SB Nation - Marcus Malbrough

The Morning After: Links

Bill C. — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 13:55:16 -0000

by Orlin Wagner - AP

18 days ago: Missouri kicker Grant Ressel (95) is carried off the field by teammate after a last second field goal in their NCAA college football game against Kansas Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009, in Kansas City, Mo. Missouri defeated Kansas 41-39. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

View full size photo »

I'm traveling back to MO this morning, so instead of posting further thoughts on what we witnessed yesterday, here are a handful of links and, after the jump, yesterday's liveblog.

The Trib: Grant Ressel boots Tigers to victory
KC Star: Ressel mania: MU kicker connects for wild Border War victory
KC Star: Air smells sweeter for Mizzou when beating Kansas
KC Star: PHOTO GALLERY
KC Star: KU fans are torn in their allegiance to Mangino
KC Star: Todd Reesing, Dezmon Briscoe share the pain of this loss
KC Star: Border war buzz | Reesing OK with play calls
The Missourian: Ressel's field goal lifts Missouri football past Kansas
The Missourian (Robert Mays): Danario Alexander's latest performance cause for Missouri football debate
The Missourian: Kansas football fans mixed on subject of Mangino
Post-Dispatch: Tigers get their kicks
Post-Dispatch: Insight Bowl may be next for MU
Post-Dispatch (Bryan Burwell): Pinkel's big gamble hits the jackpot
When he was reminded that his defense hadn’t made an important stop for most of the darned game (KU was a staggering 9 of 15 on third-down conversions and had already given up two scoring drives that began inside the KU 2), I asked Pinkel why in the world he decided to take a chance on his struggling defense at such a critical moment like this.

"You look at percentages," he said. "And you look at odds."

And then he smiled a delicious smile that had validation written all over it.

"But mostly you have to go on a gut feeling," he said. "I trust my gut because it's done me well over the years."

And oh my goodness, his gut sure was right and we sure were wrong.
PowerMizzou: Arrowhead thriller
PowerMizzou: PHOTO GALLERY
PowerMizzou: PMTV: That's a winner
PowerMizzou: PMTV: From the locker room
PowerMizzou: Instant Analysis
Lawrence Journal-World: Ressel's last-second field goal gives MU 41-39 victory over KU
Lawrence Journal-World: Mangino 'optimistic' he'll return next season
Lawrence Journal-World (VIDEO): Highlights
Lawrence Journal-World (VIDEO): Season over, seniors done
Daily Kansan: Era ends in Border Showdown loss
Mizzourah: On Field Celebration Video

Far too long liveblog after the jump...

2:32 - Greetings from OKC...I'm at my parents' house, getting ready to watch the game from the exact same seat in which I watched last year's game. If that's not an awesome omen, I don't know what is. I'm just going for the reverse jinx here, trying to offset the effect of "coach's last game" syndrome that always seems to eat Mizzou up...you know...Dan McCarney, Bill Snyder (the first time), etc. Reverse those effects, and I love our chances today...at least, as soon as I see that we're capable of stopping a quick sideline pass for less than eight yards.

2:36 - Oh, and it's already been covered in the comments thread, but WOW are KU's jerseys hideous. Probably not as bad as Mizzou's gold jerseys last year (still haven't recovered from that), but bad.

First Quarter

2:37 - Woohoo! KU receives the kick! Mizzou will actually get the ball in the second half! And double woohoo...we didn't kick to Briscoe! Short kick, and KU will start around their 35.

2:38 - Alright, here we go...Reesing's first pass is broken up! I'll take it...quickly to second down, where the aforementioned quick pass to Kerry Meier goes for about six yards. Third-and-4 coming..

2:39 - ...and Meier gets it easily. Get used to this.

2:41 - After back-to-back quick passes to Jake Sharp, it's 3rd-and-6...an official passing down...this is where Mizzou's gotta make stops...

...and it's broken up! Mizzou must have had amazing coverage, as Reesing had about 25 seconds to find a guy and couldn't. Nice break-up by Kip Edwards on the deep ball, and KU will punt. It rolls into the endzone, and Mizzou will start at the 20. And they get the ball to start the second half! Win-win!

2:43 - First play for Mizzou...Gabbert has a ton of time, and he finds Jerrell Jackson for 16! I'll take that.

2:44 - After an eight-yard run by Gabbert, D-Wash plows through for another first down, and in three plays, Mizzou is past midfield.

2:44 - Another pass to Jackson nets about six...that's two passes to Jackson, both into the body, where it can't be dropped. And on second down, a quick pass to D-Wash gets another first down to the KU 33.

2:45 - The first pass to Danario Alexander is a quick sideline pass, and KU was ready. Gabbert has to throw the ball away on second down, and Mizzou faces their first third-down of the day...third-and-10...make that third-and-15 after a delay of game penalty...Mizzou's not good in Passing Downs...

2:47 - Reverse jinx unsuccessful. Gabbert overthrows, um, whoever he was aiming for, and it's fourth down from the 40. Mizzou will punt. They've flipped the field, but the drive was starting out pretty promising.

2:48 - OUTSTANDING punt...Harry kicks it up at the 1, and Beau Brinkley downs it there. KU to start at their 1, in the endzone in which Todd Reesing became Sod Reesing two years ago...

2:51 - Ballsy play call...Reesing goes deep on first down but goes too deep. Second down.

2:52 - After another misfired incompletion, it's third-and-10...would wager a thousand dollars that he's going short to Sharp here...

2:53 - ...but first, KU calls timeout. STUPID timeout, as a delay of game penalty would have been a loss of about six inches...

2:54 - Alright...third-and-10...and KU false starts. Sweet jesus, are the out of sorts right now...KNOCK ON WOOD...

2:55 - Third-and-11 after the penalty...and...yup...underneath to Jake Sharp. Um, if I was willing to wager a thousand dollars on that play, that means it shouldn't have worked for a first down. Come on, guys. KU to their 18.

2:56 - Quick pass to McDougald, who gets a first down and is hit late out of bounds. Mizzou now peeing themselves, and just like that, KU's to the MU 45. Awesome. MASSIVELY blown opportunity...and before I can finish typing that, it's 18 yards for Briscoe.

2:57 - Five yards to Meier...is it possible that KU's given up on the run before actually running once? I mean, it's working, but wow...12 passes, 0 runs...

2:58 - False start on KU, which is good...only they're capable of backing themselves up right now...

2:59 - Ugh. Reesing breaks free to the 11. Mizzou had them at the 1-inch line on third down, now they're going to score.

3:00 - After a short gain for Briscoe, Mizzou blitzes but doesn't get there, leaving Briscoe open in the endzone. Touchdown. Terrible dropped dagger by the Mizzou defense. 9 plays, 98 yards, 7-0.

3:03 - Oy...well...that could have been bad. Jasper Simmons drops the kickoff, but he gathers it up and gets out to the 24. Alright, boys...respond.

3:04 - After a quick six-yarder to Danario, Gabbert EXPLODES up the middle for 30 yards...wow...that was some serious strong, fast running from #11, and Mizzou's to the KU 40. KU's Caleb Blakesley is injured, so we're taking a timeout...

3:08 - First play after timeout, and a really weird double option play goes to Danario for a first down...creative. Mizzou to the 31.

3:08 - Gabbert escapes pressure on first down and picks up three...I just cannot say enough how much faster he looks right now...dude's got another gear that he very obviously didn't have in October...

3:09 - After a short run by D-Wash, it's third-and-4...KU blitzes and Gabbert lobs one a hair too far for Jackson in the endzone...fourth-and-4, and Grant Ressel will attempt a 43-yarder...

3:11 - It's perfect, despite the "He's the most accurate kicker in the country" jinx. 7-3 KU. Decent response, though we need to quit stalling out in KU territory.

3:12 - Nice kickoff coverage...kick goes to McDougald, who is wrapped up inside the 30. Alright, defense, time to atone for your sins...

3:13 - Hey hey, a KU running play...power sweep (sort of) to Sharp for a decent gain of about five...followed by a quick pass to Sharp for about 20 yards or so. Seriously, how in the hell do you lose him out of the backfield again? And before I can finish that sentence, they run the same goddamn play to the other side of the field, with similar success. They are being far too freaking predictable to fool Mizzou.

3:15 - Woohoo, another KU penalty...this time a 15-yard chop block. They're the only ones slowing themselves down. Am REALLY annoyed with the defense right now, and I'm a forgiving person.

3:16 - After a pass deflection on 1st-and-25, Reesing escapes another rush (god I hate this guy) and gains about seven. Third-and-18. You MUST NOT let them convert this. You do not deserve to win if you start giving up 3rd-and-18...

3:17 - ...and Reesing calls his second timeout.

3:18 - ...and then KU converts 3rd-and-18. No pass rush whatsoever, and Reesing finds some white guy for a huge gain to the 1. Tim Biere. This is inexcusable. You can sacrifice a pass rush for blanket coverage, and right now Mizzou's got neither. And Reesing sneaks in from the 1. Disgusting. 14-3. Last year the offense was horrific in the first half, this year it's the defense. And Kansas hasn't had to do a single thing out of their normal repertoire.

3:22 - And a block in the back on the kickoff return. Awesome. Mizzou starts at their 9.

3:23 - Fake reverse to Alexander, and Gabbert finds Jackson for a first down.

3:23 - After a seven-yard keeper by Gabbert, it's a tunnel screen to Rolandis Woodland (hey hey!) for a first down. And that's the end of the first quarter. I'd say it can only get better for the Mizzou defense in the final 45 minutes, but that's far from a certainty. And I haven't even begun to address why in the world Marcus Malbrough has been playing on almost every down. Is Aldon Smith hurt or something?

Second Quarter

3:28 - Alright, Mizzou starts the quarter from their 39...and Gabbert picks up about 3. I like that he's capable of running so well, but holy crap, we're going to him a lot. On second down, Gabbert finds Jackson for a first down to midfield.

3:29 - Reverse to Jerrell Jackson, and there's a flag. Block in the back on Wes Kemp AND personal foul on Kurtis Gregory. Sweet. First-and-25.

3:30 - Alexander picks up some of the penalty yardage, fighting for about 10 yards. Second-and-15.

3:31 - KU blitzes...Mizzou picks it up, but Gabbert throws it a little high to Kemp, and Kemp can't reel it in...third-and-long...awesome...I'm sure this will end well.

3:32- ...actually, it does end well. Gabbert goes long to Kemp, and there's a pass interference call on Chris Harris. Not sure about that one, but I'll take it. First down!

3:33 - Wildcat snap to D-Wash for no gain...I don't think we practice that enough to be good at it. 2nd-and-11. Gabbert throws high to Jackson on second down, and we've got 3rd-and-long once again! Awesome. Three trips into KU territory, three stalled drives...

3:34 - ...reverse jinx somewhat successful. Alexander gets about seven yards, and it's 4th-and-2...this would be about a 50-yard FG, so I assume we're going for it...yep...

3:35 - ...and we get it. Out route to Alexander for about eight. First down. Holding on by a string here. Five catches for Danario.

3:36 - Wow...Gabbert tries to escape the pocket but doesn't see the Onyegbule coming from the side. Fumble, KU recovers. Sigh. And Gabbert's a little roughed up.

3:37 - Six-yarder to Briscoe, then an easy first down to Meier...who fumbles...but they're saying he was down. REALLY close. They'll review, but I assume it'll remain KU's ball. Of course, the announcers are PISSING ME OFF, saying he was clearly down, as there was nothing clear about it.

3:39 - Yup, still KU ball.

3:40 - Hey hey! Mizzou was accounting for the dump-off to Sharp! No gain! Option to Sharp gets only about three, so once again it's a passing down on third down for KU...no reason to think KU won't convert this one too.

3:41 - Reverse jinx successful! Easy pass to Briscoe for a first, but he drops it. Once again, only KU can stop KU. Either way, a bullet dodged, and KU will punt.

3:42 - And after a kick-catch interference, Mizzou actually starts with good field position for once! Okay, not good, but the 34's not terrible.

3:45 - Hmm...apparently Gabbert can only throw an accurate pass to Alexander right now. Another one that's off to Jackson. Second down.

3:46 - Terrible out pass to Kemp, and just like that it's 3rd-and-10...oy...

3:46 - ...and Gabbert overthrows Alexander. Three off passes, and time to punt. Not a great sign.

3:47 - Wow, Jake Harry for MVP. A 56-yard bomb and good coverage, and KU will start at their 11. Alright, defense, KU did you a favor last time...keep stepping it up...

3:49 - Wow, Will Ebner lights up Dez Briscoe after five yards...I do enjoy that he hits hard enough that he doesn't have to form tackle...of course, I'd prefer he also form tackle, but whatever...

3:50 - Another sideline pass to Briscoe, who fights for a first down but is stripped by Jacquies Smith! The Carl Gettis Treatment recovers and returns it to the KU 5. They're reviewing it, but it was pretty clearly a fumble...my head's going to explode if this is overturned.

3:52 - Mizzou ball! First-and-goal!

3:53 - Tough Gabbert keeper gets to the 2...second down...

3:53 - Washington to the 1...third down...the color commentator is talking smack about how hard it is to score in the red zone out of the spread...despite all evidence to the contrary. Seriously, watch college football occasionally. That narrative died two years ago.

3:54 - Case in point: touchdown, D-Wash! 14-10! Under six minutes left in Q2...

3:58 - Another pooch kick, this one to Darrell Stuckey, who returns it to the 34. I hate having to do that, but it's absolutely the smart play.

3:59 - Two quick passes, one to Briscoe and one to Meier, and KU's to the 46.

4:00 - Okay, credit where it's due on the shovel pass...it looked like Mizzou had that eaten up, and Reesing threaded it to Sharp anyway.

4:01 - After Meier slips after a 1-yard gain, Reesing overthrows McDougald (KU's #1 WR in 2010), and it's third-and-9...I'm not optimistic.

4:02 - ...yup. Briscoe wide open underneath AGAIN, and he weaves inside the Mizzou 10.

4:03 - Touchdown, Meier. Sigh. Seen this before. 21-10. We're not blitzing, and Reesing is picking us apart. I realize blitzing might not work either, but hey...gotta try something...

4:07 - Nice return by Simmons, who is getting plenty of opportunities today...

4:07 - Nice, accurate pass to Jackson for a first down, and Mizzou's near midfield already. Under three minutes left in the half...

4:08 - After a short run by D-Wash, Gabbert goes deep to Jackson but is a bit too long...that's about the fifth "just too long" deep ball of the day. Disorienting, considering how accurate he's been the last couple of weeks.

4:09 - Also disorienting: Blaine Gabbert running VERY fast down the sidelines for almost a 40-yard gain...WOW...first-and-ten from the KU 11...

4:10 - No gain for D-Wash on first down, followed by a well-covered incompletion. Quickly, it's third down from the 10 with 1:09 left. Mizzou is 0-for-5 on third downs today. Just run a dump-off and make sure the clock's running if you don't get the first down...I do NOT want KU getting the ball back with a minute left.

4:10 - Ugh. Jump ball to Alexander incomplete, and the clock will stop with over a minute left.

4:12 - Ressel's field goal is good. 21-13, and KU's got a minute left. Do not want.

4:13 - Ugh again. Short kick to Stuckey, who barely steps out of bounds at midfield.

4:14 - Wow. Mizzou gets a little pressure on Reesing, who pump fakes and then throws DIRECTLY to Kip Edwards. Mizzou ball around midfield with 0:40 left.

4:15 - Nice coverage by KU on back-to-back plays, and it's quickly third down...and Gabbert throws deep and incomplete to Woodland. Mizzou to punt, but as long as it's not blocked, Mizzou will go into halftime down just eight. Could have been worse.

4:17 - Another beautiful Harry punt, and it's downed at the 5...KU will down it, and that's halftime. Could be better for Mizzou, but I guess it could be a LOT worse. And for once, we get the ball to start the second half.

Third Quarter

4:39 - Alright, here we go. Simmons with another solid return to the KU 35. Let's see if Gabbert's settled down a little. His hyped state seems to have helped his rushing and hurt his passing.

4:40 - First pass: broken up after a scramble right.

4:40 - Second pass: quickly to Danario, who runs for a first down. Love that play. Mizzou to their 45.

4:41 - Third pass: a 150-mph dart to Danario, who can't handle it.

4:42 - Fourth pass: quickly to Danario, who...is Danario. He breaks tackles, outruns guys, and gets down to the KU 26.

4:43 - D-Wash for 12 yards, then D-Wash for 14...touchdown! Brilliant blocking. And of course we're going for two...we always do...and we call timeout. Sigh.

4:45 - Keeper by Gabbert is eaten up, as everybody in the stadium knew Gabbert was keeping it, despite the fact that we blew a timeout to reconsider. 21-19.

4:48 - Woah...deep kickoff to Briscoe...was that intentional? Either way, it was well-covered, and KU will start inside their 25.

4:49 - Nice, tough run for a first down by Jake Sharp, and you know what? I'm fine with that. Let him keep running--it's when they're passing and he drifts into the open that he becomes a bigger weapon.

4:50 - After an off-target pass by Reesing, Mizzou blitzes and Reesing barely finds Briscoe, but Kevin Rutland is called for "grabbing the helmet opening"...pretty shoddy call...his hand ended up there, but there was no grabbing. Either way, KU's in Mizzou territory.

4:52 - Another tough run by Sharp. His first good MU-KU game. First down at the MU 36.

4:52 - A short pass to Meier for four yards, followed by a false start, and it'll be 2nd-and-11.

4:53 - Eight yards to Meier, and it'll be 3rd-and-3...allowing this conversion is more excusable...

4:54 - ...of course, allowing Reesing to camp out for 15 seconds and find Biere for an easy catch is not. KU to the 15.

4:54 - Hello, Brian Coulter! Stops Sharp for a gain of 1.

4:55 - Pressure on Reesing, and he fires too hard for Jonathan Wilson, incomplete. Third-and-9. HOLD THEM HERE.

4:56 - Hey hey! Kip Edwards breaks up the pass to Briscoe, and KU has to settle for a FG.

4:57 - Or not. Sean Weatherspoon is called for a personal foul on the field goal, and it's first down, KU. And ABC REFUSES to show a replay, which naturally leads me to believe it was a terrible call.

4:58 - Reesing gets to the 2 on first down, and Sharp gets nothing on second down...third-and-goal...still waiting for a replay on the 'Spoon penalty...

4:59 - Third-and-goal...and Reesing has to call timeout. And ABC STILL WON'T SHOW WHAT SPOON DID. This is unbelievable.

5:00 - Touchdown, Meier. Phantom penalty on 'Spoon hands KU four extra points. And yes, I will continue calling it a horrendous, B.S., phantom penalty until ABC decides to show me what happened. Freaking inexcusable. 28-19.

5:02 - According to s dub in comments,

Spoon "hit the center prior to being allowed to hit him" acc. to referee. Pinkel livid

Via Dave Matter's twitter.

Wow. If we lose by less than four points, I'm going to lose my mind.

5:04 - Simmons with another solid return, out past the 30. By the way, it's 5:04, and there is 7:24 left in the THIRD QUARTER.

5:05 - Quick pass to Danario for only five this time, and Jerrell Jackson limps off the field. Then, a quick four yards for Danario, and it's third-and-1. Uhh, big play here.

5:06 - KU is so paranoid about Danario that D-Wash easily scampers for a first down and then some.

5:07 - Wow...after gimping off the field, Jackson comes back, takes an end around and scores from 37 yards. Didn't see that coming. 28-26, and again, we are BARELY halfway through the third quarter. This game's going to last until 8pm.

5:08 - So Mizzou now has 21 rushes for 202 yards today. And 31 passes for 149 yards. Just as we expected, right?

5:10 - Sigh...another deep kickoff...only it goes out of bounds. Ball at the 40.

5:11 - Bradley McDougald's pretty good. Quick pass to him, and he avoids getting lit up by two guys and gets the first down. KU already to midfield.

5:12 - After a Rell Lewis drop, Reesing finds Briscoe after about 38 seconds in the pocket, and after a really nice run, The Carl Gettis Treatment strips him, and Jarrell Harrison recovers. So THAT's the gameplan. Let them catch is and run, then strip them. A surefire winner!

5:14 - D-Wash with a drop, then a 5-yard run, and it's third down...

5:15 - God I'm going to miss Danario Alexander so much. He ditches his defender on a slant, then STORMS downfield for a 68-yard touchdown. Wow. Meanwhile, Jerrell Jackson waves at a KU defender and gets flagged for 15 yards. In the first half, Todd Reesing almost headbutted a Mizzou defender after a first down. No flag. Either way, Mizzou is up 33-28, so I'll stop complaining, especially after the kickoff is only taken to the 35. Net win for Mizzou.

5:18 - Okay, Mizzou just got called for ANOTHER personal foul that ABC has no account for, and KU's at the 50. Crazy calls here, and incredibly bad coverage by ABC.

5:19 - Sharp is stuffed on first down, and The Carl Gettis Treatment breaks up a pass on second down...and it's 3rd-and-10...HUGE play here...which isn't usually a good sign for the Mizzou defense...

5:20 - ...and that's a delay of game penalty. Third-and-15. For the love of god, please stop them here...

5:21 - YES. Reesing is pressured and has to dump it off, and Kevin Rutland BLOWS UP Sharp. Fourth down, and KU will punt. It's downed at the 12, and MU will take over with 2:15 left in the longest freaking quarter in the history of the world.

5:23 - Aww...Danario just ROASTS a defender on a double move...59 yards later, Mizzou's inside the KU 35. We are so spoiled watching this. This is the best sustained WR play we will EVER see. 11 catches, 205 yards. Four straight games with 180+ yards.

5:24 - Make that 12 for 212. Sets up a 3rd-and-3...

5:25 - ...and Gabbert picks up the first down to the 22.

5:25 - And now it's D-Wash's turn to bull over four tacklers for another first down to the 12. Wow. What a way to end the third quarter.

Fourth Quarter

5:29 - Alright, here we go...final 15 minutes...Gabbert gets about two on first down.

5:30 - Second down...and Gabbert's sacked. The end of the quarter came at a terrible time, as KU got their legs back. Third-and-17 from the 19, and Mizzou will call timeout. I'm all for aggressive play-calling here, but nothing stupid, please...the field goal will put us up 8...(and of course, if we hadn't gone for two earlier, a field goal would put us up 9...as my dad has mentioned, um, a couple of times now)...

5:33 - Alright, here we go...Gabbert under pressure, and Mizzou will settle for the field goal. Huge kick here, and once again, the "most accurate kicker" jinx is in effect...

5:34 - And he's perfect. Again. 36-28. I like that score for some reason...hmm...can't figure out why...

5:35 - Deep kickoff to Briscoe, and it's stopped at the 29. I'll take it.

5:36 - Nice pass by Reesing to Briscoe for 8...he's still completing some passes, but Mizzou's making it harder on him...or has so far...no need for a jinx there...

5:37 - Reesing picks up the first down on the option, but there's a hold. Second-and-12 from the 26...and Reesing's pass is off-target. Third-and-12...

5:38 - Mizzou blitzes...and Reesing finds Briscoe for a 74-yard touchdown. Yep. For all those asking why we don't blitz more, that's why. Briscoe's really good. KU will now go for 2, and for my dad's sake, I REALLY hope they don't get it...

5:39 - They get it. Meier finally comes open after, what, 15 seconds? 30? 36-36. This game has had 124 momentum changes.

5:43 - Simmons is still shaken from being burned by Briscoe apparently, and he has to fall on the ball at the 19. Not quite the way I wanted to start this drive. Or not! Offsides on KU! Re-kick!

5:44 - Yeah, I like that one better. Simmons to the 45.

5:45 - Confusing play there...play fake by Gabbert, who looks to run, then pass, then run again, and he loses two yards. Second down.

5:46 - Ugh. Pass for no gain to Washington, and it's the always-to-be-avoided third-and-long...KU's got the momentum back...and there are STILL 11 minutes left in the game...time for another five momentum changes...

5:47 - Blitz comes, and Gabbert escapes for a four-yard gain, and on comes Jake Harry IV, the guy who WAS MVP before Danario became Danario.

5:48 - God bless you, Jake IV. Bounces at the 15 and rolls to the 1-inch line. Lovely. 9:44 left.

5:49 - After a move-the-pile run picks up about 6 yards, Will Ebner crushes Rell Lewis for no gain, and it's 3rd-and-4...

5:50 - Ugh...we drop seven into coverage and get no pressure whatsoever. EVENTUALLY he finds Briscoe for 25. Oy. We can't blitz, and we can't drop seven again.

5:51 - Nice rush by Brad Madison, getting a hand on Reesing and forcing an incompletion. Second down.

5:52 - And Carl Gettis will want to forget that this play ever happened. Dump-off to Rell Lewis, who juked him out of his shoes, and 40+ yards later, KU's in scoring position. Oy. MU-KU games cannot be any crazier.

5:52 - Hello, Aldon Smith. His first big play is an eight-yard sack...and it's negated by a 17-yard pass to Briscoe. And then Lewis plows forward for a first down. He's way fresher than the Mizzou defense. First down from the 6...

5:54 - Gachkar stops Lewis on first down, and Reesing throws a perfect fade to Meier on second down, only Meier wasn't looking...third down. Um, big play.

5:55 - Hey hey! Mizzou blitzes and it works! Intentional grounding on Reesing, and it'll be a 39-yard FG attempt...

5:56 - The kick is perfect, and it's 39-36 KU with 5:10 left. Now Mizzou not only has to score, but they have to eat up about 5:09 doing it.

5:59 - Nice return by Kemp, and Mizzou will once again start past their 30. I'm too tired to be nervous right now. Of course, that doesn't mean that the false start that just happened is okay by me. First-and-15.

6:00 - KU's ready for the quick pass to Danario now. Second-and-11.

6:01 - Wow...Danario with a catch on a slant and carries two guys for ten yards. Third-and-1.

6:01 - UGH. Washington slips in the backfield. Loss of four. GOD THAT SUCKS SO MUCH. I REALLY hate football right now. Fourth-and-4, and it's just far enough that Mizzou will go for it. And it's pretty much a given that Harry's punt will be downed at the 1, which it is. Three minutes left, Mizzou with one timeout. One first down, and it's pretty much over...unless they get the first down on the first play.

6:05 - First-and-10: deep ball? Incomplete, and it stops the clock. Ballsy call, but now that it didn't work, I get to call it stupid.

6:05 - Second-and-10: ANOTHER incomplete pass. Briscoe slipped and almost batted it straight into the air for a pick six. Oh that would have been great.

6:06 - Third-and-10: HOLY CRAP. POCKET COLLAPSES ON REESING, AND HE'S SACKED FOR A SAFETY. 39-38, 2:45 LEFT. Huge gamble by KU, and it did not work. WOW.

6:08 - Gettis returns the free kick near midfield. Flags down, probably off-setting unsportsmanlike conduct. Yup.

6:09 - Draw play by Gabbert gets about three, then D-Wash picks up the first down to the KU 40. 1:57 left.

6:10 - Wow...Gabbert throws it away after about eight seconds of needing to throw it away. Second down, 1:32 left.

6:11 - Eight yards for Danario on second down...would be a 50-yarder...1:16 left...

6:12 - Third-and-2...and...WOW...D-Wash gets the first down...keeps moving...keeps moving...breaks into the open field...and he's tackled at the 5. WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW. Injured Jayhawk on the play...

6:13 - KU calls their second timeout with :51 left on first down. Kneel it, make KU call their last timeout with :48 left, then kneel it again, kneel it again, then call timeout with :03 left. None of that "kick it on third down" crap. This is extra point length. Trust your guys to make it in one try.

6:15 - Mizzou does just that...kneels it and runs it down to :04 left. Now the announcers will remind us that Ressel is the most accurate kicker in the country at least 26 times to attempt a Wolfert-in-the-Alamo-Bowl jinx.

6:17 - Alright, here we go...come on, Ressel...

...

...it's good. Of course it is. 41-39. Final. I'm almost dripping sweat right now. Wow.

The North in 2010

Bill C. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:00:31 -0000

The 2009 Big 12 North race is, to say the least, intriguing heading into November, but the way my brain works, I can't help but keep an eye on the future as all of this plays out. And since it's in my head, I might as well type it out too, huh? As November 2009 begins, let's take a look at...2010.

What we're going to do is simple: we're going to take the most recent two-deeps listed on each team's website, remove the seniors, and see what's left. Obviously there will be plenty more analysis to come, but this will be a nice, preliminary peek. I can't help myself.

Missouri

Projected 2010 Depth Chart
QB	Blaine Gabbert (Jr) Jimmy Costello (So)	DE	Jacquies Smith (Jr) Marcus Malbrough (So)
RB	Derrick Washington (Sr) De'Vion Moore (So)	DT	Dominique Hamilton (Jr) Marvin Foster (RSFr)
WR	Jerrell Jackson (Jr) Brandon Gerau (Jr)	DT	Terrell Resonno (Jr) Bart Coslet (Sr)
WR	T.J. Moe (So) Rolandis Woodland (So)	DE	Aldon Smith (So) Brad Madison (So)
WR	Wes Kemp (Jr) Michael Egnew (Jr)	WLB	Zaviar Gooden (So) Donovan Bonner (So)
TE	Andrew Jones (Jr) Beau Brinkley (Jr)	MLB	Will Ebner (Jr) Luke Lambert (Sr)
LT	Elvis Fisher (Jr) Justin Britt (RSFr)	SLB	Andrew Gachkar (Sr) Tyler Crane (Jr)
LG	Austin Wuebbels (Jr) Travis Ruth (So)	CB	Carl Gettis (Sr) Trey Hobson (Jr)
C	Tim Barnes (Sr) J.T. Beasley (Jr)	CB	Kevin Rutland (Sr) Robert Steeples (So)
RG	Jayson Palmgren (Jr) Travis Ruth (So)	FS	Jasper Simmons (Sr) Munir Prince (Sr)
RT	Dan Hoch (Jr) Jack Meiners (So)	SS	Jarrell Harrison (Sr) Kenji Jackson (Jr)

K	Grant Ressel (Jr)	P	Matt Grabner (Jr)
PR	Carl Gettis (Sr)	KR	Jasper Simmons (Sr)

I've got to say, this is the most complete team heading into 2010. Blaine Gabbert will be the most accomplished North QB heading into 2010 and Derrick Washington the second-most accomplished RB. The improved secondary will return just about everybody of importance, and a deep LB corps could be well-positioned to absorb the loss of Sean Weatherspoon with as little drop-off as possible.
Two major question marks: a) who replaces Danario Alexander, and b) who replaces Jaron Baston? Multiple candidates exist to replace Spoon, so that's actually less of a worry, but the WR situation is at least a bit worrisome. Wes Kemp has shown flashes, and if he continues to grow, he could be the deep threat this team needs, but what is it I always say? Until you actually prove it, it's a question mark. Beyond Kemp, guys like Jackson, T.J. Moe (remember him?), Rolandis Woodland, and one of the redshirting freshmen (L'Damian Washington, Jaleel Clark, Kerwin Stricker) will fill out the depth chart, and at least one of them will need to take a step forward.
Of course, you know who else could absorb the loss of Danario? Tight ends. Novel concept, I know.
I really like what I've seen out of Dominique Hamilton recently, but Terrell Resonno seems to have disappeared. Either he or one of the underclassmen (Marvin Foster, Jimmy Burge, George White) will need to raise their game. If somebody competent steps up at WR and DT, this team is loaded.

Colorado

Projected 2010 Depth Chart
QB	Tyler Hansen (Jr) Cody Hawkins (Sr)	DE	Marquez Herrod (Sr) Josh Hartigan (Jr)
RB	Rodney Stewart (Jr) Darrell Scott (Jr)	DT	Curtis Cunningham (Jr) Nate Bonsu (So)
FB	Ryan Deehan (Jr) ?	DT	Will Pericak (So) Conrad Obi (Jr)
WR	Scotty McKnight (Sr) Jason Espinoza (Jr)	DE	Forrest West (So) Nick Kasa (So)
WR	Markques Simas (Jr) Will Jefferson (So)	WLB	Jon Major (So) Tyler Ahles (Jr)
TE	Ryan Deehan? (Jr) ?	MLB	Michael Sipili (Sr) ?
LT	Nate Solder (Sr) Ryan Dannewitz (So)	SLB	B.J. Beatty (Sr) Doug Rippy (So)
LG	Ethan Adkins (Jr) Blake Behrens (Jr)	CB	Jimmy Smith (Sr) ?
C	Keenan Stevens (Sr) Mike Iltis (Jr)	CB	Jalil Brown (Sr) Arthur Jaffee (Jr)
RG	Matthew Bahr (Jr) Max Tuioti-Mariner? (So)	FS	Ray Polk (So) Anthony Perkins (Jr)
RT	Ryan Miller (Jr) Bryce Givens (So)	SS	Travis Sandersfeld (Jr) ?

K	Aric Goodman (Sr)	P	Aric Goodman (Sr)
PR	Jason Espinoza (Jr)	KR	Brian Lockridge (Jr)

I mentioned this past offseason that while Colorado was going to stink in 2009, they might actually be positioning themselves to actually fulfill the role of sleeper that has been foisted upon them for most of the last half-decade. Ironically, they might actually emerge as a sleeper just as everybody finally gives up on them.
Of course, there will still be some major question marks. You know I'm not at all impressed with Rodney "Another Short Gain By" Stewart, and while Scotty McKnight (how is he still an underclassman???) is a great possession guy, he'd be a helluva lot better as a #2 or #3 threat than a #1. Unless Markques Simas finally starts to live up to the potential everybody says he has, this team is still severely lacking at WR, and they're losing both of their top tight ends. (I'm going out of my way not to mention Darrell Scott here, as he...whatever. I have no expectations whatsoever for him at this point, and I'm going to let him surprise me.)
I really like Jimmy Smith at CB, but CU's going to be searching for some replacements in the secondary. Jalil Brown has potential, and Ray Polk is young, but depth could be an issue.
Same can be said for the LB corps. Luckily for CU, they should have a strong D-line to maybe deflect some of the concerns.
If CU really does live up to its annual sleeper reputation, it will be in the trenches, where a struggling O-line will at least have experience on its side, and the D-line could be strong. Then again, after watching CU's O-line attempt to handle MU's improving-but-not-amazing D-line, maybe returning a bunch of these guys might not be a good thing.

Iowa State

Projected 2010 Depth Chart
QB	Austen Arnaud (Sr) Jerome Tiller (So)	DE	Patrick Neal (Jr) ?
RB	Alexander Robinson (Sr) Beau Blankenship (So)	DT	Bailey Johnson (Jr) Stephen Ruempolhamer (Jr)
WR	Jake Williams (Sr) ?	DT	Austin Alburtis (Sr) ?
WR	Sedrick Johnson (Jr) ?	DE	Roosevelt Maggitt (So) Cleyon Lang (So)
WR	Josh Lenz (So) Darius Darks (Jr)	SLB	Jacob Lattimer (Jr) ?
TE	Collin Franklin (Sr) ?	MLB	Matt Tau'fo'ou (Sr) A.J. Klein (So)
LT	Kelechi Osmele (Jr) Brayden Burris (So)	WLB	Jake Knott (So) ?
LG	Alex Alvarez (Sr) Mike Bangston (So)	CB	Leonard Johnson (Jr) Jeremy Reeves (So)
C	Sean Smith (Sr) ?	CB	Jacques Washington (So) ?
RG	Ben Lamaak (Sr) Trey Baysinger (Jr)	FS	Michael O'Connell (Sr) ?
RT	Scott Haughton (Jr) Zack Spears (Jr)	SS	David Sims (Sr) Zac Sandvig (Sr)

K	Grant Mahoney (Jr)	P	?
PR	Leonard Johnson (Jr)	KR	Leonard Johnson (Jr)

So Paul Rhoads' second year in Ames will potentially see a downright strong offense and a thin, depleted, inexperienced defense. I don't want to overstate the offensive potential (the WR situation is iffy, to say the least), but ISU might have the best O-line in the North blocking for what is at least decent skill position talent.
Arnaud vs Tiller. Could be interesting to watch this competition.
Really, if ISU returned just a couple more decent playmakers on defense, I could talk myself into them being a darkhorse contender. But while I do like what Rhoads has done with the talent on hand this year, I just can't figure they'll be that great next year. They will need another year or two of Rhoads developing his own recruits before I feel a lot more comfortable about the potential of their program.

Kansas

Projected 2010 Depth Chart
QB	Kale Pick (So) ?	DE	Jake Laptad (Sr) ?
RB	Toben Opurum (So) ?	DT	Jamal Greene (Sr) ?
WR	Dezmon Briscoe?? (Sr) ?	DT	John Williams (So) Richard Johnson (Jr)
WR	Johnathan Wilson (Sr) Tertavian Ingram (Sr)	DE	Quintin Woods (Sr) ?
WR	Bradley McDougald (So) Chris Omigie (So)	SLB	Justin Springer (Sr) ?
TE	Tim Biere (Jr) Ted McNulty (Jr)	MLB	Drew Dudley (Sr) ?
LT	Tanner Hawkinson (So) Ian Wolfe (Sr)	WLB	Huldon Tharp (So) ?
LG	Brad Thorson (Sr) Carl Wilson (Sr)	CB	D.J. Beshears (So) Daymond Patterson (Jr)
C	Jeremiah Hatch (Jr) Brad Thorson (Sr)	CB	Chris Harris (Sr) Calvin Rubles (Sr)
RG	Sal Capra (Sr) Trevor Marrongelli (So)	FS	Lubbock Smith (So) ?
RT	Jeff Spikes (Jr) Michael Martinovich (Jr)	SS	Phil Strozier (Sr) ?

K	Jacob Branstetter (Sr)	P	Alonso Rojas (Sr)
PR	Daymond Patterson (Jr)	KR	Bradley McDougald (So)

So KU's biggest question mark (offensive line) will return completely intact next year, while most of the known skill position talent disappears. I listed Dez Briscoe on the two-deep above, but I've got to be honest: I'm about 92% sure he's going pro this year. His stats are ridiculous, he's got decent NFL size, he's been suspended for academic reasons, and supposedly he was tied to those football-vs-basketball brawls earlier in the year. That's not a recipe for someone who's going to go out of his way to stick around campus for another season.
Without Briscoe, I have to figure this is going to be a run-heavy offense next year. Kale Pick's got a lot to prove, but with Toben Opurum and an experienced line, they might (might) be able to rely on the run. Then again, they'll still need some sort of passing attack, and...who will be the #1 receiver? Johnathan Wilson, I guess? Color me unafraid.
I'm not even going to try to figure out if KU's D is going to be any good. They've improved recently, but they lose Darrell Stuckey and two linemen, and the depth from LB corps vanishes. I assume this will be a decent unit, and really you can start to maybe see the identity KU might be going with--defense first, run-heavy, grind it out.

Kansas State

Projected 2010 Depth Chart
QB	Carson Coffman (Sr) ?	DE	Brandon Harold (Jr) ?
RB	Daniel Thomas (Sr) ?	DT	Prizell Brown (Sr) ?
FB	Braden Wilson (So) Lucas Hamm (Sr)	DT	Raphael Guidry (Jr) ?
WR	Lamark Brown (Sr) ?	DE	Antonio Felder (Sr) Joseph Kassanavoid (So)
WR	Collin Klein (So) Chris Harper (So)	LB	Kevin Rohleder (Sr) ?
TE	Travis Tannahill (So) ?	LB	Alex Hrebec (Jr) ?
LT	Zach Hanson (Jr) ?	LB	Troy Butler (Sr) Thomas Ferguson (So)
LG	Zach Kendall (Sr) Trevor Viers (Sr)	CB	Joshua Moore (Sr) Darious Thomas (So)
C	Wade Weibert (Sr) ?	CB	Stephen Harrison (Sr) David Garrett (Jr)
RG	Kenneth Mayfield (Sr) Colten Freeze (Jr)	FS	Emmanuel Lamur (Jr) ?
RT	Clyde Aufner (Jr) Ethan Douglas (So)	SS	Tysyn Hartman (Jr) Torrell Miller (So)

K	Josh Cherry (Sr)	P	Ryan Doerr (So)
PR	Tysyn Hartman (Jr)	KR	Daniel Thomas (Sr)

Like Kansas, this looks to be a pretty run-heavy, can't-pass-on-them team, with Daniel Thomas running behind a super-experienced line and a well-coached defense that is iffy in the front seven but stout in the secondary. In other words, this looks like a Bill Snyder team (sans the All-American linebackers). We've made a big deal out of the fact that they're losing about 35 seniors this year (and that's only a slight exaggeration), and that will absolutely murder their depth, but if they stay reasonably healthy, the Snyder identity might be able to take shape a bit more.
Now, I say they'll have a good secondary...I'm still unsure about how good the secondary is now, but returning all four current starters certainly suggests decent improvement for next year.
I believe I heard that Chris Harper is moving to WR instead of competing at QB, right?

Nebraska

Projected 2010 Depth Chart
QB	Cody Green (So) Zac Lee (Sr)	DE	Cameron Meredith (So) Josh Williams (So)
RB	Roy Helu, Jr. (Sr) Rex Burkhead (So)	DT	Baker Steinkuhler (So) Terrence Moore (Jr)
FB	Tyler Legate (So) Mike Hays (Jr)	DT	Jared Crick (Jr) ?
WR	Niles Paul (Sr) Antonio Bell (So)	DE	Pierre Allen (Sr) ?
WR	Curenski Gilleylen (Jr) Khiry Cooper (So)	Will	Blake Lawrence (Sr) Matthew May (Jr)
TE	Mike McNeill (Sr) Dreu Young (Sr)	Mike	Will Compton (So) Micah Kreikemeier (So)
LT	Mike Smith (Sr) ?	Buck	Sean Fisher (So) Eric Martin (So)
LG	Keith Williams (Sr) ?	CB	Prince Amukamara (Sr) Dejon Gomes (Sr)
C	Mike Caputo (Jr) ?	CB	Anthony West (Sr) Alfonzo Dennard (Jr)
RG	Ricky Henry (Sr) ?	FS	Eric Hagg (Sr) Austin Cassidy (Jr)
RT	Marcel Jones (Jr) D.J. Jones (Sr)	SS	P.J. Smith (So) Courtney Osborne (So)

K	Alex Henery (Sr)	P	Alex Henery (Sr)
PR	Niles Paul (Sr)	KR	Niles Paul (Sr)

How the hell is Pierre Allen still an underclassman? I was completely convinced that both he and Barry Turner were seniors, but I guess not.
Next question: how much of Nebraska's defensive identity is grounded in Ndamukong Suh? He and Turner depart, but will Allen and the stout Jared Crick be able to keep the great D-line play coming? And how much of Crick's success is due to offenses' fear of Suh?
The shine is quickly wearing off of Roy Helu, Jr., but he does return next year (lord knows he's not going pro), and with yet another experienced O-line, NU should be able to run the ball pretty well. That will obviously take some pressure off of Cody Green if Green is not, after all, ready to be NU's savior.
I really like what NU has returning at CB, but...safety? I think I like their second-string CBs more than their first string safeties. Will be interesting to see if there's some position shifting when all is said and done.

As a Missouri fan, I look at this information and quickly conclude that Missouri will be the 2010 favorite, and really I'd say I have pretty good basis in fact for that opinion. That said, Nebraska is intriguing, and even though K-State is not a stat-friendly team (I've already accepted that they're better than the stats say--I just can't figure out how much better), Bill Snyder really might get them back into the hunt despite the youth and lack of depth. Colorado could be interesting depending on who the head coach is (ahem), Kansas has recruited well and will see plenty of talented-but-young players hitting the field, and Iowa State might have the best offensive line in the division. I'd like to think Missouri might run away with this thing, and I'm sure it could happen (the trip to Lincoln aside), but with five of six North teams (all but Kansas) looking potentially better next year than this year, we might have another fun race on our hands.

Panic Level: Position-by-Position

Bill C. — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 17:00:31 -0000

For some losses, like last week's Nebraska loss, I don't really feel like talking or thinking about it too much. For others, like this one, I can't really shut up. So to put my verbosity to good use, we're going to walk through each unit for Missouri, and I'm going to give you two ratings: 1) my short-term panic level (on a 1-to-10 scale), and 2) my long-term panic level (same scale).

Quarterback

Short-term panic level: 5 | Long-term panic level: 0

People are questioning the use of Blaine Gabbert in this game, both whether he should have played at all and, more realistically, whether he should have been playing at the end. I say of course he should have been playing--an ankle sprain is not an injury with long-term danger, and even though he was spraying every pass a bit high, let's face it: we don't really have another good quarterback. Maybe Jimmy Costello is better than I'm giving him credit for, but he's probably not better than a one-legged Gabbert, and we knew from the beginning of this season that we were going to live and die with Gabbert this season. Right now, we're not necessarily dying by any means, but we're not living well because he's not living well.

Of course, the only problem with keeping him in the game, especially late, was that his instincts are very clear when behind center. He ran a couple of times on the last series of the game, even though that was the worst possible thing he could do. When he has the ball in his hands, he's not thinking "I should be careful." He's trying to move the ball, even when that might do him further damage.

Anyway, short-term, quarterbacking is definitely a bit of a concern. A sprained ankle needs rest and treatment to heal, and Missouri doesn't have a week off for quite a while. This is going to limit him for the foreseeable future, but he's still going to make some throws that nobody else in the conference can make, and after next week against Texas, he should be able to make quite a few plays even if not 100% healthy.

And long-term, duh. No worries here whatsoever. Gabbert still needs to develop better presence in the pocket--when to tuck and run, when to leave the pocket and roll left or right, et cetera. But that will come with playing time, plain and simple.

Running Back

Short-term panic level: 4 | Long-term panic level: 1

Derrick Washington and De'Vion Moore both took what was given to them yesterday, and in a few instances even took a little more. I was a bit curious whether Moore was actually any better than Kendial Lawrence and whether he would lose his backup role at some point, but in a handful of carries the last couple of weeks, he has looked damn strong and damn quick. Meanwhile, D-Wash looked like D-Wash, never letting the first guy bring him down, falling forward, stepping through tackles, etc. If this performance is what we see the rest of the year, then things will be just fine. And Washington, Moore, and Lawrence all obviously return in 2010, along with Gilbert Moye an a couple more capable commits in Henry Josey and Greg White. For the foreseeable future, this unit will have both depth and diversity.

Wide Receiver

Short-term panic level: 6 | Long-term panic level: 4

It's almost funny how things have unfolded in the last two months. Back in August, we were worried that a) this unit didn't have a go-to guy, b) this unit didn't have a big play threat, and c) Danario Alexander's hands would prevent him from being the solution for (a) and (b). Instead, Danario is absolutely the go-to guy, and one of the best in the conference. Plus, Danario and (to a slightly lesser degree) Jared Perry and Wes Kemp are capable of both catching the deep ball and (in Perry's and Danario's case) taking short passes a long way. The potential big play is one of Missouri's best weapons. But the hands of everybody not named Danario have been a serious issue. We've already said this about six times, but two drops more or less made the difference in the game last night. If Jerrell Jackson keeps his eye on a slant and doesn't let it bounce right off of his hands, it's a 10-yard gain for Missouri instead of a pick six for Oklahoma State. If Wes Kemp, uhh, closes his hands at the right time on a gorgeous bomb from Blaine Gabbert, Missouri not only uncorks a 60-yard (at least) gain late in the first half, but even if they don't score, they don't give the ball back to OSU in time for the Cowboys to drive down and score with seconds left in the half. Those two drops resulted in at least a 14-point swing for OSU, and that's if Missouri doesn't score after Kemp's drop.

This isn't a new phenomenon, though last night was the first time it truly cost Missouri. When you've got a quarterback like Gabbert, who is capable of firing 100-mph fastballs on just about any route, at the college level you are going to have some drops. Hell, at the pro level you're going to have some drops--not just anybody could catch John Elway's passes, right? But we are halfway through the season, and the guys on the field need to be getting better at catching the fastballs, and they are really not. This is at least a bit of a long-term concern simply because the 2010 Missouri team won't feature either Danario or Perry. Guys like Kemp and Jackson (and T.J. Moe, and Brandon Gerau, and Rolandis Woodland, and L'Damian Washington) are going to have to step up, both as every-down threats and simply guys with reliable hands. All of the guys I listed above are freshmen or sophomores right now, and they will quite possibly grow into the role.

I really do like the long-term potential of Kemp, especially. He's not nearly as fast as Danario, but he's got potential both as a deep-ball threat and an over-the-middle weapon. He's just had a couple of really bad weeks, between almost getting decapitated by Ndamukong Suh last week (I honestly thought his drop last night was due to a case of alligator arms, but the replay showed that he really did just close his hands at the wrong time...which, honestly, is better than if he were starting to get a little scared) and being the perpetrator in one of Missouri's two killer mistakes, but he's a sophomore, and he's already shown ridiculous growth between years one and two. He'll likely be fine, but until he proves that he will be fine, it's hard to make a 100% confident assumption.

Tight End

Short-term panic level: 10 | Long-term panic level: 8

Last night, when Blaine Gabbert had Andrew Jones wide open on the goal line on a fourth-quarter drive (one of the two that stalled on fourth down), he ended up leaving the pocket and throwing the ball away. That was the moment I realized that our tight end problem has gone from "Tight ends are unreliable" to "It doesn't matter what the tight ends are doing anymore because Gabbert doesn't even look to them." Andrew Jones and Michael Egnew were invisible enough over the first month of the season (to the point where Gary Pinkel started Beau Brinkley over both of them at Nevada to send a message) that Gabbert apparently doesn't even trust them enough to see them as an option. Considering where we thought we were before the season--Jones as a reliable 3rd-and-7 threat, Egnew as the guy with red zone potential--this is extremely alarming. Gabbert desperately needs another consistent weapon to complement Danario and Perry, and while we all thought Jones was just the man, it hasn't happened. As fans, we cannot truly determine why, but if Missouri really is going to go 9-3 this year (which is certainly still a possibility), they need Jones and Gabbert to reconnect. Obviously everybody in this unit returns next year--Jones, Egnew, Brinkley, and redshirting freshman Alex Sanders--but they need to buy Gabbert a steak, get on his good side, and get going with the rapport they had in the spring, when Jones and Egnew were Gabbert's top two targets.

Offensive Line

Short-term panic level: 5 | Long-term panic level: 3

It's pretty clear that, as is usually the case, we were underestimating the loss of starters Colin Brown and Ryan Madison from last year's offensive line. That, combined with a tweak in technique that they apparently made this summer, have resulted in some early growing pains with this line. For the most part, I did like what they did last night against a decent OSU front seven, at least in the first half. Once Missouri fell behind and the OSU secondary started playing better, it ended up predictably affecting how OSU's front seven performed as well, and Missouri didn't have as many options available to them down the stretch. That said, though, they absolutely get a passing grade for last night's game.

Long-term, things are still pretty rosy. Four of Missouri's current five starters--Elvis Fisher, Austin Wuebbels, Tim Barnes, and Dan Hoch--will return in 2010, and only Kurtis Gregory does not. He is a strong lineman, and he will be missed, but Missouri will be in much better shape to replace him, as both Jayson Palmgren and J.T. Beasley will be juniors and are getting plenty of reps this year. That, combined with freshman Jack Meiners getting some playing time, mean that O-line depth should be a strength in 2010. I still like the potential of the line this year, and I think that with hindsight the early struggles should have been a bit predictable.

Defensive End

Short-term panic level: 6 | Long-term panic level: 2

From a run-support standpoint, there is absolutely nothing to complain about with this line. Aldon Smith, Jacquies Smith, and Briant Coulter all stand up to blocks well and are excellent at pursuit. Good mixture of speed and size. But they HAVE to start rushing the passer better. Aldon Smith is pretty reliably going to make a couple of plays a game--last night it was a couple of timely blocked passes. But Jacquies really hasn't been very disruptive at all, and even though Missouri got in Robinson's face a few times last night, the pocket never completely closed in on him, and he was always able to escape and make a throw, even if he was just throwing the ball away.

Now...Aldon Smith is a redshirt freshman and Jacquies a true sophomore. It's easy to forget that sometimes, but while their potential is clear, consistency comes with playing time, and clearly neither has had enough yet. We've got a potential all-conference performer in Agent Aldon and a potentially solid three-year starter in Agent Jacquies, but they're just not ready to make every-down contributions yet. If there's a concern here, it's depth. Brad Madison has been on the field this season, but you couldn't tell it from the stats. Marcus Malbrough looked decent in junk-time against Furman, but that's it. Hopefully one of the redshirting freshmen--either Michael Sam or Brayden Burnett--can be counted on to make a contribution next season; otherwise we'll be leaning on Smith and Smith even more next year with Coulter's departure.

Defensive Tackle

Short-term panic level: 2 | Long-term panic level: 4

LOVE what this unit did last night. Jaron Baston was great, and I noticed Dominique Hamilton quite a bit. While Missouri's run defense hasn't been as good this year as last, I thought it was an encouraging sign that, against an OSU team with a rock-solid offensive line and a very good between-the-tackles runner in Keith Toston, Missouri held OSU's running backs to just 87 yards on 27 carries (3.2 per carry). It was their best performance of the year, and if Missouri can count on that for the rest of the year, this defense will continue to look damn good.

For 2010 and beyond, there is a concern here simply because Baston is a senior. Hamilton and Terrell Resonno are the current projected 2010 starters, and while both have looked decent at times, they've clearly been the #2 and #3 DTs (in some order) behind Baston. They will need to continue to develop for Missouri not to drop off here. Of course, two young guys could make this unit a severe strength in the future: Marvin Foster and Sheldon Richardson. Foster was quickly working his way into the DT rotation in August before injuring his knee and redshirting. Assuming he's at full strength in 2010 (and with this staff, a knee injury is child's play), he could be an immediate contributor. Meanwhile, Richardson is an obvious X-factor starting in 2011, assuming he still attends Missouri (and with the comments from his JUCO coach a couple of months ago, that seems like a comfortable assumption for now).

With Resonno, Hamilton, Foster, and maybe Jimmy Burge or George White, this unit could still be strong in 2010, especially if Resonno or Hamilton make a Baston-esque leap between their sophomore and junior seasons. And in 2011, with all of those players back with Richardson added to the mix, they could be excellent. The only reason I put the long-term panic level at a 4 is that it's still an assumption that Resonno or Hamilton will make that leap, and as I said with Wes Kemp above, until it happens, it's at least a little bit of a concern.

Linebacker

Short-term panic level: 1 | Long-term panic level: 2

Even without Will Ebner, I had no complaints with this unit last night. Sean Weatherspoon was outstanding, and Luke Lambert played well, even forcing a late fumble that, uhh, was bafflingly called a non-fumble by the replay official (seriously, get the replay official a bigger monitor please). Andrew Gachkar was around the ball quite a bit, even if he didn't make a ton of plays, and Zaviar Gooden made an outstanding play on an option run. With the strong run defense Missouri showed, clearly the linebackers had a role in that.

Missouri obviously loses 'Spoon after this season, but the long-term prospects are still bright. Ebner, Gachkar and Lambert return in 2010, and with Gooden, Donovan Bonner and hopefully Joshua Tatum assuming backup roles...yeah, let's just say that at least two, and potentially three of Missouri's backups would have been starting LBs for Mizzou anytime between 2000 and 2005. I'm really excited about this unit, even without SPOOOON.

Defensive Back

Short-term panic level: 3 | Long-term panic level: 2

Don't know what to think about this unit. Hubert Anyiam had a career day last night, but as the offense was falling apart in the second half last night, the secondary continuously made plays and prevented OSU from running away with the game. Seriously, with the field position advantage OSU had last night, they very well could have ended up winning something like 45-17 or something, but they didn't. The Carl Gettis Treatment looked good, Jasper Simmons looked good, and after getting burned once on a double move (and bailed out by Simmons), Robert Steeples got a ton of playing time and did not allow Anyiam to do much of anything on a series of Q4 third-down passes. I'm not sure why Steeples was in there that much--was Kevin Rutland being punished for allowing the slant-route TD on the last play of the first half?--but he acquitted himself well. I still wish we were seeing more out of our boy Kenji Jackson, but this unit has still looked good for most of 2009...

...and all of the major contributors return for 2010. Only Del Howard and Hardy Ricks depart after this year, and no offense to them, but I'm not going to lose a lot of sleep over that. Gettis, Rutland, Steeples, Kip Edwards and Munir Prince all return at CB, and Simmons, Jackson, and Jarrell Harrison all look like keepers at safety. And if a redshirting freshman like Matt White forces his way into the rotation in 2010, all the better.

In all, the hopes for this defense in 2010 and beyond are quite high. By the end of this season, Aldon Smith, Will Ebner, Andrew Gachkar, Carl Gettis, Jasper Simmons and others will have all proven themselves at a pretty high level, and with guys like Dominique Hamilton, Terrell Resonno, Jacquies Smith, Zaviar Gooden, Kevin Rutland, Kenji Jackson, Robert Steeples and Jarrell Harrison all having shown flashes of really nice play, the 2010 defense will be as deep a play-making defense as Missouri will have had under Gary Pinkel, even with the loss of Jaron Baston and Sean Weatherspoon.

Special Teams

Short-term panic level: 3 | Long-term panic level: 1

An absolutely dreadful special teams effort last night, but it's hard to panic over that considering how good special teams have been for Missouri. Grant Ressel made his only FG, but karma bit Jake Harry IV in the ass, as he didn't get a single good bounce on any of his kicks. We have gotten very used to getting great rolls on his rugby kicks, and it just didn't happen last night. That, and OSU made a nice strategic play of having what seemed like two return men--one deep and one at mid-range to catch some of the punts and make sure the rolls didn't happen. Between Missouri's second-half three-and-outs and struggles in the punt game, they got drilled in the field position battle, especially in the second half.

Meanwhile, OSU broke off a couple of nice kickoff returns, which isn't entirely surprising--Perrish Cox is one of the best return men in the game--and thanks to horrific officiating (sorry, I can't let it go just yet), Missouri's own kickoff returns were major liabilities. Jasper Simmons' first great kick return was called back to a phantom hold (but hey, how much damage could a 70-yard net penalty do, really? Not much, right? Yeah...), and he lost a fumble in which his knee appeared to be down (SERIOUSLY...get the freaking replay official a bigger monitor...), but in the box score it says that kick returns were a liability.

Long-term, things look good here. Harry has been a great asset, and he is a senior, but honestly, Missouri's punting scheme is good, and whoever wins next year's punting battle (Matt Grabner? Trey Barrow? Grant Ressel?), I think this will still be a relative strength. Plus, Carl Gettis looking better and better on punt returns, and Simmons has shown at least strong straight-line speed and the capability of breaking a long return.

And we've got Ressel at place-kicker for another two years, so there's that.

Coaching

Short-term panic level: 3 | Long-term panic level: 0

I'm sorry, but I just cannot get myself that worked up about the coaching staff. I know we always look for somebody to blame when things go poorly, and I disagreed as much as anybody with David Yost's decision to call empty-backfield sets late in the game, but you know what? When you are calling 60-80 plays per game, you are going to make mistakes. Dave Christensen obviously made plenty of mistakes, and he was apparently good enough at his job to score a Mountain West head coaching position. Meanwhile, one of the best coordinators in the country--OU's Kevin Wilson--is getting destroyed by the OU fanbase for sucking...and he's one of the best coordinators in the game. Missouri fans are spoiled by previous successes, but in his first year on the job, Yost is already a decent coordinator, and when Missouri gains in experience, he will probably start looking like a really good one. People calling for his head or already falling back on the dumb old "Gary Pinkel's too stubborn!!!!1!!!" line are...well, they're being ridiculous. Get over yourselves--this is a good offensive staff, and it will only get better. Blaine Gabbert was two drops away from having 360 first-half passing yards last night. It takes good play-calling for that to happen.

Meanwhile, I don't think any of us can have much complaint with the job Dave Steckel and the defensive staff are doing, right? Or are we still managing to be pissed at them too? You tell me.

---

I know I'm either a) preaching to the choir or b) yelling at people who have their minds made up here (and are more than willing to yell back), but man oh man...BIG PICTURE HERE, PEOPLE. Most of us did not expect to be better than 4-2 right now, and now that it's happened, we're flying off the handle. But anyway. Time to enjoy the rest of the weekend.

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 Post-Mortem: The Defense

Bill C. — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:00:12 -0000

Defensive Line

Yeah, it didn't take me long to fall in love with Aldon Smith, who was the most disruptive, and vocal, defensive end I saw. He, Jacquies Smith, and God Coulter all pass the eyeball test and didn't really ever find themselves out of position. It was what I hoped to see, and I saw it. Plus, it's fun having two badass DEs (J. Smith, Coulter) wearing single digits. Don't ask me why.

I watched Brad Madison and Marcus Malbrough quite a bit, and at the very least they seemed competent, though they didn't make a lot of noise. The star of the line really was #85, A. Smith. He sacked Gabbert in the redzone and unleashed a primal yell that could be heard at the Med School.

As for the defensive tackles, I was quickly reminded of how good Jaron Baston can be. He's a fun combination of smart and crazy, and I really like him as the anchor of the line. The only other DT I noticed was Dominique Hamilton, who despite having 0 tackles made a couple of nice plays beyond the almost-INT (which I'm convinced he dropped just because he didn't want to have to run the 70-80 yards of open field that were in front of him had he held on). Terrell Resonno really didn't make any noise, but that's not always necessarily a bad thing from a DT, I guess.

Linebackers

I love this unit. A lot. Maybe not as much as rptgwb, but a lot. There's really nothing more to say about Sean Weatherspoon, so I won't say anything--you know what you're getting from him. Beyond that, though, Andrew Gachkar and Luke Lambert both looked excellent--both fast and smart--and you know how much we at RMN love us some Will Ebner, who may not even get much playing time this year due to how good GACK and Lambert look. This is a strong, punishing unit of LBs, and it will absolutely be a strength of this defense. This unit replicates the personality of its defensive coordinator.

Also, as rptgwb mentioned Saturday evening, Mizzou rarely went to a nickel package because GACK seemed more than capable of lining up against a TE or slot WR. If you can get away with base 4-3 in passing situations, you can disguise what you're doing a lot more. Says me, anyway.

Defensive Backs

I really wanted to see something good out of the DBs, and I think I got my wish. At cornerback, Carl Gettis did what he always seems to do (2008 KU and NW'ern games aside)--blend into the woodwork, do nothing to get noticed, and prevent the QB from even thinking about throwing to the guy he's covering. Meanwhile, both Kevin Rutland and Kip Edwards looked awesome. Loved what I saw from them. Trey Hobson looked decent, as well. I didn't really notice anything from Munir Prince or Robert Steeples.

At safety, yeah...if not for Gettis, Kenji Jackson would be getting most of my mancrush attention. Mizzou safeties like Jason Simpson, David Overstreet, and William Moore showed a trend of looking lost their freshman years, looking decent their sophomore years, and breaking through in their junior years (and, ahem, having disappointing senior seasons). Kenji already looks like a breakout junior, only he's a true sophomore. He deserves to wear #13, as he plays EXACTLY like Pig Brown, laying back and punishing anybody who offends him by thinking about catching a ball in his neighborhood.

Beyond Jackson, if there was one thing I was disappointed about in this scrimmage, it was that the offense never really tried to attack Hardy Ricks. You know from previous posts that I don't trust him at all, and I really wanted to see him being challenged. As it was, nothing really happened in his neighborhood. He didn't do anything wrong, persay, but he also only had 0.5 tackles. Jerrell Harrison, meanwhile, looked pretty decent, but nothing really happened in his area either. If anybody looked impressive beyond KJ13, it was Mr. Zaviar Gooden, who is as physically impressive as a safety will ever be. Dude can hit. Shawn Scott made the mistake of trying to bounce a run outside, and he was not only caught, but rudely and effortlessly thrown down by Gooden.

Special Teams

We witnessed the creation of a new RMN legend/nickname on Saturday. At halftime we learned Mizzou coaches don't call this unit "Special Teams," but "Special Forces." After joking about Grant Ressel spending his offseason sniping pirates in the ocean, we set about giving everybody in this unit official titles. And then ZouDave unleashed this stream of consciousness: "So does that mean Admiral Wolfert is being replaced by Sergeant Mills? Corporal Mills? General Mi...GENERAL MILLS!!! YES!!!!"

From this point forward, Tanner Mills will heretofore be called General Mills.

With that out of the way, I can confirm that General Mills does indeed have a freaking cannon for a leg. He boomed the first kickoff of the scrimmage about six yards deep in the endzone, and the kickoffs that didn't reach the endzone hung in the air a long time. That will be a special teams strength.

As for place-kicking, Mills and all the kickers were fine. Not great, not terrible, just fine. Mills was only 2-for-4, but the ball looks good coming off his foot, and while he may not be Jeff Wolfert, he won't be Joe Tantarelli either. (Sorry, Joey Tants.) The other two kickers--Gunnysergeant Trey Barrow and Corporal Ressel--looked fine too, with Ressel looking to have at least a smidge more leg strength.

To punting, where all I can say is, Captain Jake Harry looked like crap last spring too. He was, I guess, in mid-spring form on Saturday, and I'm just going to close my eyes and convince myself that when the games are real, he'll be ready. Moving on...

...to returns, where I can confirm (shocker) that none of the potential kicker returners are in fact Jeremy Maclin. Carl Gettis (punt) and Munir Prince (kickoff) both had trouble fielding the ball, and from what I've seen and read previously, it wouldn't surprise me if the September starters were Gahn McGaffie (punt) and Kip Edwards (kickoff). No idea on their return skills, as it was basically just kicker/punter vs returner out there.

(One of these years, a kicker will fulfill my wish and attempt an onside kick against air...and celebrate upon recovery. One of these days.)

Conclusion

I'll say this much for the 2009 Missouri defense: there will not be a harder-hitting unit in the Big 12 North. This was a strength of last year's defense, and with the addition of guys like Aldon Smith, Gachkar, Ebner, and a matured version of Kenji Jackson (plus guys like Gooden waiting in the wings), it's only going to become a more pronounced strength in 2009. This unit is high on attitude and personality (at one point, Jaron Baston was dancing to the music in his head late in Saturday's scrimmage, forever earning my affection), and hopefully it will be high on production as well.

You never know how smart or consistent a defense is going to be until they play against opponents they haven't been practicing against non-stop, but I'm optimistic that despite the lost starters, this defense will play to at least the level of last year's defense, and as you may remember, last year's defense may not have been as bad as you thought.

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.

So...How Did Recruiting Go? (Part One)

Bill C. — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:00:10 -0000

Back in June, I wrote a couple of pieces about how recruiting was going. (They were both follow-ups--follows-up?--to my Culture vs Caliber post from the month before.) My first recruiting post envisioned what a "best-case scenario" class would look like for this Mizzou staff. The second looked at how much recruiting rankings have or haven't mattered to Mizzou's success. I figure I can use those two posts as a jumping-off point for gauging the our 2009 recruiting class.

But before I get all analytical about it, I thought I would share my general impressions of this class. And I'm a "bad news first" kind of guy.

Bad News

Mizzou didn't sign a big-time wide receiver.

Now...L'Damian Washington, Jaleel Clark, or Kerwin Stricker could all hit the big-time--we have no idea. The staff liked them enough to offer them scholarships, and I'm optimistic about their prospects. That said, over the summer a lot of 4-star WRs were looking at Mizzou--Terry Hawthorne, Jheranie Boyd, Marlon Brown, Justin Brown--along with a handful of well-touted Texas 3-star kids--Cobi Hamilton, Josh Gordon, Skyler Scott, Ja-Mes Logan, Neal Barlow (okay, he's from AR), and none of them ended up signing with Mizzou despite the prolific offense and their professed undying admiration of Jeremy Maclin. From a pure football perspective, we have no idea which of these guys will end up stars and which will never see the field, but from a college football recruiting is its own sport perspective, this was a black mark on Mizzou's class. You'd have thought they'd have landed at least one of these guys, and they didn't.

Lucky for Mizzou, geography is in their favor next year, as there are quite a few big-time WRs nearby--Justin McCay, Marcus Lucas, Keeston Terry--and they've all said nice things about Mizzou early on. Because of this, Mizzou has another, more favorable opportunity to land some prime WR talent--it will be very disappointing if we're saying "Mizzou didn't sign a big-time wide receiver" this time next year.

Rivals ranks Mizzou's class below KU's...and NU's, ATM's, Tech's and OSU's.

Simply due to to the whole "22 wins in two seasons" thing, you'd have expected Mizzou to make a jump in the rankings, and it didn't happen. That's some what disappointing.

Of course, it's also irrelevant at this point. In recruiting, the top and bottom rankings matter, but in the middle? Not so much. After those big-time, immediate-impact recruits (who, as we know, mostly go to the same schools), it's all a mushy gray area, and we're left quibbling over the difference between a 4-star recruit with a 5.8 "RR" (Rivals rating) like KU signees Bradley McDougald (who had offers from Louisville, Wisconsin, Cincy, Colorado and Indiana) and Prinz Kande (New Mexico and Wisconsin), and 3-star recruits with 5.7 RR's like MU signees Blaine Dalton (Simone Award winner for best player in KC area) and TJ Moe (StL area offensive player of the year) or a 5.6 RR like Chris Freeman (who chose Mizzou over supposed offers from Florida, Michigan, Oregon, Tennessee, UCLA, Nebraska, West Virginia, Wisconsin, etc.). Is there really a difference between a 5.8 recruit and a 5.7? Or a 5.5 and a 5.4? Probably not. It's all guesswork. Coaching and development will determine which of these kids ends up playing the best, and Mizzou has, to date, developed a pretty good track record in terms of development and scouting.

And besides that, who cares if KU ranked better--Mizzou whooped KU head-to-head for kids. But we'll get in the "good news" section.

See how I slipped silver linings into the bad news? I rule.

Good News

Along with those silver linings, there were some very positive trends in this year's class.

Mizzou nailed down Sheldon Richardson

We've talked a lot in the past about how the 5-star talent goes almost entirely to a handful of schools, and Mizzou is not one of them. It's VERY important that, when a 5-star kid is in the backyard and Mizzou's got good connections, they seal the deal. That was the case with Richardson, and Mizzou sealed the deal. They've now signed two five-star kids (Richardson, Blaine Gabbert) in the last two recruiting classes, as many as the rest of the North combined (CU and NU each signed one in 2008). In all, Big 12 schools have signed 11 five-star recruits in the last two years--three to Texas, three to OU, two to Mizzou, and one to NU, ATM, and CU. Overall class rankings obviously derive from the class as a whole, but in competition for the best of the best, Mizzou is ahead of everybody not named OU or Texas.

The trenches

We'll have to wait and see how "diamond in the rough" talent like L'Damian Washington, Kerwin Stricker, and Matt Whte perform at the WR/DB positions--maybe there's great talent there, maybe not--but one thing's for certain: Mizzou signed some BEEF. Sheldon Richardson (6'4, 275-290, depending on the day) was obviously the big name here, but I'm excited about a few others too.

First you've got potentially GIANT bookend tackles in Chris "Le Barge" Freeman (6'8, 350) and Big Jack Meiners (6'6, 315). You've got two rural MO biggies as well in Justin Britt (6'5, 270, stud wrestler) and Mark Hill (6'6, 260). Odds say not all four of those guys will work out, but two of them almost certainly will, potentially three. This is a very solid O-line class, even without Darris Ford, who apparently isn't going to qualify and therefore didn't even sign yesterday.

Then you've got my two favorite "sleeper" candidates of the class--DE/DT hybrids Marvin Foster (6'2, 265) and Ty Phillips (6'3, 260). I will say that I'm thrilled about the possibility of their putting on 20-30 pounds and serving as Lorenzo Williams-style quick DTs, but you obviously never know in advance how much weight a guy can gain. One of them may potentially be maxed out--who knows--but if these two pan out, then with last year's crop of DEs we've potentially got the deepest D-line we've ever had under Pinkel over the next few years.

In all, the most evident difference in athleticism between OU/Texas and Missouri came in the trenches, and I'm excited about the speed and athleticism we seem to have stockpiled in the last two classes. The future is bright with underclassmen like Jacquies Smith, Richardson (unless he becomes primarily a TE, which I doubt), Aldon Smith, and Marcus Malbrough (plus other signees Brayden Burnett and Michael Sam) at DE, and Terrell Resonno, Dominique Hamilton, Jimmy Burge, Phillips, Foster, and hopefully George White at DT. That's a big pool from which to pull 4-5 stud players.

The signal callers

We don't need both Blaine Dalton and Ashton Glaser to pan out in a major way--we just need one of them to go head to head with Blaine Gabbert and make sure we've got a good QB over the next few years. Between a pure winner in Dalton and a "knows the spread like the back of his hand" guy in Glaser, the odds of that happening are pretty favorable.

The JUCO DBs

As with the QBs, we probably don't need both Jarrell Harrison and Jasper Simmons to work out well, but if one of them can step in and perform at the level of a Nino Williams or (blasphemy, I know) Pig Brown--both of whom were 3-star JUCO DBs--then this secondary just became a lot less shaky. Add to that last year's batch of redshirts and super-athletic guys like TJ Moe and apparently Matt White, and again, that's a big batch of players from which to find a couple of studs. Whereas I'm worried a bit about a dropoff in run defense, I'm actually optimistic about the pass defense, which as we know, probably wasn't as bad as the raw numbers suggested.

Head to head, we still kicked KU's behind

I do respect the job Mark Mangino did in putting together a strong class. I respect it even more considering how poorly he still does recruiting head-to-head against a geographic rival in Gary Pinkel. By my count from the Rivals database*, there were six players offered by both Missouri and Kansas, who actually chose either Missouri or Kansas. They were Kendial Lawrence, Alex Sanders, Jack Meiners, Brayden Burnett, Josh Tatum, and TJ Moe. I also seem to recall Sheldon Richardson mentioning a Kansas offer as well. What do those 6-7 players have in common? They all chose Mizzou.

* Insert all relevant "Rivals doesn't catch or record every offer--it's only a recruiting service, not the official record" disclaimers here. You blog with the tools you have.

For what it's worth, Mizzou also went 2-for-4 against Nebraska (NU got Andrew Green and Chris Williams, Mizzou got Chris Freeman and L'Damian Washington). In other words, of the 11 kids for whom Mizzou fought Kansas and/or Nebraska, they landed 9 of them. You can take all the higher rankings you want as long as we're beating you head to head for the kids we want.

Meanwhile, poor K-State went 0-for-4 head-to-head against Missouri (Richardson, Brayden Burnett, Ashton Glaser, Donavan Bonner) and 1-for-7 against Kansas. This was why the talent on Bill Snyder's teams started sliding the first time around--he was getting beaten for the Chase Coffman's and Tony Temple's of the world--and it's going to be his biggest obstacle this time around as well. KSU will clearly be infinitely better-coached now, but they still have to have talent.

Conclusion

Like I said earlier, in Part Two we'll take a look at what the analysis I did last summer says about what ranking maybe should have been expected from this class or, more importantly, what can be expected from this class on the field, but for now I'll say that my initial impressions of this class are positive. I didn't expect a ton out of some of the kids we missed--Ronnie Wingo, Bryant Allen, etc.--and while missing out on them maybe hurt our recruiting ranking overall, I'm confident in the class we've signed, and I'm downright giddy about the potential of a few of them.

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

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 - Marcus Malbrough

The Morning After: Links

The North in 2010

Missouri

Colorado

Iowa State

Kansas

Kansas State

Nebraska

Panic Level: Position-by-Position

Quarterback

Running Back

Wide Receiver

Tight End

Offensive Line

Defensive End

Defensive Tackle

Linebacker

Defensive Back

Special Teams

Coaching

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 Post-Mortem: The Defense

Defensive Line

Linebackers

Defensive Backs

Special Teams

Conclusion

Spring Football Update: Defensive Line

Defensive Ends

Defensive Tackles

So...How Did Recruiting Go? (Part One)

Bad News

Good News

Conclusion

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

Michael Keck leaves Mizzou football program