Aug. 8 - Practice Recap/Injury Report

Short notes from the morning practice today:

-- An MRI confirmed Tony Temple only bruised his knee. He wore a red jersey this morning and should be back rather soon. The Trib's Dave Matter had a funny quote from Temple's father regarding the hit:
“Well, finally. I like the defense playing like that.”

-- Marcus Woods and Jimmy Jackson will get extra reps to determine the No. 2 at running back. Woods will have to overcome ball security problems and Jackson's inexperience is a built-in disadvantage. Woods continues to refuse to talk to the media.

-- Hardy Ricks did indeed dislocate his shoulder, and says whether or not he will play in the season opener against Illinois will be determined by his range of motion. Paul Simpson is getting a look in his place.

-- Tempers flared up between the first team offense and defense, as a confrontation between William Moore and Danario Alexander sparked a meeting of the minds in the end zone.

-- Both Adam Crossett and Jeff Wolfert kicked off - no word on who is winning that job.

-- Graham Watson's Tiger Tracker has a couple of interesting notes, including Monte Wyrick earning some reps and Chase Patton's confidence at QB.

Please say no...

It's clear that the Mizzou offense runs, or rather passes, through the arm of Chase Daniel. His precision passing propelled this offense to the No. 8 spot in the nation last season and is arguably the biggest reason why Mizzou is picked to win the Big 12 North.

But the improved running (and more importantly, improved ball security) of Tony Temple last season helped put the Mizzou offense on the brink of moving from "good" to "great."

At Tuesday morning's practice, Temple had to be carted off the practice field with an apparent knee injury following a collision with several linebackers. Early reports and rumors suggest the injury is just a sprain, but anything more serious could be a severe blow to the Mizzou offense. Marcus Woods, Earl Goldsmith and Jimmy Jackson are all fine backs, but Temple's impressive 2006 season and breakout performance in the Sun Bowl had Tiger fans primed for a big year with big expectations from No. 22.

Adding fuel to the "How can Mizzou blow this season" fire lit by Temple's injury, CB Hardy Ricks dislocated his left shoulder Tuesday morning and has an MRI pending. Ricks returns following a promising 2006 and outstanding few days of practice this summer, and losing Ricks could be a nasty blow to a secondary that can use all the experience it can get.

More practice analysis to come later as we await word on the severity of each injury...

Aug. 6 Practice recap

Monday morning's practice saw the addition of shoulder pads, and the debut of a term (according to Footblog at MUTigers.com) I hope to see a lot of heading into this season:

"Defensively-controlled"

Allow me to recover for a second...

I was absolutely estatic to hear all the focus isn't all offense this summer, as any true Mizzou fan can tell you this team will go as far as its defense will allow. Everyone knows the ifs: If Ziggy Hood and Lorenzo Williams shut down the run, if Stryker Sulak and Tommy Chavis improve the pass rush, if Brock Christopher and Sean Witherspoon can step in at linebacker, if [insert names here] can [insert defensive jargon here], etc. Daniel and the offense will spend the season swimming in media praise and points, but whether or not Mizzou is swimming in wins and swimming at Sea World in San Antonio after the Big 12 Championship depends solely on defensive output.

Among the day's highlights according to different accounts were transfer Justin Garrett's hit on Danario Alexander and solid play (including a pick-six) from converted LB Connell Davis. One disappointing note: LB Michael Keck and DB Darnell Terrell did not participate in full contact drills.

Once again, the Trib's Dave Matter was on top of all things Tigers. Matter had this outstanding tidbit from Pinkel:
“I thought the 1 and 2 defense dominated the offense in almost everything. Every drill,” Pinkel said. “That’s good. Maybe the offense is reading the papers too much. And the defense is, ‘Hey, we’re pretty good, too.’ That’s healthy. But I thought it was just total domination today by the defense.”

Matter notes Castine Bridges' push for playing time (especially with the injury to Terrell), Tommy Saunders' lead in the punt returner race, tough hits by Pig Brown and Hardy Ricks forcing rare drops from Mizzou's dynamic TE duo, and Pinkel's impressions of the linebacker corps so far.

The Tigers hit the practice field again Tuesday morning at 8:15. ETS promises to wish it could be there.

First Practice

Here's some notes and recaps from different impressions of Mizzou's first practice:

-- Dave Matter had an interesting article in the Tribune detailing Chase Daniel meeting a very special guest at EA's Elite 11 Camp a few weeks ago.

-- TE Martin Rucker, DT Lorenzo Williams, WR Jason Ray and S Pig Brown were named team captains. The first three are not much of a surprise, with each entering their fifth year in the program. However, Brown was named despite being in the program for just over a year.

-- With kickoffs being pushed back five yards this year, there's been a lot of talk NCAA-wide about the kind of athletes teams will use for returns. On the first day of practice, Mizzou ran out Jared Perry, Tommy Saunders, Jeremy Maclin and Marcus Woods. Not a bad tandem, but they desperately need to find a unit that can cover kicks effectively.

-- The first answer to the Gilbert Moye question may have appeared, as he started camp at free safety. The highly regarded athlete chose the position because of the opportunity for early playing time.

-- The team's motto this year is "It's all about the ball," helping the coaching staff preach the importance of turnover margin and ball security.

-- Mizzou's selection as the Big 12 North favorite was the talk of the day, and Matter's blog had a great quote from Will Franklin regarding the selection:
“It’s a great thing to be picked like that,” [Franklin] said. “But we know those same people didn’t think we’d be able to have the record we had last year. There’s still a sense of urgency for us to go out there, play our best and earn that respect even more than we’ve picked up now.”

-- Matter's blog also includes an early depth chart.

-- STL Post Dispatch's Graham Watson says Adam Crossett may make the punter race with Jake Harry obsolete.

-- Watson also had a great article talking about the mood around camp. The expectations, returning starters and immense confidence appear to be a great mix for this squad. Watson's second paragraph describes that same sentiment in outstanding fashion:
"Instead of the awkward orientation that usually comes with the first few days of a new season, the Tigers took to the field with the business-like confidence of a team that knows this could be one of the greatest seasons in the school's history."

Camp opens...

Folks, it is the greatest day of the year. Mizzou Tiger football has begun.

The Tigers opened camp this morning, and ETS has begun the process of relying heavily on message boards and Dave Matter's Behind the Stripes blog to keep up with all the action. Stay tuned to ETS for continued reaction and outlandish theories.

On a side note, Mizzou received votes in the USA Today Coaches' Poll but did not crack the Top 25.