth (Jr.) x x	CB	Robert Steeples (Jr.) x x
RG	J.T. Beasley (Sr.)* Daniel Jenkins (Jr.) Mark Hill (So.)	FS	Kenji Jackson (Sr.)*** Tavon Bolden (So.) x
RT	Dan Hoch (Sr.)** Jack Meiners (Jr.) Chris Freeman (So.)	SS	Matt White (So.) Randy Ponder (So.) Tony Randolph (Sr.)

K	Grant Ressel (Sr.)** Trey Barrow (Jr.)	P	Matt Grabner (Sr.)* Grant Ressel (Sr.)
PR	T.J. Moe (Jr.)* x	KR	Kendial Lawrence (Jr.) x

Sixteen seasons of starting experience on offense, 12 on defense. Solid experience everywhere, but just ridiculous experience in the trenches. Gabbert or no Gabbert, there's reason to be optimistic about the future just because of that.
As mentioned earlier, the secondary is really the only unit looking at taking a decent-sized hit this season. Same with linebackers, really, but we're all so excited about guys like Ebner, Bonner, Gooden, etc., that it seems like at least a bit less of a concern.

Date	Team	Comments
9/3	?	We can just assume that the three ?'s on the schedule will likely be filled with the usual: a BCS conference team, a decent non-BCS team, and a craptastic non-BCS team. Who those are is obviously up in the air, though I'll say this: I think ESPN and other networks will start trying harder and harder to manufacture good non-conference matchups by offering to pay both participants a decent amount of money. At some point, that will become a cost-effective thing to do, and I think you'll start seeing more matchups coming about in that way. No idea who Missouri might get paired with in such a scenario, but it might do us well to assume that it's possible to be anybody between Oregon and Miami, not just a regional matchup like Arkansas or Iowa.
9/10	?
9/17	?
9/24	Western Illinois	Yawn.
10/1	at Colorado	At the very least, CU should have a very good offensive line in 2011, whether Dan Hawkins is still there or not.
10/15	Texas A&M	All the sophomores currently on their two-deep will be seniors, so they could be pretty decent, whether Mike Sherman is still there or not (and with his ridiculously lengthy contract, he probably will be).
10/22	at Oklahoma	I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Missouri will not be favored in this one.
10/29	Nebraska	2011 is the anti-2010. Three of five down the stretch are at home, and they don't give up the home game against Kansas. Obviously we have no idea about any of the final five teams two years out, but it's certainly possible that Mizzou will be favored in all five, or at least four of them.
11/5	Texas Tech
11/12	at Kansas State
11/19	Iowa State
11/26	vs Kansas

Summary

The point of this exercise was simply to hammer home the point that Missouri will not only be playing for 2009 this year, but 2010 and 2011 as well. If recruiting continues to improve, or if a spate of injuries completely changes the outlook of the program, then these depth charts are about as far from realistic as possible, but the take-home point is simply this: if Missouri does disappoint in 2009, and clearly it's possible, it really will not affect the long-term prognosis of the program as long as the chemistry stays tight, the players stay healthy, and the players continue to improve. I really want Mizzou to shut everybody up and win another North title (and hey, throw in 10 wins for good measure), but Mizzou will likely survive long-term no matter what happens in 2009, and that's a pretty exciting thought to fall back on if things don't go as planned over the next four months.

Mizzou 2009, Part Ten: Defensive Line

Bill C. — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:00:10 -0000

Okay, so we've worked ourselves into an optimistic frenzy on offense (it's August--show me a fanbase that isn't excited right now). What about the defense? Buzz kill or buzzsaw?

Defensive Line

This pic was too good not to use again.

2008 Unit Ranking: #14 in the nation (#3 in the Big 12)

Projected Depth Chart
DT Jaron Baston (6'1, 305, Sr.)
DE Aldon Smith (6'5, 255, RSFr.)
DE Jacquies Smith (6'4, 250, So.)
DT Terrell Resonno (6'6, 295, So.)
DE Brian Coulter (6'4, 250, Sr.)
DT Dominique Hamilton (6'6, 300, So.)
DE Brad Madison (6'4, 260, RSFr.)
DT Jimmy Burge (6'2, 285, RSFr.)
DT George White (6'4, 280, RSFr.)
DE Marcus Malbrough (6'5, 255, RSFr.)
DT Chris Earnhardt (6'5, 270, So.)
DT Andy Maples (6'4, 310, Sr.)
DT Bart Coslet (6'5, 260, Jr.)
DT Mark Ellis (6'2, 270, Sr.)

1. What kind of every-down potential do we have in our three-headed end monster? We all know about the athletic potential of Jacquies Smith, Aldon Smith, and Brian God Coulter. We're all excited about the possibilities of these guys rushing the passer. But you can only really pin your ears back and attack on Passing Downs...you have to force Passing Downs first. Mizzou was very good against the run last year, and while a lot of that has to do with Sean Weatherspoon and the linebackers, credit too goes to Ziggy Hood, Jaron Baston, Tommy Chavis, and Stryker Sulak, last year's starting D-line.

We haven't seen the lawfirm of Smith, Coulter, and Smith in every-down action yet, nor do we know who will be starting next to Baston at DT, so we don't know how good or bad the line will be against the run. We know that at 275+ pounds, Chavis was seen as more of a run stopping end than a pass rusher, and we know that nobody in the current corps of ends is that big. But clearly pure weight doesn't tell the story. TCU, Texas, and Tennessee were #1-3 against the run (according to Rushing S&P+) last year, and while they had some reasonably big guys (Texas' Henry Melton was around 280, Tennessee's Robert Ayers 270), most DEs on these squads were within the same 250-265 range as Mizzou's.

Can stats tell us anything about run support? Maybe a little. Here are the percentages of tackles each of last year's Mizzou linemen made against the run or pass (sacks count against the pass, FYI).

Jacquies Smith: 87% of tackles came against the run
Jaron Baston: 80%
Tommy Chavis: 72%
Ziggy Hood: 71%
Brian Coulter: 68%
Stryker Sulak: 61%

So if we conclude that Jacquies Smith really is a versatile player in the passing game (that's the perception, anyway), then he must be pretty good against the run. His "against the run" totals were higher Chavis', and Coulter's were higher than Sulak's, so consider that at least a small test passed. (And yes, they could have had high "against the run" %'s because they did nothing against the pass, not because they were particularly good against the run. I think we've made it clear that there are no wonderful lineman statistics. This is what we have to work with.)

What if we just looked at "successful" tackles (i.e. tackles that prevented a successful play for the offense)?

Jacquies Smith: 90% of successful tackles came against the run
Jaron Baston: 78%
Brian Coulter: 75%
Tommy Chavis: 73%
Ziggy Hood: 69%
Stryker Sulak: 51%

Hmm. That suggests that Coulter did more against the run than Sulak did...and that most of the successful plays J. Smith made came against the run. That's at least a little comforting, right?

2. Who's winning the battle to start next to Jaron Baston? No freaking idea whatsoever. At least I'm honest, right? Here's where it's bad that we're completely reliant on the practice reports of Dave Matter and Gabe Dearmond. We haven't heard much of Terrell Resonno or Dominique Hamilton. Monday's depth chart updates show that it's still Resonno in the lead, though neither have distinguished themselves. Hamilton looked really good in the spring game, but that is, after all, just one scrimmage of many.

3. Is there a sleeper we haven't talked much about? It appears about thirteen scholarships have been spent on the defense line at the moment, yet we've only talked about six guys. Are any of the others posing serious threats for playing time or stardom? Not really. Marcus Malbrough was not practicing particularly well, but he had a nice Saturday scrimmage, lodging a TFL and a sack. At DT, it sounds like the biggest mover has been redshirt freshman Jimmy Burge, who has jumped ahead of both George White and Chris Earnhardt to second string. It sounded like freshman Marvin Foster was making a threat for playing time before injuring his knee last week, so I'm thinking for the most part we're looking at a six-man line rotation...at least as far as the playmakers go. The winner of the Brad Madison/Malbrough battle will likely see the field, as will the winner of the Burge/Earnhardt/White battle, but I'm guessing that for 2009, at least, they won't be serious threats to make plays as much as eat space. It's doubtful we'll hear too much about anyone beyond Smith/Coulter/Smith and Baston/Resonno/Hamilton.

Spring Football Update: Defensive Line

Bill C. — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:00:11 -0000

The switch has been flipped from basketball to football, and I figure the best way to dip our toes back in the water is to revisit my 2009 Walkthrough series from January and see what has or hasn't changed since then. We move now to defense, where the DEs and DTs have been the focus of a lot of practice talk.

Defensive Ends

Photo by The Trib's Julia Robinson

There's always a concern when you replace a 4-year contributor like Stryker Sulak, along with an underrated guy like Tommy Chavis (who didn't have a high-flying end to his career), but the two major returnees could be studs in certain roles, and there is a lot of athleticism entering the picture. This isn't intended to be a "get pumped about 2009...all is well!!!" series, and I hope I proved that by worry about the lack of a #1 WR on Saturday, but that said I can't really hide my enthusiasm about this group. They're young, relatively unproven, and very, very exciting.

What's Changed? Two things: 1) the skinny ends added some bulk, and 2) Aldon Smith went from a scout team guy rumored to have a lot of potential, to a potential first-stringer with a lot of potential. With Brian Coulter hobbled by injury early on, A. Smith staked his claim to a major role on the 2009 team, and with Coulter back, we've got quite a battle for who will be the starter opposite the other Smith, Jacquies.

Gabe from PowerMizzou gave one of the more exciting blurbs of the spring Tuesday night when he said "I'm really impressed by the play of the top three defensive ends for the Tigers. I had two different people mention to me that Aldon Smith looked almost unblockable at times."

I mentioned at the end of the '08 season that Mizzou could be better against the pass and worse against the run in '09. The major rationale behind that was that Jacquies Smith and Coulter are both good in pass rush situations, but they hadn't proven that they could be sturdy every-down ends. Well, Jacquies and Aldon Smith are both over 250 pounds now, from what we've read, and if they can be the every-down guys with the option of bringing in Coulter to fly off the end on passing downs, then this defense could be solid. It's early, and we'll see what happens, but what I wanted to read this spring about the DE's, i've read.

Oh yeah, and some dude named Sheldon Richardson might be around in a few months to work his way into the rotation.

Projected Spring Finish

1. Jacquies Smith (So)
2. Aldon Smith (RSFr)
3. Brian Coulter (Sr)
4. Brad Madison (RSFr)
5. Marcus Malbrough (RSFr)
6. Chris Earnhardt (So)

Defensive Tackles

Photo by The Trib's Parker Eshelman

[George] White came to school as a 245-pound linebacker and quickly moved to defensive end, then defensive tackle, a la Lorenzo Williams. He could be a 270-pound tweener who never finds a true position, or he could emerge from his redshirt season with a transformed 290-pound body like Williams. We won't really know until we see him in the spring. Size isn't everything at D-tackle, obviously (otherwise Andy Maples would have started this year), but you do probably need to carry a pretty high minimum weight to be able to perform well in the Big 12. You hope it works out for this kid--he was directed to check out Mizzou late in the recruiting process by high school coach Tony Van Zant (yes, that TVZ) and stuck with Mizzou after having to spend a year at prep school--but...well...it doesn't work out for everybody, so we'll see.

What Changed? George White weighed in at 280+ pounds, for starters. He and Jimmy Burge have both passed Andy Maples on the depth chart, meaning we almost have a four-way race for the second starting position alongside Jaron Baston. Terrell Resonno is still the favorite, I think, but it does sound like there's a decent amount of quickness and athleticism on the two-deep at the moment.

The main question is, simply, will someone win the job, or will someone take the job? Ziggy Hood was a force in the middle last year and was the main reason Missouri was so good at stopping the run in 2008. We've established that Missouri might have a pretty good set of DEs in 2009, but while I'm very comfortable with the playmaking ability of Baston--I think he was a very underrated player next to Ziggy--it takes two. Resonno's stats were minimal but decent, and he (and Hamilton, and apparently White) has a lot of quickness for the position. But it takes quickness and strength, and until we see what these guys do, both against the strong Mizzou O-line in the Black & Gold game and against the Illinois O-line to start the season, we won't really know what we have here. Call me guardedly optimistic, but I'm clearly more optimistic about the DEs than DTs.

Projected Spring Finish

1. Jaron Bason (Sr)
2. Terrell Resonno (So)
3. Dominique Hamilton (So)
4. George White (RSFr)
5. Jimmy Burge (RSFr)
6. Andy Maples (Sr)

Compared to the offensive units we've reviewed thus far, having two contributing seniors makes the D-Line the oldest of the lot. Even with Baston and Coulter, though, this is still a ridiculously young front four, and while there's a lot of play-making ability to go around, you do figure a solid, experienced O-line could do some damage here. Luckily, upon first glance there aren't a ton of solid, experienced O-lines on the schedule.

A 2009 Walkthrough: Defensive Ends

Bill C. — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:00:10 -0000

Quarterbacks
Running Backs
Wide Receivers
Tight Ends
Offensive Line

Missouri loses a lot of experience in many key units, but in none are the more equipped to handle that change without losing a beat than they are at defensive end. There is a young, potentially great unit ready to develop here.

Returnees

Jacquies Smith (Sophomore, 6'4, 240)
2008: 46 Tackles, 3.0 TFL, 1.0 sacks, 2 QB Hurries, 2 PBR

I admit it: I've got high expectations for Jacquies. By the end of his true freshman season, he was already outplaying Tommy Chavis and stealing quite a bit of playing time from him. He's got a good motor and first-step quickness, and yet he was also outstanding in run support in the Alamo Bowl. And the most exciting thing I heard about him this year was Gary Pinkel saying that Jacquieeeees could probably get up to the 255- to 265-pound range without losing any agility. In other words, he could be a pretty ridiculously good every-down player.

The playing time he got this year behind two seniors set him up nicely to take a Sean Weatherspoon-like leap his sophomore year if he's ready. I probably shouldn't set the bar at "Weatherspoon" level, but I'll set it a step below that.

Brian Coulter (Senior, 6'4, 255)
2008: 29 tackles, 6.5 TFL, 3.0 sacks, 2 FF, 6 QB Hurries, 2 PBR

Ahh, the man, the myth, the Brian Coulter. No Mizzou fan had heard of Brian Coulter in mid-July, and about a day after he signed with the Tigers, he was going to be the difference maker, the guy who pushed Missouri over the top in the national title hunt. He was an unstoppable force, a combination of Justin Smith, Brian Smith, and Osi Umenyiora. He was the greatest defensive end ever to don a Mizzou uniform...before he actually donned a Mizzou uniform.

A bit unfair, to say the least.

In the end, it turns out Coulter was simply a quick defensive end who would take a little while to get used to playing at the D1 level. He's certainly a major potential pass-rush specialist--it sure didn't take him long to go from 0 sacks to 6.5 once he got rolling--but he was also prone to offsides penalties (two in the Alamo Bowl) and mental errors. At the very least, it appears that Coulter could be a serious passing downs weapon, and it wouldn't at all surprise me to see him get well into the double digits in sacks in '09. The main question for me is, is he an every-down player? Can he consistently stand up an offensive tackle on running plays? Will he be a non-passing downs liability? Will he make a Pig Brown-esque junior-to-senior leap, or will he be more of a Justin Garrett-esque "He is what he is" quantity?

I've said a couple times now that I expect Mizzou's pass defense to get better in '09 and its run defense to get worse. If the defense manages to get better overall, chances are that's because Brian Coulter took a major step forward.

Chris Earnhardt (Sophomore, 6'5, 245)
2008: 17 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 2 QB Hurries

I had the pleasure of meeting and watching Chris Earnhardt on his official recruiting visit back in 2006. He was quiet and withdrawn, to the point where Dave Christensen (his primary recruiter) was poking at him and trying to get him to loosen up a bit. I couldn't tell if he wasn't enjoying himself, or whether that was just his natural demeanor. Considering he committed to Mizzou that weekend, I guess it was his demeanor.

I couldn't shake the thought of his withdrawn personality out of his head recently when the rumors started swirling around that he either had quit the team or was going to quit the team soon. I'm trying not to read too much into one hour of exposure with the guy, but he seemed like the type who could get pretty down on himself if he wasn't contributing as much as he hoped he would. That's as far as I'll go with that line of thinking, though, as it really was limited exposure.

Earnhardt started out the season on the second-string and was the victim of Brian Coulter's surge for playing time. Each week down the stretch, when Gabe at PowerMizzou would report any depth chart changes, he would make not that Earnhardt was still on there despite the rumors. At this point, nobody outside of Earnhardt and the coaching staff (maybe) has any idea whether Earnhardt is going to be a part of the team for the next three years.

If he does come back, and I need to actually evaluate him as a player here, I'm not sure what to think. He did make a couple plays early in the year, but he didn't really assert himself, and it was no surprise that, when Coulter got up to speed a bit, he was a more valuable player even with the brain farts. Obviously I hope he comes back and makes me pay for doubting him, but right now it wouldn't surprise me if, even if he's on the 2009 roster, he's not on the first- or second-string.

Redshirts

Aldon Smith (RSFr, 6'5, 235)

Speaking of expectations...the Aldon Smith myth grew as the season progressed as well. Academically cleared late in August, when it was clear that it wasn't worth rushing him onto the field and wasting a redshirt, Smith supposedly was outstanding on the scout team this year and figures to factor heavily in the DE race when Spring Football begins.

Smith (I guess we're going to have to start using "J. Smith" and "A. Smith"...or just "Jacquies" and "Aldon") was Rivals' #5 player in Missouri in the 2008 recruiting class, ahead of Wes Kemp, Robert Steeples and other potential 2009 contributors. He has a great frame, and it wouldn't surprise me if he weighed in around the 250 mark this spring or summer. I'm not going to pretend to know what strengths or weaknesses he brings to the table...I'm just going to say that he's one of the reasons I'm excited about the '09 DE corps.

Marcus Malbrough (RSFr, 6'5, 225)

It seems that most defensive ends show up as true freshmen on the skinny side, and Marcus Malbrough's certainly not an exception in that regard. You never know which of the skinny DEs will be able to work their way toward the 250-pound mark (a la Stryker Sulak) and who will top out around 235 (a la Brian Smith), but hopefully it's the former. Brian Smith made it work because he was ridiculously quick, but he was the exception rather than the rule. I heard a few good things about Malbrough this fall, and I think it speaks loudly toward the quality of the 2008 recruiting class that he was the fourth-best DE newcomer this year.

Incoming

Sheldon Richardson (6'4, 290, St. Louis, MO)

In discussing the 2009 defensive ends, there's a rather large elephant in the room...and he's got an extremely quick first step. As I mentioned in the tight ends preview, Sheldon Richardson, Rivals' #4 player in the country, could possibly walk in the door and start at TE, DE or DT in the fall, and while those expectations are possibly unfair, the dude is impressive, and he showed it in the US Army All-American game.

The main question with SR, as expressed previously, is where he'll play. He has expressed a desire to avoid the defensive tackle position for some reason, and even if he were to end up there, it appears he won't start there. I'd say the smart money is on Richardson playing defensive end in 2009, and while we can speculate that he'll make an Atiyyah Ellison-like move toward the middle of the D-line when all is said and done, we shouldn't assume it. For all we know, he could set up shop as a 275-pound DE, stay there and thrive.

Best case scenario for 2009: Richardson becomes a solid every-down DE, and Brian Coulter is able to specialize on the passing downs pass rush. Richardson, Coulter and the Smiths make for a hellacious DE unit. That's my happy place.

Brayden Burnett (6'3, 240, Southlake, TX)

Watch Burnett's YouTube highlights below, and you'll come to two conclusions pretty quickly: 1) dude's got a motor, and 2) dude's always in the right place. It's hard to gauge upside, but Burnett was in pretty high demand (offers from Wisconsin, Cal, Michigan State, and Kansas, among others) because of what seems like his every-down potential. With the likely depth at this position, Burnett is about 98% likely to redshirt, and it looks like he should be able to handle some more weight, meaning he'll start 2010 as a 250-255 pound redshirt freshman.

Terrance Lloyd (6'4, 230, Stratford, TX)

There really hasn't been much (if any) video released on Lloyd, who chose Mizzou over OSU, ATM, and others, and recently quashed rumors that he was thinking about looking around at other schools before Signing Day. He appears to be more in the "pass rush specialist" model, but that's pure speculation.

Ty Phillips (6'2, 265, E. St. Louis, IL) & Marvin Foster (6'2, 265, Ft. Worth, TX)

Two high school defensive ends who are possibly quick enough to play DE but, in my happy place, put on 25 pounds and end up in the interior of the D-line, Phillips and Foster are two guys I'm quite excited about...we just have a potential glut at DE, and their routes to playing time will probably be at DT, if they can hold weight anyway.

Potential Incoming

It doesn't appear that there are any more potential DE recruits on the radar screen for this class.

2008 vs 2009

As I mentioned earlier, of all the inexperienced units we have to worry about in 2009, this one appears to be the deepest and most talented. There's always a concern when you replace a 4-year contributor like Stryker Sulak, along with an underrated guy like Tommy Chavis (who didn't have a high-flying end to his career), but the two major returnees could be studs in certain roles, and there is a lot of athleticism entering the picture. This isn't intended to be a "get pumped about 2009...all is well!!!" series, and I hope I proved that by worry about the lack of a #1 WR on Saturday, but that said I can't really hide my enthusiasm about this group. They're young, relatively unproven, and very, very exciting.

2009 Mizzou DEs on the YouTubes

It's hard to find many good DE montages on the YouTubes...not really a "highlight package" position. This is all I've got.

Brayden Burnett

Poll

Who will be Missouri's starting defensive ends in 2009?

Jacquies Smith & Brian Coulter

45 votes

Jacquies Smith & Sheldon Richardson

15 votes

Brian Coulter & Sheldon Richardson

14 votes

Jacquies Smith & Aldon Smith

7 votes

Brian Coulter & Aldon Smith

2 votes

some other combination of J. Smith, Coulter, Richardson, A. Smith, Chris Earnhardt, Marcus Malbrough, and the true freshmen

4 votes

87 votes | Poll has closed

Mizzou-Nevada: Beyond the Box Score

Bill C. — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:00:06 -0000

I have this done already, so I may as well post the BTBS a day early.

Another week, another set of mind-blowing BTBS numbers for the Mizzou offense. But notice this too: against Texas Tech, Nevada put up a 0.779 S&P and 26.88 EqPts. Against Mizzou, those numbers were 0.666 S&P and 19.97 EqPts. So while Mizzou and Tech gave up roughly the same number of actual points, Mizzou's defense performed better as a whole. And it's performing incrementally better each week.

To the numbers we go! And for The Beef, I'm once again bolding the key points. You're welcome.

Missouri		Nevada
	% Close = 29.5%
	TOTAL
65	Plays	84
48.55	EqPts	19.97
55.4%	Success Rate	42.9%
0.75	Points Per Play (PPP)	0.24
1.301	S&P (Success + PPP)	0.666

	CLOSE GAME ONLY
26	Plays	18
22.60	EqPts	6.15
57.7%	Success Rate	55.6%
0.87	PPP	0.34
1.446	S&P	0.897

	RUSHING
12.13	EqPts	9.66
31.0%	Success Rate	48.8%
0.42	PPP	0.22
0.729	S&P	0.713

	PASSING
36.42	EqPts	10.31
75.0%	Success Rate	36.6%
1.01	PPP	0.25
1.762	S&P	0.617

	NON-PASSING DOWNS
56.0%	Success Rate	50.9%
0.75	PPP	0.30
1.309	S&P	0.811

	PASSING DOWNS
53.3%	Success Rate	25.9%
0.74	PPP	0.10
1.273	S&P	0.360

	TURNOVERS
0	Number	1
0.00	Points Lost **	1.18
0.00	Points Given ***	7.00
0.00	Total T/O Pts	8.18
+8.18	Turnover Pts Margin	-8.18

Notice how quickly Mizzou put this out of reach. Less than 30% of the game was played in "close" circumstances--that's almost as low as it was against SEMO last week. Against Mizzou, you're under such pressure to score and score early that one mistake can feel like having your serve broken by Pete Sampras--you just don't know how you're going to make up the distance you've just given up on the scoreboard.

Mizzou Passing (in order by points)

Chase Daniel: 28.20 EqPts, 82.1% success rate (GOOD GOD), 1.01 PPP, 1.829 S&P
Chase Patton: 4.08 EqPts, 50.0%, 1.02 PPP, 1.520 S&P
Blaine Gabbert: 0.37 EqPts, 33.3%, 0.12 PPP, 0.455 S&P

82.1% success rate for Chase Daniel. EIGHTY-TWO POINT ONE PERCENT SUCCESS RATE. GOOD GOD. And for the second straight week, Mizzou averaged over 1 point per pass. Every time the ball leaves Chase Daniel's arm, that's another point on the scoreboard.
Patton occasionally unleashes a pretty bad ball, but you can't complain with a 1.520 S&P from the second-string guy.
I do wish we would run the full playbook when Gabbert's in the game. I want to see what his touch is on the downfield passes. We're getting so unbelievably spoiled with Daniel's touch on the 20-yard passes.

Mizzou Rushing (in order by points)

Derrick Washington: 7.63 EqPts, 1.58 S&P
Chase Patton: 1.61 EqPts (on 1 carry)
De'Vion Moore: 1.39 EqPts, 0.339 S&P
Chase Daniel: 0.47 EqPts (on 1 carry)
Blaine Gabbert: 0.34 EqPts (on 1 carry)
Jeremy Maclin: 0.28 EqPts, 0.139 S&P
Jimmy Jackson: 0.20 EqPts, 0.065 S&P
Danario Alexander: 0.10 EqPts (on 1 carry)
Tyron Reece: 0.12 EqPts (on 1 carry)
Shaun Scott: -0.01 EqPts (on 1 carry)

Derrick Washington was once again outstanding, putting up a 62.5% success rate and 1.58 S&P.
Unfortunately, the rest of the Tigers put up only a 19.0% success rate and 0.404 S&P. A lot of this was due to the high percentage of junk time carries, but still...aside from Washington's big run, the running game really never took off. One carry skews the numbers, but it's still something I'd like to see improve against Buffalo.
De'Vion Moore had a forgettable game but still looked pretty hard to bring down.

The passing game, on the other hand, was near perfect.

Mizzou Receiving (in order by points)

Jeremy Maclin: 14.42 EqPts, 3.40 S&P
Chase Coffman: 9.56 EqPts, 2.59 S&P
Jared Perry: 7.84 EqPts, 2.31 S&P
Tommy Saunders: 3.72 EqPts, 1.62 S&P
Derrick Washington: 0.38 EqPts (on 1 catch)
Jon Gissinger: 0.37 EqPts (on 1 catch)
Danario Alexander: 0.15 EqPts (on 1 catch)

Every single reception resulted in a "successful" play. That's crazy. The combination of efficiency and aggressiveness being shown by the Mizzou passing game right now is damn near unprecedented.
14.42 EqPts from one guy? Really? That's four more EqPts than all Nevada receivers managed combined.
When your "possession" receivers (Perry, Saunders) are putting up 1.62 and 2.31 S&P's and going for close to 100 yards each, you know you can do no wrong.
I re-watched most of the game yesterday, and I actually think Danario Alexander is 100% healthy, or damn close. He's never been the most agile of runners, but on the reverse--his first touch of '08--he was running like the rigid-but-powerful colt I remembered from '07. Plus, he didn't look gimpy on his one catch or the other two plays in which he was the target (the pass interference call in the endzone, and the inside screen he dropped). He needs to get some more game action to get back his feel for the game, but I'm not too concerned about his health.
I'd like to have seen the freshmen get involved again, but oh well I guess.

Mizzou Defense - Successful Tackles

Sean Weatherspoon - 6.5
William Moore - 3.0
Will Ebner - 2.5
Stryker Sulak - 2.5
Luke Lambert - 2.0
Jaron Baston - 1.5
Tommy Chavis - 1.5
Brock Christopher - 1.5

Mizzou Defense - % of plays made by...

Defensive Line: 12.0 total tackles, 75.0% success rate (19.0% of total tackles)
Linebackers: 21.5 total tackles, 62.8% success rate (34.1% of total tackles)
Defensive Backs: 29.5 total tackles, 22.0% success rate (46.8% of total tackles)

Weatherspoon was all over the freaking field, especially considering he missed a couple tackles. But what, he couldn't come up with another Pick Six? What the hell, Sean?
Will Ebner continues to make big plays in limited playing time. Hell, I'm starting to wonder if he's our third-best LB at this point.
The lack of sacks in the last two games is almost starting to concern me, but the D-line is still making plays, so I'm not worried yet. And it's a lot of people making plays--Sulak, Baston, Chavis, Hood, Jacquies Smith, Chris Earnhardt, and Terrell Resonno all had a hand in a successful tackle.
A word about unit success rates: as a whole, anything over 75% is good for the DL, anything over 60% is good for the LBs, and anything over about 25% is good for the DBs. So by that, the front seven played quite well and made quite a few plays. If we were to take pass breakups into account, I'm pretty sure the DBs would grade out pretty well too.
A word about the % of tackles by unit: I like to see the DL making 25% or so of the defense's tackles, but it's hard to quantify being that, if they're occupying blockers and the LBs are making quality tackles, then the D-line still did its job. So instead we'll say this: as a whole, you'd like to see your front seven making at least 55-60% of the overall tackles. Mizzou's front seven only accounted for about 53% of the overall tackles, but considering how close William Moore's been playing to the line, you could almost throw him into the "front seven" mix. Bottom line is, Nevada put up 488 yards against Texas Tech and only 362 against Mizzou. Take away the inexcuseable TD on the last play of the first half, and that number drops to 320 yards, which would be pretty outstanding against Nevada and Colin Kaepernick.
Another thing that's almost starting to concern me: we're not forcing as many turnovers as I expected to see. It's probably not an actual problem by any means. I mean, 1) our #1 turnover maker (William Moore) has been hobbled, 2) we're making the turnovers we do force count (3 defensive TDs in 3 weeks), 3) we're not turning the ball over at all (KNOCK ON WOOD), and 4) five takeaways in three games certainly isn't bad. My own high goals expected a little more, is all.

Summary

Only 4 times in 2007 did somebody produce as high a Passing S&P as Mizzou did on Saturday: Toledo (against Northern Illinois), Clemson (against Central Michigan), Florida (against Western Kentucky) and Oklahoma (against North Texas). Nevada doesn't have a great defense, but it's needless to say their defensive unit is more capable and talented than the 2007 versions of those teams above, especially after what they did to Texas Tech last week.

The rushing game left a bit to be desired after Washington's first carry, but the passing game is simply unconscious right now. My mom actually asked me on the phone yesterday if they're peaking too early. I said it's a smidgen of a concern, but overall nobody really seems to be playing over their heads. It's just "read, react, rack up the yards" right now, and I have no reason to believe they won't continue playing above their 2007 level the rest of the season. Which is an unbelievably scary thought.

As for the defense, things are beginning to look up. If not for the mini-Hail Mary at the end of Q2, there really wouldn't be anything to complain about; but honestly, that play may have been a good thing because the defense played pissed off in the second half and completely shut down a pretty solid offense. Buffalo has a decent offense with a decent QB (the awesomely-named Drew Willy), but they don't have the big-play capability that Nevada has. If Mizzou plays at its current level, the Bulls will be lucky to score the 17 that Nevada did. And if the defense continues to improve incrementally, then I'll be surprised to see Buffalo cross into double digits.

As we've been saying the last couple of days, soak this in, Mizzou fans. On Football Outsiders the other day, a Tennessee fan told me that he doesn't feel like he soaked in and enjoyed UT's 1996-99 run enough. We all expect Mizzou to win at a pretty strong level after this year, but we may never see another offense that can do what this offense is doing right now. Appreciate Chase Daniel, appreciate Jeremy Maclin, appreciate Chase Coffman, and take in every minute of this. Don't start looking ahead to Nebraska or Texas or Kansas or (cross your fingers) OU at Arrowhead just yet--there's too much to enjoy in the meantime.

Poll

Who was the statistical MVP of Mizzou-Nevada?

Chase Daniel (28.20 EqPts Passing, 82% success rate)

106 votes

Derrick Washington (8.01 Total EqPts, 1.58 rushing S&P)

3 votes

Jeremy Maclin (14.70 Total EqPts, 3.40 receiving S&P)

13 votes

Sean Weatherspoon (6.5 successful tackles)

4 votes

126 votes | Poll has closed

Mizzou-SEMO: Beyond the Box Score

Bill C. — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:00:04 -0000

So...does anybody really feel a great desire to dive into the intricacies of the BTBS stats for a 52-3 win that could have been 100-3 with the starters in? I thought not. But there are a few things I have to point out.

Almost Perfect

After the jump, you can check out my BTBS "box score" table for the SEMO game. In it, be sure to check out the 'close-game' stats.

Mizzou ran 17 plays while the game was 'close' (i.e. within two possessions).
Of those 17, 15 were successful.
Those 17 plays resulted in 17.25 EqPts.
Anything over a 45% success rate is solid. Mizzou's close-game success rate was 88.2%.
Anything over a 0.50 PPP is solid. Mizzou's close-game PPP was 1.01.
Adding those together, anything over about a 0.950 S&P is solid. Mizzou's close-game S&P was 1.897.
Looking back at my 2007 stats, only one offensive performance can top Mizzou's near-perfection here: Florida put up a 92.3% close-game success rate, 1.40 close-game PPP, and 2.321 close-game S&P versus Western Kentucky last year. F---ing Tim Tebow...always getting in Chase Daniel's way on the greatness scale...

QBs

For the game, Mizzou QBs put up the following numbers...

Chase Daniel

Passing: 88.2% / 1.07 PPP / 1.949 S&P
TOTAL: 80.6% / 0.90 PPP / 1.706 S&P

Chase Patton

Passing: 75.0% / 0.37 PPP / 1.121 S&P
TOTAL: 75.0% / 0.57 PPP / 1.321 S&P

Blaine Gabbert

Passing: 22.2% / 0.06 PPP / 0.280 S&P
TOTAL: 40.9% / 0.18 PPP / 0.589 S&P

Now...anybody who watched the game knows that Gabbert struggled more than Daniel and Patton. But slack should be cut toward him due simply to the personnel on the field...especially on the last drive, when he was handing to Shaun Scott (who actually looked decent) and Tyrone Reece (who didn't). In all, though, I do think it was good for Gabbert to get out the butterflies against SEMO. Hopefully he'll get some snaps against Nevada, Buffalo, and one or two conference opponents as well. Redshirt's off--might as well take advantage of it.

RBs

Derrick Washington: 7.57 EqPts (75.0% / 0.95 PPP / 1.696 S&P)
Jimmy Jackson: 4.93 EqPts (60.0% / 0.49 PPP / 1.093 S&P)
De'vion Moore: 4.09 EqPts (66.7% / 0.45 PPP / 1.121 S&P)
Shaun Scott: 0.61 EqPts (100.0% on 2 carries / 0.31 PPP / 1.305 S&P)
Tyrone Reece: -0.25 EqPts (0.0% on 2 carries / -0.13 PPP / -0.125 S&P)

Yes, it was SEMO, but it's still fun looking at unbelievable stats.

Receivers

Small sample sizes make it not really worth looking at S&P stats for the receivers, but here's a list of the receivers and how many EqPts they accounted for...

Jared Perry: 5.19 EqPts
Derrick Washington: 4.50 EqPts
Jeremy Maclin: 2.76 EqPts
Jerrell Jackson: 2.73 EqPts
Chase Coffman: 2.11 EqPts
Tommy Saunders: 2.10 EqPts
Wes Kemp: 1.09 EqPts
Jimmy Jackson: 0.58 EqPts
Michael Egnew: 0.56 EqPts
Andrew Jones: 0.35 EqPts

Tackles

Defensive Line: 85.7% success rate, 7.0 total tackles, 20.0% of overall tackles
Linebackers: 58.3% success rate, 12.0 total tackles, 34.3% of overall tackles
Defensive Backs: 18.8% success rate, 16.0 total tackles, 45.7% of overall tackles

Not to read too much into this, as it's impossible to stay focused when you're up 42-0 after 22 minutes, but there are a couple negative figures here.
The DB success rate is never going to be great, but it should probably be in the 25% range, not 19%.
The DL should be making 25%-30% of the team's overall tackles, not 20%. And on the flipside, the DBs shouldn't be making 46% of the tackles.
The LBs were just about where they should be.

Top Successful Tacklers

Andrew Gachkar, 2.0
Sean Weatherspoon, 2.0
Chris Earnhardt, 1.5
Will Ebner, 1.5 (seemed like about 12)
Kenji Jackson, 1.0

The tackles were spread across so many players that there really wasn't much to go on here.

Final BTBS Stats

Missouri		SEMO
	% Close = 19.79%
	TOTAL
69	Plays	81
40.99	EqPts	14.46
66.7%	Success Rate	35.8%
0.59	Points Per Play (PPP)	0.18
1.261	S&P (Success + PPP)	0.537

	CLOSE GAME ONLY
17	Plays	20
17.25	EqPts	3.57
88.2%	Success Rate	40.0%
1.01	PPP	0.18
1.897	S&P	0.579

	RUSHING
19.36	EqPts	3.50
65.7%	Success Rate	29.6%
0.59	PPP	0.13
1.251	S&P	0.426

	PASSING
21.62	EqPts	10.96
67.6%	Success Rate	38.9%
0.64	PPP	0.20
1.312	S&P	0.592

	NON-PASSING DOWNS
76.8%	Success Rate	39.2%
0.61	PPP	0.17
1.312	S&P	0.559

	PASSING DOWNS
23.1%	Success Rate	30.0%
0.55	PPP	0.20
0.778	S&P	0.499

	TURNOVERS
0	Number	2
0.00	Points Lost **	5.29
0.00	Points Given ***	8.57
0.00	Total T/O Pts	13.86
+13.86	Turnover Pts Margin	-13.86

Poll

Who was the statistical MVP of Mizzou-SEMO?

Chase Daniel

45 votes

Derrick Washington

9 votes

Jared Perry

2 votes

Sean Weatherspoon

10 votes

Andrew Gachkar

3 votes

69 votes | Poll has closed

Michael Keck leaves Mizzou football program

Bill C. — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:21:15 -0000

Dave Matter, Gabe Dearmond and others have confirmed yesterday's rumor--RSFr Michael Keck has quit the football team for "personal reasons". From most accounts, it appears that it was just a case of "this isn't as easy as it used to be". Maybe there's more to it than that, maybe not. I wish him well.

In all, this appears to be a "hurts our depth" problem more than a "hurts our immediate product on the field" problem. Keck seemed competent out there, but he wasn't a big playmaker, and true freshman Jacquies Smith seemed to have already surpassed him for PT. It hurts because you always want the big-time in-state kids to succeed here so that other big-time in-state kids see them succeeding, but I can't get myself too worked up about this one. Defensive End is a position of decent young depth for Mizzou, so we should be okay there. Next year we'll be choosing a starter from a pool of Jacquies Smith, Brian Coulter, Marcus Malbrough, Chris Earnhardt, Aldon Smith, and whatever other recruits we sign (Sheldon Richardson, etc.). No matter what, there will probably be a dropoff from what we're accustomed to this year--Stryker Sulak and Tommy "Perpetually Underrated" Chavis have served us quite well, and Keck was not going to change that whether he was in uniform or not. But again, I wish him well.

SB Nation - Chris Earnhardt

Mizzou 2009, Part Fourteen: 2010 and Beyond

2010

2011

Summary

2009 Mizzou Football Preview Series

Mizzou 2009, Part Ten: Defensive Line

Defensive Line

2009 Mizzou Football Preview Series

Spring Football Update: Defensive Line

Defensive Ends

Defensive Tackles

A 2009 Walkthrough: Defensive Ends

Returnees

Redshirts

Incoming

Potential Incoming

2008 vs 2009

2009 Mizzou DEs on the YouTubes

Who will be Missouri's starting defensive ends in 2009?

Jacquies Smith & Brian Coulter

Jacquies Smith & Sheldon Richardson

Brian Coulter & Sheldon Richardson

Jacquies Smith & Aldon Smith

Brian Coulter & Aldon Smith

some other combination of J. Smith, Coulter, Richardson, A. Smith, Chris Earnhardt, Marcus Malbrough, and the true freshmen

Mizzou-Nevada: Beyond the Box Score

Missouri

Nevada

Who was the statistical MVP of Mizzou-Nevada?

Chase Daniel (28.20 EqPts Passing, 82% success rate)

Derrick Washington (8.01 Total EqPts, 1.58 rushing S&P)

Jeremy Maclin (14.70 Total EqPts, 3.40 receiving S&P)

Sean Weatherspoon (6.5 successful tackles)

Mizzou-SEMO: Beyond the Box Score

Missouri

SEMO

Who was the statistical MVP of Mizzou-SEMO?

Chase Daniel

Derrick Washington

Jared Perry

Sean Weatherspoon

Andrew Gachkar

Michael Keck leaves Mizzou football program