2018 Behind the Stripes

2018 BEHIND THE STRIPES MI S S OUR I AN D SE C FO O T BA L L PR E V I E W

TERRIFIC TIGER Missouri entering 2018 with high expectations thanks to star quarterback.

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Sunday, August 26, 2018

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Predictions on the Tigers’ 2018 season

B

arry Odom never shows an ounce of worry publicly.

In media sessions after practice, the third-year Missouri head coach comes off as calm, poised and optimistic about his 2018 football team. As he should.

But make no mistake about it, the pressure is on Odom to deliver a career-defining season.

Odom won four games in his first year and seven a season ago.

In 2018, his roster is stacked. It includes a senior All-SEC quarterback that may merit an argument as the best signal caller in school history when his career is over. A freakishly athletic tight end that makes one-handed catches look routine. A two-headed monster at running back a majority of FBS teams would kill to have. All five offensive linemen back. A world class defensive tackle no offensive lineman wants to block and a linebacker that is just as good a tackler as he is a leader.

In short, the question is: If not 2018, when is the breakthrough season going to come?

The schedule is harder than last year, sure, but the talent is there. So, what will the Tigers’ fate this season be?

Below is a game-by-game breakdown of Missouri’s schedule with a prediction of how each contest turns out.

Game 1, vs. Tennessee-Martin Series history: first-ever meeting Analysis: Some FCS schools are closing the talent gap that lies between them and FBS programs.

UT-Martin isn’t there yet. The Skyhawks were 6-5 last year while playing in a mediocre FCS conference. In its lone FBS game in 2017, UT-Martin lost to Mississippi 45-23. Meanwhile, Missouri is going to want redemption after allowing 43 points in its opener last year to an eventual 3-8 Missouri State team. And a UT-Martin defense that loses all five starters in the secondary is going to have a heck of a time stopping Drew Lock. This will likely be a blowout victory.

Prediction: Missouri win

until Missouri’s defense Game 2, vs. Wyoming can show it’s capable Series history: first-ever of making consistent meeting stops, it’s hard to pick Analysis: Thanks to against Georgia. the Cowboys playing Prediction: Mistheir opener ridiculoussouri loss ly early, Wyoming will have one more game Game 5, at S. Carolina under its belt than the Series history: Tied 4-4.

Tigers at this point. Garrick Hodge South Carolina has Craig Bohl is a respected coach, so this game could be en- won the last two matchups. Last tertaining for a bit. But Josh Allen time out: South Carolina won ain’t walking through that door. 31-13 in Columbia, Mo. Last Missouri should emerge victori- Missouri win: 24-10 in 2015 in Columbia, Mo. ous by double digits.

Analysis: When the Tribune Prediction: Missouri win hosted a podcast with national college football expert Phil Game 3, at Purdue Steele, he picked South Carolina Series history: 7-2 Purdue.

Purdue has won the last four as a sleeper team to win the SEC matchups. Last time out: Purdue East. Consider me on the Gamewon 35-3 in Columbia in 2017. cocks’ bandwagon. South CaroLast Missouri win: 14-7 in 1953 in lina returns its top running backs in AJ Turner and Rico Dowdle, Columbia.

Analysis: Missouri won’t need its starting quarterback in Jake much motivation for this one. Bentley and its leading receiver The Tigers know all-too-well in Bryan Edwards. If this game not to underestimate Purdue af- was in the Missouri version of ter a 35-3 loss at home last year. Columbia, it may be tempting Purdue only returns four starters to go a different direction. But defensively and lost nine of its for now, I’ll take the Gamecocks top 12 tacklers, so there’s going to sneak out a one-possession to be potential for points here. victory.

Prediction: Missouri loss If the Tigers are going to have a special season, they need to win this game. They will, in a tight- Game 6, at Alabama Series history: 3-2 Alabama. ly-contested road matchup.

The Crimson Tide has won Prediction: Missouri win the last three games. Last time out: Alabama won 42-13 in Game 4, vs. Georgia Atlanta in 2014. Last Missouri Series history: 6-1 Georgia.

The Bulldogs have won the last win: 20-7 in 1975 in Birmingfour games. Last time out: Geor- ham.

Analysis: One. That’s how gia won 53-28 in Athens in 2017.

Last Missouri win: 41-26 in 2013 many times Alabama has lost at home in the last five years in Athens.

Analysis: Most national pub- (a 43-37 loss to Mississippi in lications are picking the Bulldogs 2015). They play the games for a to win the SEC East. It’s a pretty reason and there’s the ole’ “any safe pick. Despite losing stand- given Saturday” cliche. But outs Nick Chubb and Roquan this one ain’t happening. The Smith, Georgia returns Jake Tigers should call it a major Fromm, JR Reed, D’Andre Swift win if they keep it a close game and others. Missouri got blown throughout.

Prediction: Missouri loss out by the Bulldogs last year, but it’s possible the Tigers keep it closer than some will anticipate. Game 7, vs. Memphis Both teams could be undefeated Series history: 2-1 Missouri.

Last time out: Missouri won entering the contest and Memorial Stadium might draw its 27-17 in Memphis in 1999. Last largest crowd of the season. But Memphis win: 19-16 in 1996 in

Columbia.

Analysis: With a daunting three-game stretch coming to a close, Missouri may be thankful to see Memphis on the schedule in Game 7. Odom will likely downplay it in the week beforehand, but it’s likely this game has some sentimental value to him after serving as Memphis’ defensive coordinator/linebackers coach from 2012-2014.

The Tigers’ namesake should provide a worthy challenge, but without quarterback Riley Ferguson and wideout Anthony Miller, it’s not likely Memphis has the firepower to keep up with MU. Prediction: Missouri win Game 8, vs. Kentucky Series history: 5-3 Kentucky.

The Wildcats have won the last three games. Last time out: Kentucky won 40-34 in Lexington in 2017. Last Missouri win: 20-10 in 2014 in Columbia.

Analysis: Since 2012, Kentucky is 12-36 in SEC conference games, the worst mark of any SEC school. Yet, three of those victories have come against Missouri the last three seasons. The Tigers will snap their skid against the Wildcats this time, though.

Prediction: Missouri win Game 9, at Florida Series history: 4-3 Missouri.

Last time out: Missouri won 45-16 in Columbia in 2017. Last Florida win: 40-14 in 2016 in Gainesville.

Analysis: Flip a coin when trying to predict this game.

Florida is an experience-laden team (10 offensive starters returning, nine defensive). But those were also the same guys who delivered a 4-7 campaign in 2017 and were completely embarrassed by Missouri. With new head coach Dan Mullen, the Gators should be much improved. How improved, who knows, but I’ll give the home team a slight advantage in the swamp.

Prediction: Missouri loss

See TIGERS, Pg. 4

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Sunday, August 26, 2018

From TIGERS, Pg. 3 Game 10, vs. Vanderbilt Series history: 6-3 Missouri.

The Tigers have won the last two games. Last time out: Missouri won 45-17 in Nashville in 2017. Last Vanderbilt win: 10-3 in 2015 in Nashville.

Analysis: Vanderbilt was picked to finish last in the SEC East in the SEC preseason media poll. The Tigers shouldn’t lose this game at home.

Prediction: Missouri win Game 11, at Tennessee Series history: 4-2 Missouri.

Last time out: Missouri won 50-17 in Columbia in 2017. Last Tennessee win: 63-37 in 2016 in Knoxville.

Analysis: Missouri took advantage of a Tennessee team in shambles last season and throttled the Volunteers 50-17 at home. First-year Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt has some work to do.

But a road game this late in the year against a team that had three winning seasons

before 2017 could be a stiff challenge. Missouri should still find a way to pull this one out.

Prediction: Missouri win Game 12, vs. Arkansas Series history: 6-3 Missouri.

The Tigers have won the last two games. Last time out: Missouri won 48-45 in Fayetteville in 2017. Last Arkansas win: 28-3 in 2015 in Fayetteville.

Analysis: It’s the only SEC game on Missouri’s schedule that has a set time for kickoff (1:30 p.m.), so there’s that. It would be difficult for Lock to repeat his 448-yard, five-touchdown performance that he had against the Razorbacks in 2017, but the Tigers should score enough to win a shootout.

Prediction: Missouri win Final 2018 regular season record: 8-4.

Garrick Hodge is Regional Sports Editor for the Columbia Daily Tribune.

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Memorial makeover

By Daniel Jones Columbia Daily Tribune The area behind the south endzone, formerly a 10,000-seat stand, will be a construction zone for the 2018 season. The new south endzone structure — which will include new coaches offices, a new locker room, new training facilities, 1,324 general seats, 1,254 club seats, 16 suites and a 750-person field-level club — is set to be completed for the 2019 season.

To get an idea for how the construction will affect the gameday experience at the stadium in 2018, the Tribune talked to Tony Wirkus, the director of gameday operations for MU athletics.

The main impact will be the lack of a south concourse, which previously was underneath the south stands. The lack of a south concourse will restrict traffic flow within the stadium but doesn’t mean a loss or change in facilities, since there were no concessions or restrooms in the old south concourse.

Fans will not be able to enter the stadium through Gate 6W, located in the stadium’s southwest corner. There also will be changes to parking, since the construction zone does take away spots in Lot G and Lot C. Lot G, which is directly south of the stadium, is closest to the construction site and will have the biggest reduction in spaces. Two trailers that will serve as Missouri’s dressing rooms will also be lo-

cated in Lot G, taking away more spaces. Still, there will be some allocated spots in the lot for season ticket holders, Wirkus said.

A new retaining wall on the southwest of the stadium will take away some spots in Lot C, though Wirkus said when the wall is completed some of those spots will be restored. The old TV compound was in Lot G but has been displaced into Lot C. Traffic flow around the stadium will not change, Wirkus said.

Mick Deaver Drive will be closed on gamedays as it was in years past. Parking will not be permitted along the shoulder of Providence Road.

Pedestrians will be able to walk into the stadium from the south on the east and west sides of the stadium, but because access from the south will be limited, Wirkus suggested pedestrians use the north sides of the stadium to avoid congestion.

Wirkus said pregame activities, including the Tiger Walk, will not change.

Another policy that hasn’t changed: the clear-bag policy in effect at all 14 stadiums in the Southeastern Conference. The policy bans all bags and purses except for clear plastic, vinyl or PVC bags smaller than 12-inches-by-6-inches-by-12-inches; 1 gallon freezer bags; or clutch purses smaller than 4½-inchesby-6½-inches. Exceptions can be made for medically necessary items after proper inspection.

Sunday, August 26, 2018

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2017 MISSOURI & SEC STATISTICS MISSOURI INDIVIDUAL PASSING Lock Wilson Team TOTAL

Cmp Att 242 419 5 10 0 1 247 430

Int Yds TD 13 3,964 44 1 48 0 0 0 0 14 4,012 44

RUSHING Witter Rountree Crockett Downing Lock Wilson Mason Fatony Utsey Collins Johnson Lowary Team TOTAL

Att 188 126 80 20 44 15 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 486

Yds 1,049 703 481 121 111 89 19 3 2 1 0 0 0 2,516

AVG 5.6 5.6 6 6.1 2.5 5.9 19 3 2 1 0 0 -9 5.2

TD 6 6 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16

RECIEVING Moore Johnson Hall OkwuegbuFloyd Mason Brown Witter Collins Blanton Reese Rountree Crockett TOTAL

No 65 41 33 29 14 13 11 11 10 6 5 5 4 247

Yds 1,082 724 817 415 170 119 89 87 145 138 134 57 35 4,012

AVG 16.6 17.7 24.8 14.3 12.1 9.2 8.1 7.9 14.5 23 26.8 11.4 8.8 16.2

TD 10 6 8 11 2 0 0 1 1 1 3 0 1 44

DEFENSE Garrett Hall Sherrils Prewett Acy Lee Frazier Beckner

Total 105 85 64 60 48 42 40 38

TFL Sacks 10 3 12.5 1 3 0.5 4 0 5 0 5 0.5 15.5 7 11 7

SEC LEADERS PASSING YARDS Drew Lock, Missouri Jarrett Stidham, Auburn Kyle Shurmur, Vanderbilt

3,964 3,158 2,823

RUSHING YARDS Kerryon Johnson, Auburn Nick Chubb, Georgia Benny Snell Jr., Kentucky

1,391 1,345 1,333

Int 2 0 2 1 0 1 0 1

MISSOURI TEAM

Beisel 37 Harold 36 Sparks 34 Wilson 34 Perkins 27 Cheadle 27 Brandon 21 Williams 20 Burkett 17 Hilton 16 Ross 14 Palmore 13 Bledsoe 13 Anderson 12 Warren 11 Brooks 9 Whiteside 9 Logan 9 Alton 9 Ulmer 8 Hines 6 Utsey 6 Miller 3 Turner 3 Byers 3 Okwuegbunam 2 Witter 2 Gillespie 2 Stribling 1 Agbasimere 1 TEAM 1 Nelson 1 Wingo 1 Robinson 1 Abeln 1 Blanton 1 Bartolotta 1 McCann 1 Hall 1 Moore 1 Rountree 1 TOTAL 898

0.5 7.5 1 0 1 1 5.5 4 0 1 1 2 1 2 1 0.5 2 3 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 103

0 3 0 0 0 1 1 3 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0.5 0 0 0 1 0 0.5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 33

KICKING McCann Bartolotta TEAM Total

XPA 53 9 0 62

FGM 15 2 0 17

RECEIVING YARDS A.J. Brown, Mississippi J’Mon Moore, Missouri Calvin Ridley, Alabama Christian Kirk, Texas A&M

XPM 51 8 0 59 1,252 1,082 967 919

OFFENSIVE POINTS PER GAME Missouri 39.33 Alabama 39.08 Georgia 34.92 Auburn 34.38 Mississippi 32.82

0 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 FGA 17 2 1 20

TACKLES Roquan Smith, Georgia Devin White, LSU Cale Garrett, Missouri

MU OPP 488 414 SCORING Points per game 37.5 31.8 Points off turnovers 74 94 304 267 FIRST DOWNS Rushing 133 110 Passing 150 133 Penalty 21 24 2,516 2,075 RUSHING YARDAGE Yards gained 2,701 2,442 Yards lost 185 367 Attempts 486 521 Average per rush 5.2 4 Average per game 193.5 159.6 TDs 16 27 4012 3,308 PASSING YARDAGE Comp-Att-Int 247-430-14263-441-12 Average per pass 9.3 7.5 Average per catch 16.2 12.6 Average per game 308.6 254.5 TDs passing 44 20 6,528 5,383 TOTAL OFFENSE Total plays 916 962 Average per play 7.1 5.6 Average per game 502.2 414.1 42-908 39-851 KICK RETURNS 14-232 Nov-92 PUNT RETURNS 12-140 14-227 INT RETURNS 13-11 5-Dec FUMBLES-LOST 96-774 77-648 PENALTIES-YARDS 58-2,570 73-3,184 PUNTS-Yards Average per punt 44.3 43.6 Net punt average 41 39.6 94-5,824 80-4,881 KICKOFFS-YARDS Average per kick 62 61 Net kick average 39.9 38.1 TIME OF POSSESSION 25:01:00 34:59:00 33-189 13-92 SACKS BY-YARDS 63 50 TOUCHDOWNS SCORED 17-20 20-25 FGs-ATTEMPTS 59-62 48-48 PATs-ATTEMPTS

137 133 105

SACKS Montez Sweat, Mississippi St. 11 Landis Durham, Texas A&M 11 INTERCEPTIONS Mark McLaurin, Mississippi St. 6 Greedy Williams, LSU 6

DEFENSIVE YARDS PER GAME Alabama 260.4 Georgia 294.9 Mississippi State 306.3 LSU 316.2 Auburn 319.4 DEFENSIVE POINTS PER GAME Alabama 11.9 Georgia 16.4 Auburn 18.5 LSU 18.9

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Sunday, August 26, 2018

Missouri quarterback Drew Lock (3) looks to throw a pass during a game against Purdue at Faurot Field on Sept. 16, 2017. Missouri lost 35-3. Lock threw for 44 touchdowns and more than 3,900 yards during his junior campaign, and starts this season as one of the most highly-touted quarterbacks in all of college football and is projected to be a first-round NFL draft pick. [Tribune file photo]

LOCK’S LAST CHANCE

By Daniel Jones Columbia Daily Tribune The Chipotle Mexican Grill located off Highway 291 and Columbus Street in Lee’s Summit is not particularly special.

Except for the fact that it served as a home away from home for Drew Lock in his formative high school years.

Lock had a common Chipotle compatriot in Ryan Dodd, his friend from elementary school and the center on the Lee’s Summit football team. Lock, of course, was the quarterback. From Lee’s Summit High School, after football practice, the pair would alternate rumbling north on Highway 291 to get burritos in Dodd’s Pontiac Grand Prix or Lock’s Ford Ex-

plorer.

For Dodd, now a senior at Pittsburg State, Lock was and still is a close friend: humble and confident, close to his family, “just a really good guy to know.” But the shaggy-haired kid across the Chipotle booth was best athlete Dodd had ever seen, and his potential then seemed limitless.

“I thought if Drew couldn’t make it to a pro sports league,” Dodd said, “I don’t know who could.”

Lock is right on track four years later. A projected firstround pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, Lock has already been featured on four national award watch lists: Two of the biggest

Gunslinging QB Drew Lock returns for his fourth, and last, year behind center

are the Maxwell Award, given by the Maxwell Club to the nation’s top player, and the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.

He’s the Southeastern Conference’s reigning first-team quarterback. Missouri rolled out a Heisman Trophy campaign for Lock starting in June and will distribute bobbleheads in his likeness to season-ticket holders.

“I renewed my season tickets, so I think I got one,” coach Barry Odom joked at SEC Media Days in July.

Lock has taken the spotlight in stride. Odom has warned the masses that the new system under offensive coordinator Derek Dooley, which puts a greater emphasis on ball control and

time of possession than the last system under Josh Heupel, could mean fewer passing yards or touchdowns for Lock. The general public might see it as regression, but Lock has been more than willing to go with the flow.

“As far as stats go it’s going to be a little different, but that’s not my biggest concern,” Lock said. “My biggest concern is winning football games.”

It’s similar to the outlook he had in his senior season at Lee’s Summit, when he was considered the front-runner for the Simone Award, given annually to the best high school football player in the Kansas City area.

See LOCK, Pg. 7

Sunday, August 26, 2018

From LOCK, Pg. 6 Despite throwing for 2,717 yards and 28 touchdowns that season, Lock essentially wrote off the possibility of winning the award midway through the year due to the Tigers’ lagging record. He won it anyway.

That senior year at Lee’s Summit was full of hard lessons. It all came so easy in Lock’s junior year, when he compiled 3,062 yards and 35 touchdowns as Lee’s Summit went 10-2. Lock was always confident - there was no doubt about that - but especially so in that season, powered by a swagger that infected the entire team.

Four years later, the highlight plays aren’t what Dodd remembers about playing with Lock. He remembers the feeling of playing with him, a feeling Lee’s Summit coach Eric Thomas described as, “Drew’s got us.”

“That swagger is an awesome thing,” Thomas said.

“You’ve seen it — that smile is infectious that he has. When he was that way on Friday nights with our kids, everybody knew it was going to be OK.” Lock became a national name after his junior year. He accepted invitations to Elite 11 and The Opening, two of the most prestigious high school quarterback camps in the country.

He got scholarship offers from Ohio State, Michigan State and Texas. When he chose Missouri on April 9, 2014, every high school player and coach in the state knew his name.

That was especially true in Columbia. Lee’s Summit’s opponent in Week 2 of Lock’s senior season was Hickman, where Thomas had served as an offensive coordinator from 2008-09. Eager to make a good impression in his future home, Lock airmailed a number of open throws in the first quarter as an outmatched Kewpies squad got out to a 17-0 lead — though he recovered in the second half to lead the Tigers to a 41-17 victory.

Then Lee’s Summit, which started the year ranked No. 5 in Class 6, lost five of its next

“

I didn’t know. I had a feeling that he was going to come back but I also had a feeling he was leaving.

MU Coach Barry Odom on Lock returning in 2018

seven games.

Thomas said it was the first time he’d seen Lock, a perennial winner in football and basketball, go through adversity.

There was anger. There was frustration. There were tears, Thomas said, when the two sat together and talked on long bus rides back after losses.

What Lock really hated, Thomas remembered him saying, was “the look on the opposing coach’s face when they shake my hand and tell me I’m a good player. All they wanted to do was beat me.”

Lee’s Summit went 4-6, crashing out of the state playoffs in the first round. Despite pressure to enroll at Missouri a semester early, Lock stayed around to finish his senior basketball season — a loyalty to his school that Thomas never forgot.

Lock showed up at Missouri’s fall training camp in 2015 and stole the show, out-performing incumbent starter Maty Mauk and returning backups Marvin Zanders and Eddie Printz. It was a performance so convincing coach Gary Pinkel couldn’t ignore or downplay it. Lock went from a potential redshirt to the No. 2 quarterback making regular appearances in the Tigers’ first four games.

Mauk was suspended for repeated off-the-field incidents in October, making Lock the starter. Missouri won Lock’s first start before the rest of the season went into a fiery tailspin, featuring seven straight games of offensive gridlock, the team’s threatened boycott against BYU and Pinkel’s resignation at the end of the season due to health concerns.

At least his senior season prepared him for on-field woes.

As he told Thomas that year,

”

“Coach, we’ve been through this stuff before.”

That season he also got a helping hand from Corbin Berkstresser, a fellow Lee’s Summit alum who came in from off the bench to lead Missouri at quarterback for two games in 2011.

By 2015, Berkstresser — then a redshirt senior — was out of the quarterback rotation and was featuring on special teams.

But his presence was huge for Lock, who leaned on the former QB’s expertise in his first collegiate season.

“I’d come to the sideline and that’d be the first person I really talked to,” Lock said of Berkstresser, who is now in training with the Army Rangers. … “Practice, meeting rooms, locker room, that was the guy I went to because he knew the most about me. He knew what it was like.”

Lock’s sophomore season offered a chance to start fresh under new offensive coordinator Josh Heupel. It was an instant match. Heupel was an All-American quarterback at Oklahoma in 2000 and installed an offense that utilized Lock’s strengths without asking him to make too many on-field decisions.

Heupel also coached the hell out of him.

“Josh Heupel has high expectations for his guys,” Thomas said. “They had rules where you’re the first one in, last one to leave, footwork has to be right. … I thought for the first time it was really teaching Drew what it was going to take to be a top-level quarterback.”

Under Heupel, Lock became a master at deceiving safeties to the point that Vanderbilt defensive back LaDarius Wiley complimented the trait out of hand at SEC Media Days. Even for his own defense, intercept-

7

ing Lock is an accomplishment to be savored. During summer workouts, Missouri cornerback Adam Sparks took a Lock throw back for a pick-six, a feat he recalled months later during fall camp. Heck, he might never let it go.

“Most likely,” he said when asked if picking off Lock in practice is something that will be remembered forever. “We understand the caliber quarterback he is.”

Lock’s swagger started to come back as a sophomore.

Against South Carolina in 2016, Lock memorably snagged a water bottle tossed at him from the stands at Williams-Brice Stadium and took a swig. When he started to put up better numbers and compile wins in 2017, he became known for his “secure the bag” celebration and his take on the “Milly Rock” dance, video of which went viral.

“Drew has a few dance moves,” wide receiver Richaud Floyd said. “He can move a little bit.”

In January, Lock nearly inspired a grown man to dance.

Odom was in Charlotte for a national coaches convention when he got a call from Lock — his final verdict on whether he’d return to Missouri for his senior season or go to the NFL. “I didn’t know. I had a feeling that he was going to come back but I also had a feeling he was leaving,” Odom said.

When Lock told him he was coming back, “I was walking down the street outside the hotel, trying to walk to my car.

There was a celebration that was almost a little giddy. It was awesome.”

It must have been similar to how Thomas felt when he saw a 14-year old Lock lead his varsity squad down the field at a Central Missouri football camp in his second year at Lee’s Summit.

Or how Dodd felt watching his childhood friend on TV dropping bombs on the SEC and climbing up NFL Draft boards, just like he expected he someday would.

8

Sunday, August 26, 2018

Don Shrubshell/Tribune

Broadway 63

MU campus

MU campus

63

Stadium Blvd.

Stadium Blvd.

Faurot Field

COMING EAST ON INTERSTATE 70 FROM KANSAS CITY 1. Take Interstate 70 East to the Stadium Boulevard exit (Exit 124 MO-740/Stadium Blvd.); make a right.

2. Take Stadium Boulevard south for approximately 4 miles to the MU Sports Park.

Memorial Stadium is located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Stadium and Providence Road.

Faurot Field

COMING NORTH ON HIGHWAY 63 FROM JEFFERSON CITY

Providence Road

Broadway

Providence Road

Providence Road

FIND YOUR WAY TO FAUROT FIELD Broadway

MU campus

63

Stadium Blvd.

Faurot Field

COMING WEST ON INTERSTATE 70 FROM ST. LOUIS

1. Take Highway 63 North to the MO-740/Stadium Boulevard exit.

1. Take Interstate 70 West to the Highway 63 exit; make a left.

2. Turn left onto Stadium and follow approximately 2 miles to the MU Sports Park.

Memorial Stadium is located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Stadium and Providence Road.

2. Turn onto the Business U.S. 63 access road and take the ramp onto Highway 63 southbound toward Jefferson City.

3. Take Highway 63 South to the Stadium Boulevard exit; make a right. Follow Stadium for approximately 2 miles to Memorial Stadium.

For more information on how Faurot Field construction may impact you, read the story on page 4.

Sunday, August 26, 2018

9

Missouri defensive lineman Terry Beckner, Jr. (5) registered seven sacks for Mizzou last season, and will anchor a defense that gave up nearly 32 points and more than 400 yards of offense per game in 2017. [Tribune file photo]

Beckner sets sights on 2018, and beyond

By Daniel Jones Columbia Daily Tribune In November 2017, Missouri running back Damarea Crockett’s phenomenal freshman season came to a crashing halt when he was arrested for misdemeanor possession of marijuana in an MU parking garage.

He was suspended for the season finale against Arkansas, the school of his home state, and a nine-month offseason commenced immediately.

In that dark period there’s one thing Crockett will never forget: The assistance and support he got from defensive tackle Terry Beckner Jr., who went through a similar process after being arrested for the same

offense in January 2017.

Crockett said Beckner took him in and guided him through the incident’s aftermath, and he’s all the better for it now.

“It was amazing just to have someone that everybody looks up to in your corner,” Crockett said. “That pushed me to be better and not even think about that, just drive on. He helped me in that part — I’ll thank him for that anytime, all day every day. That’s my guy.”

Crockett and Beckner are still close, united by the experience of overcoming that particular hurdle. Crockett, an Arkansas native, even took it upon himself to teach Beckner how to fish.

“He didn’t know anything, how to do it. That was really hilarious,” Crockett said.

Crockett’s experience with Beckner is more of the rule than the exception. You won’t find anybody in Missouri’s program that has a bad word to say about the 6-foot-5, 305-pound keystone of the Tigers’ defensive line. The only possible exception might be an involuntary utterance while watching his tape: “That’s a bad man.”

Last year was the best showcase of Beckner’s talent since he arrived in Columbia. He missed parts of his first two seasons due to knee injuries, but he finally got in a full season as a junior. Despite being regularly

double-teamed as a defensive tackle, Beckner recorded seven sacks and 11 tackles for loss.

The league noticed. He was named first-team all-Southeastern Conference entering his senior season, one of only two Missouri defensive players (along with linebacker Terez Hall) to earn preseason honors.

Adding to that momentum is that Beckner is coming off his first healthy offseason since the summer before his freshman year.

“It’s been a tremendous help to me right now, because I really can actually grind, get stronger, get faster,” Beckner said at SEC

See BECKNER, Pg. 10

10

Sunday, August 26, 2018

From BECKNER, Pg. 9 Media Days. … “I haven’t felt like this since I’ve been in high school.”

His dominance in high school made for strong first impressions, especially in the tightly-knit community of East St. Louis. From his pee-wee days, in the words of high school and college teammate Tre’Vour Wallace-Simms, Missouri’s starting right guard, the community knew Beckner was “a dude.”

“He was destined for greatness,” Simms said, “and I feel like he’s going to achieve every goal he has.”

Next to Simms on the Tigers’ offensive line is center Trystan Colon-Castillo, whose first practice at Missouri was a nightmare thanks in part to Beckner.

“My freshman year, my very first rep was Terry,” Colon-Castillo recalled. “I thought I was going to win the

rep. The next thing I know I’m going over the quarterback bag and that was about it. Here’s the truth — working with that guy every single day, great guy, pushes you to be your best. I mean, that dude is an absolute animal.”

Former Missouri defensive end Jordan Harold met Beckner in 2015, shortly after Beckner arrived on campus. Despite being a high school prodigy, Beckner’s ego took a backseat.

He was uncomfortable with the attention he got from the media — “He still doesn’t care for it,” Harold said — and meshed with his new teammates quickly.

Current defensive tackle Jordan Elliott has a similar story.

He transferred from Texas to Missouri in 2017 and had heard all about Beckner’s talent. He expected him to be “big-headed.” Instead, Beckner was his welcoming party, one of the first to bring him in with the rest of the team.

“He doesn’t want people to treat him like a superstar,”

Harold said of Beckner. “It’s going to come with the way he plays. I told him that, but he’s like, ‘Yeah, but I just don’t care for it. I’d rather be treated like a regular dude.’”

Despite the potential to be a first-round draft pick in 2018, Beckner announced he was returning for his senior season seven days after the Tigers’ regular season finale against Arkansas. He made up his mind months before, though, and started making plans to stay for four years at the end of 2015.

That was Beckner’s first collegiate injury, when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in his right leg against BYU. Thinking ahead, Beckner realized there was a good chance for another injury to his left leg because of the stress it bears in rehab.

“I knew I was going to have to stay four years to let my body mature and get back right and get strong,” Beckner said, and sure enough, he tore the ACL in his left leg against Middle Ten-

nessee in 2016.

But there was a silver lining with those injuries. They opened the door for Beckner to earn his four-year college degree.

He’ll graduate with a major in general studies in December, but his focus throughout college has been on communications.

Following the lead of his childhood idol, Ray Lewis, Beckner envisions himself being an analyst or commentator when his playing career eventually ends.

“Any time I get a chance to watch (football), I can see myself being there,” Beckner said.

There’s more for Beckner to learn and accomplish — as a student and a player — during his last year of college, but in the opinion of defensive line coach Brick Haley, the 21-year old Beckner “is a man, and that’s the way he carries himself.”

“He’s a fantastic freakin’ person,” Haley said. “He’s a better person than he is a football player, and I think he’s a damn good football player.”

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11

2018 SCHEDULE Sept. 1 Sept. 8 Sept. 15 Sept. 22 Oct. 6 Oct. 13

Missouri vs. UT Martin Missouri vs. Wyoming Missouri @ Purdue Missouri vs. Georgia Missouri @ S. Carolina Missouri @ Alabama

Oct. 20 Oct. 27 Nov. 3 Nov. 10 Nov. 17 Nov. 23

Missouri vs. Memphis Missouri vs. Kentucky Missouri @ Florida Missouri vs. Vanderbilt Missouri @ Tennessee Missouri vs. Arkansas

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# Name 2 DeMarkus Acy 2 Micah Wilson 3 Drew Lock 3 Ronnell Perkins 4 Brandon Lee 4 Isaiah Miller 5 Terry Beckner Jr. 5 Taylor Powell 6 Tyler Badie 6 Tavon Ross 7 Nate Brown 7 Cam Hilton 8 Kam Scott 8 Justin Smith 8 Jarvis Ware 9 Jalen Knox 10 Tyree Gillespie 10 Alex Ofodile 10 Terry Petry 11 Kendall Blanton 11 Jordan Ulmer 12 Johnathon Johnson 13 Rashad Brandon 13 Khmari Thompson 14 Dominic Gicinto 14 Adam Sparks 15 Trajan Jeffcoat 15 Dominic Nelson 16 Damarea Crockett 16 Gerald Nathan Jr. 17 Richaud Floyd 17 Chris Mills 18 Joshuah Bledsoe 18 Lindsey Scott Jr. 19 Jack Lowary 19 Tucker McCann 20 Simi Bakare 20 Khalil Oliver 21 Christian Holmes 22 Dawson Downing 22 Aubrey Miller Jr. 24 Kentrell Barber 24 Terez Hall 25 Jamal Brooks 26 Corey Fatony 28 Jatorian Hansford 28 Steven Spadarotto 29 Nate Anderson 30 Barrett Banister 30 Zion Sales 31 Finis Stribling IV 32 Nick Bolton 33 Chad Bailey 34 Larry Rountree III

Pos. DB QB QB S LB RB DL QB RB LB WR S WR WR DB RB S WR DB TE S WR DL WR WR DB DL S RB LB WR DB S QB QB K RB DB DB RB LB WR LB LB P DL WR DL WR DB DB LB LB RB

Ht. 6-2 6-3 6-4 6-0 6-2 5-11 6-4 6-2 5-9 6-0 6-3 6-0 6-2 6-7 6-1 6-0 6-0 6-2 6-1 6-6 6-2 5-10 6-3 6-1 5-9 6-0 6-3 6-0 5-11 6-1 5-11 6-0 6-0 5-11 6-4 6-0 5-11 6-1 6-1 6-0 6-2 5-11 6-2 6-1 5-11 6-4 6-2 6-4 6-0 5-10 5-11 6-0 6-0 5-10

Wt. 195 215 225 200 225 200 305 200 170 205 210 185 180 220 175 180 215 205 180 260 195 185 300 195 170 175 220 200 225 200 190 185 200 210 225 205 195 200 200 225 225 185 230 250 205 225 185 265 185 185 195 225 235 210

Ct. Jr. R-So. Sr. R-Jr. R-Sr. R-Fr. Sr. R-Fr. Fr. R-Sr. R-Sr. Sr. Fr. R-Jr. Fr. Fr. So. Jr. R-Fr. R-Sr. So. R-Jr. R-Sr. Fr. Fr. So. Fr. R-Sr. Jr. Fr. R-Jr. Fr. So. R-So. R-Jr. Jr. Fr. Sr. R-So. R-So. So. R-Fr. Sr. So. Sr. Fr. Sr. Sr. R-Fr. R-Fr. R-Sr. Fr. Fr. So.

# Name Pos. 35 Mason Pack DB 36 Daniel Ellinger WR 39 Chris Turner DL 40 Cameron Wilkins LB 41 Chance May LB 43 Jerney Jones RB 45 Franklin Agbasimere DL 46 Jacob Trump LB 47 Cale Garrett LB 48 Roderick Winters LB 49 Alec Pierce LB 50 Hyrin Morrison-White OL 51 Drew Wise LS 52 Daniel Parker DL 53 Joe Hoy LB 54 Joe Britton LB 55 Trystan Colon-Castillo OL 56 Samson Bailey OL 57 Jairan Parker LB 58 Noah Robinson LB 59 Case Cook OL 62 Thomas Grossman OL 64 Bobby Lawrence OL 67 Jonah Dubinski OL 69 AJ Harris OL 70 Yasir Durant OL 71 Kevin Pendleton OL 72 Xavier Delgado OL 72 Caleb Sampson DL 73 Mike Ruth OL 75 Tre’Vour Wallace-Simms OL 76 Javon Foster OL 77 Paul Adams OL 78 Kobie Whiteside DL 79 Larry Borom OL 80 Messiah Swinson TE 81 Albert Okwuegbunam TE 82 Harry Ballard III WR 84 Emanuel Hall WR 86 Chritauskie Dove WR 86 James Workman LS 88 Logan Christopherson TE 88 Chris Williams DL 89 Brendan Scales TE 90 Sean Koetting K 90 Markell Utsey DL 92 Macaulay Keevins DL 93 Tre Williams DL 94 Tyrell Jacobs DL 95 Jordan Elliott DL 96 Antar Thompson DL 97 Akial Byers DL 98 Myles Eaddy DL 99 Walter Palmore DL

Ht. 6-0 6-4 6-4 6-2 6-1 5-10 6-2 6-3 6-3 5-11 6-1 6-6 6-2 6-4 5-11 6-1 6-4 6-5 6-0 6-4 6-5 6-3 6-8 6-2 6-4 6-7 6-4 6-5 6-4 6-7 6-5 6-6 6-6 6-1 6-6 6-7 6-5 6-2 6-3 6-3 6-0 6-6 6-3 6-4 6-3 6-4 6-2 6-5 6-4 6-4 6-5 6-4 6-0 6-4

Wt. 190 200 250 225 230 195 255 230 235 240 215 295 235 245 200 215 315 295 220 240 300 275 300 295 310 340 330 300 280 325 340 300 315 300 345 260 260 205 200 195 215 245 250 235 195 305 220 250 290 325 310 295 240 320

Ct. So. R-So. So. Fr. R-Fr. R-So. R-Jr. R-Jr. Jr. R-Sr. R-Fr. R-Fr. So. Fr. Jr. R-Fr. R-So. R-Sr. R-Fr. Sr. R-Fr. R-Sr. Fr. R-Jr. R-Jr. Jr. R-Sr. Fr. R-Fr. Fr. Jr. Fr. R-Sr. So. R-Fr. Fr. R-So. R-So. Sr. Fr. Jr. R-Fr. Jr. R-So. R-Fr. Jr. R-So. R-So. R-Jr. R-So. R-So. So. R-So. Sr.

12

Sunday, August 26, 2018

The Big ‘O’ in Missouri’s offense

By Cameron Teague-Robinson Columbia Daily Tribune Albert Okwuegbunam Jr. wasn’t even a year old before his father knew his son was going to excel in whatever he did.

He had a motivation and tenacity that Albert Okwuegbunam Sr., had never seen in an infant.

When Albert Jr., was learning to walk, Albert Sr. sat opposite his son, encouraging him to come to him. Albert Jr., began his trek at the wall, but before he could reach his father, he fell to the ground.

As he pulled himself back up, Albert Sr., who was sitting on the couch, said “Albert Jr., come to me,” Albert Jr., didn’t listen.

He went back to his starting point and tried the walk again. And again. Until finally, he made it to his father without falling down.

“That’s when I knew this kid is competitive and he has a inner tenacity,” Albert Sr. said.

After leading the NCAA in touchdowns for a tight end in 2017 with 11, Albert Jr. has no intentions of slowing down. He’s focused on becoming a better blocker, reading defenses better and improving his route running.

Growing up in Nigeria, Albert Sr.’s athletic career revolved around soccer. He moved to the United States when he was 19 and went to the University of Illinois-Springfield.

As Albert Jr., grew up, he wasn’t allowed to play football, though.

Albert Sr. thought the sport was too dangerous.

“He’s going to get hurt,” Albert Sr., thought.

At the time, Albert Jr., was following in his father’s footsteps with his best sport being soccer.

But he began to pester his dad about playing football.

“All I can remember is just seeing football and really wanting to play it,” Albert Jr. said. “I can remember playing it with my friends in the backyard. I just wanted to go ahead and do football.”

Eventually, his dad caved and Albert Jr., ran with it. He joined a youth league in the fourth grade, but even then Albert Jr., was a four-sport athlete.

Missouri tight end Albert Okwuegbunam scores a touchdown against Idaho at Faurot Field on Oct. 21, 2017. Okwuegbunam caught 11 touchdowns during his freshman campaign with the Tigers.

[Tribune file photo]

When he got to high school, Albert Sr., told his son he needed to pick just two sports to play. He thought three sports, or more, was too much of a distraction.

“I wanted him to focus on his education,” Albert Sr. said.

He chose football and basketball.

When Albert Sr. talks about his son, he doesn’t talk about his touchdowns, the preseason accolades or the hype surrounding the 6-foot-5, 260-pound redshirt sophomore.

Of course, he supports his son on the field. But his pride goes much further than Albert Jr.’s football career. Education has been a major focus for Albert Sr., and he’s stressed it to his son since he was young. That’s partially because of his own journey.

Albert Sr. had to pay his way through college. Because he was a foreign student he got no financial aid, he said. So he worked three jobs to pay for school.

Albert Sr. doesn’t tell that story to gain sympathy for himself. He tells it to explain that he would do whatever he could to make sure his kids were more successful than he is.

Now a state auditor, Albert Sr., believes his son is on the right path.

“Not only in sports, but he’s studying health science to be able to get into a college of medicine,”

Albert Sr., said. “That’s a big thing for me. Succeeding academically and doing the sports he loves to do.”

Though he was a young kid, and didn’t really know all of the things his father did for him at that age, Albert Jr., has a higher appreciation for it all now.

“Whenever I need to dig deep or I need some motivation, I always think about my dad,” he said.

“Nothing in the world makes him happier than when I’m successful.

I do it not only for myself, not only for my teammates, but also my dad. He worked really hard. Came from basically nothing.”

He can remember the mornings when his father would get up at 5 a.m., with him to play football in the backyard. Albert Sr., was the quarterback, while Albert Jr., ran routes and used the trees as defenders he needed to juke out.

“Just him coming out there with me every day shows how much he put into it,” Albert Jr. said.

Looking back at Albert Jr.’s true freshman year, Missouri tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley said he thinks Albert could’ve played wide receiver for the Tigers.

Instead, he took a redshirt year at tight end.

“For his future and what he wanted to do, I think it was the best thing for him,” Finley said.

According to the Rivals data-

base, Albert Jr., entered his freshman year at Missouri at 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds. Albert took that time to put on weight and learn more about the tight end position.

“It was really good for just learning the game, physically as well,” he said. “I got a year in the weight room to just get really strong and then spend some time learning the playbook and being able to evaluate defenses helps a lot.”

He came out of his redshirt season ready to contribute. He scored a touchdown in his first collegiate game, a 27-yard pass from Drew Lock against Missouri State.

That was the first of 11 touchdowns that put him in the national conversation of best tight ends in the country.

Entering this season he was named a preseason All-SEC First Team honoree by the media, and put on the John Mackey award preseason watch list, an award given to the country’s best tight end.

He returns to Missouri for his redshirt sophomore year as one of Missouri’s most dynamic playmakers. He’s a tough matchup for linebackers because of his speed and strength, while his size and strength make him a tough matchup for defensive backs.

“When he steps on the football field he wants the ball thrown to him on every single play,” Finley said. “That’s what you want from a big-time playmaker.”

Though his name is in the news more and he finds the end zone more than he did as a true freshman, he’s always had that competitive edge to him.

Finley saw it his freshman year.

With the Tigers in their oneon-one drills, true freshman Albert Jr., beat his defender for a catch.

He told Finley, “Coach, they can’t cover me.”

“That’s the kind of attitude you want,” Finley said. “You have to keep it to where it’s not cockiness and he thinks he is untouchable and doesn’t have to do anything.

He has done a great job of staying confident. He keeps the confidence, because he works everyday out here.”

Sunday, August 26, 2018

13

SEC EAST GEORGIA 2017 RECORD: 13-2 During Kirby Smart’s first spring of practices with Georgia in 2016, the coach immediately set out to address what he felt was a lack of size on the offensive line.

Before Smart arrived, Georgia’s starting offensive line was one of the smallest in the SEC, averaging 6-foot-4 and 280.2 pounds. Depending on how the depth chart shakes out before Week 1, the Bulldogs will have a line that averages 6-5¼ and 324.6 pounds.

Left tackle Andrew Thomas (6-5, 320) and center Lamont Gaillard (6-2, 308) — preseason second-team All-SEC picks — will be joined by returning starters Kendall Baker (6-6, 305) and Ben Cleveland (6-6, 340).

“We’ve got guys who are 360 pounds, 6-7 and no fat,” said Georgia defensive lineman Jonathon Ledbetter, who has been running into that brick will every day in practice. “I’m like, ‘You are supposed to be an offensive lineman, but you look like an Olympic bodybuilder out here trying to block me.’ It’s just that level of competition. When you get them that big and you teach them how to move, that’s dangerous.”

And it might be key to the Bulldogs’ SEC championship defense. Georgia returns seven starters on offense, but none earned first-team recognition.

Tailback D’Andre Swift, receiver Terry Godwin and tight end Isaac Nauta joined Thomas and Gaillard on the second team, while quarterback Jake Fromm was a third-team pick.

And the Bulldogs will have to find a way to replicate the production of departed running backs Nick Chubb and Sony Michel.

“It’s what is our potential, which is dormant ability, or our effectiveness, which is what we get out of our players?” Smart said at SEC Media Days. “We’re constantly trying to get the most out of them, and this year will be measured by how effective we are tactically, mentally (and) physically. We have to do the best job we’ve ever done preparing this group for that.”

FLORIDA 2017 RECORD: 4-7 CeCe Jefferson was part of a Florida team that went to backto-back Southeastern Conference championship games, so the defensive lineman could hardly believe the fall from the cliff that the Gators experienced in 2017.

Last year’s disastrous 4-7 season began with nine players suspended. Coach Jim McElwain was fired after a 42-7 loss to Georgia and amid unproven allegations that he had received death threats.

The season ended with a 1-3 November under interim coach Randy Shannon.

That’s one of the reasons Jefferson returned to the Gators and one of the reasons Florida hired Dan Mullen, the former Mississippi State coach who was the offensive coordinator for two Florida national championship teams under Urban Meyer.

They have a desire to return the Gators to glory.

“Sheesh, that’s extremely motivating,” Jefferson said. “Especially at the University of Florida.

Pretty sure it’s motivating everywhere, but here, we are used to crystal balls and SEC Championships, playing in big games.”

The offense was among the worst in the league — 11th in passing offense and 13th in total offense — and enters the season with a quarterback battle among returning starter Feleipe Franks, redshirt sophomore Kyle Trask and true freshman Emory Jones.

So Florida’s success will hinge on the defense keeping the team in games. New defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, who followed Mullen over from Mississippi State, has move Jefferson from the interior to a hybrid linebacker/ end. Jefferson tallied 47 tackles and a team-high 13.5 tackles for loss, but the defense allowed 32 points per game.

“I was in an interview earlier, and they mentioned that ever since 2007, Florida has been top 10 in defense,” Jefferson said. “It dawned on me that I was part of that defense that let it slip. That just doesn’t sit well, and I find it extremely motivating.”

KENTUCKY 2017 RECORD: 7-6 With Kentucky coming off consecutive 7-6 seasons — complete with bowl appearances — tight end C.J. Conrad said he had seen enough to believe the Wildcats were on the verge of a breakout season. Enough, anyway, for him to forgo the NFL draft and return for his senior season.

He believes senior safety Mike Edwards and senior linebacker Josh Allen also saw the foundation of a competitive Kentucky team.

“I know that I saw something special. To be honest, if I didn’t see something special I probably wouldn’t have come back,” Conrad said. “I think that’s the same with Mike and Josh. We saw something special, and we thought we could build on that.”

Conrad, who was a thirdteam preseason All-SEC pick, recently topped Mel Kiper’s position rankings for the 2019 draft.

Conrad had 286 yards and four touchdowns on 16 receptions a year ago.

Though the quarterback competition has not been decided, the Wildcats also boast Benny Snell Jr. — who led the SEC with 19 rushing touchdowns and finished with a school-record 1,333 yards — running behind a big, physical line.

Mark Stoops, entering his sixth season at the helm, said he believes the Wildcats have the talent and the experience. Now it’s a matter of taking care of the little details.

“I think it’s about a winning culture. We’ve had games in the past we’ve won that we probably shouldn’t have won. We’ve had some games in the past that we’ve lost and probably should have won,” Conrad said. “It’s just the small things that Coach Stoops preaches all the time, just little things that add up in big moments. They may not be the headline of the game for why we lost, but there’s a lot of things that go into every single game. We have to take care of those things and give ourselves a chance.”

SOUTH CAROLINA 2017 RECORD: 9-4 With 29 starts and 13 wins under his belt, Jake Bentley enters the season as the unquestioned starting quarterback for the Gamecocks.

Not having to look over his shoulder meant that Bentley could focus elsewhere — on things such as footwork. The rising junior didn’t need a major overhaul, just some fine-tuning.

Quarterbacks coach Dan Werner helped Bentley comb through a bunch of game film, and the duo set out to fix the quarterbacks’ mechanics.

“I’m just trying to clean up some mechanical stuff and some accuracy stuff,” Bentley said.

“Coach Werner came in and dissected everything and that’s what we found, just some footwork stuff here and there that we have to clean up.”

Bentley completed 245 of 394 passes for 2,794 yards and 18 touchdowns a year ago. His 62.2 completion percentage was a drop from 65.8 as a freshman, and he was picked off 12 times.

He believes that he will benefit from new offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon’s up-tempo, aggressive offense.

That will be a major change from last year, when the Gamecocks averaged 63.4 plays per game, sixth-fewest in college football.

“I think it’s one of the best things that has happened to me as far as my college career,” Bentley said. “I think it allowed me to slow down my mind and the fact that I’m open for anything. It’s been different for us, there have been some bumps in the road when we’re going over it, but I think it’s going to be real good for us.”

The Gamecocks have star receiver Deebo Samuel back after he missed most of last season with an injury. That loss, though, allowed Bryan Edwards (41 receptions, 793 yards), OrTre Smith (28, 326) and Shi Smith (53, 409) to gain valuable experience.

See EAST, Pg. 14

14

Sunday, August 26, 2018

From EAST, Pg. 13 TENNESSEE 2017 RECORD: 4-8 At the SEC media days, new Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt gave Volunteers fans a reason to breathe a sigh of relief.

Freshman All-American offensive lineman Trey Smith — arguably the lone bright spot for a Vols team that went 0-8 in SEC games a year ago — was cleared to practice and play in the fall.

Smith’s 2018 season and college career were in doubt when the 6-foot-6, 320-pounder was forced to sit out spring practice with an undisclosed health issue.

Though he did not participate in practice, Smith — whom Sports Illustrated named one of the nation’s top 100 college football players — did go through offseason weightlifting and conditioning.

“First of all, our medical staff has done a fantastic job recognizing Trey’s situation back during the spring, which he had to miss,” Pruitt said at SEC media days. “Trey’s got great reports. He’s been doing everything that he’s supposed to do, and we’ll be excited to have him back this fall.”

The Volunteers’ only preseason All-SEC selection, Smith started all 12 of Tennessee’s games last season. He opened at right guard but also played left tackle, left guard and right tackle as injuries depleted the offensive line. In their Nov. 4 win against Southern Miss, he became the first Tennessee true freshman to start at left tackle in more than 30 years.

He led the Vols with 55 knockdowns and finished as the SEC’s top-rated freshman offensive player, according to Pro Football Focus College.

“We’re excited to have him back,” Pruitt said. “We can’t wait to get him back, and he’s excited about coming back. He keeps talking to me about, ‘Man, I missed all those reps in the spring.’ I said, ‘I promise you, you’ll be fine.’”

His return will stabilize an offense that is still working to determine a starting quarter-

back — with incumbent Jarrett Guarantano and Stanford graduate transfer Keller Chryst the favorites to win the spot.

VANDERBILT 2017 RECORD: 5-7 After posting a 6-7 record and earning a bowl appearance in 2016, Vanderbilt looked like a team on the rise in the early part of 2017.

The Commodores started last season 3-0, including a 14-7 victory over Kansas State in Week 3, that saw Vanderbilt getting some attention in the Top 25 poll.

A 59-0 blowout loss to Alabama halted any momentum and sent the Commodores’ once-promising season spiraling. Coach Derek Mason, who has also acted as defensive coordinator since 2015, said he overreacted to the loss to the Crimson Tide.

“I probably got in my feelings a little bit and thought my team needed to be harder, and we needed to work that team harder. We really didn’t,” Mason said. “You can’t let one become two become three become four in this conference. And that’s what I did. That is me being too much of a boots-on-the-ground guy and not seeing it from a bird’s eye view.”

Mason brought in Jason Tarver, who had coached with Mason at Stanford and has worked on the staffs of the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders.

“For me, it’s important to get the right guy,” Mason said. “It has been almost three years in the making, two years in the chase, but I finally got my guy.”

Vanderbilt’s defense has room to improve after allowing 313 points and 393.1 yards per game last year.

Safety Ladarius Wiley, who led the Commodores with 88 tackles, returns to lead the defense. The linebacking crew will be led by Jordan Griffin, who had 62 tackles and 8.5 tackles for loss, and Charles Wright, who had nine tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks.

“It’ll still be tenacious and all-gas, no-brakes style,” Wiley said. “We go off the principles of extreme violence, getting to the ball and being playmakers.”

SEC WEST ALABAMA 2017 RECORD: 13-1 Damien Harris would have been a sure-fire NFL draft pick had the running back decided to leave Alabama after his junior season.

The 5-foot-11, 211-pound bruiser has two 1,000-yard seasons, a Southeastern Conference championship (2016) and a national title (2017) under his belt. The Crimson Tide have never had a running back with three 1,000-yard seasons — but Harris said that milestone isn’t a motivating factor.

It would seem that Harris feels he doesn’t have any unfinished business on the field. Instead, Harris said that Alabama is right where he wants to be.

“I just love Tuscaloosa. I love being a part of the University of Alabama, and that is something that brings me a lot of happiness,” Harris said. “I love walking down the street in Tuscaloosa and somebody rolling down their windows when they drive by and yelling, ‘Roll Tide.’ …

Coming back for my senior year wasn’t hard.”

A media preseason firstteam All-SEC pick, Harris rushed for 1,000 yards and 11 touchdowns on 135 carries.

He’ll be tough for SEC defenses to handle, running behind a line that had four starters earn AllSEC recognition.

That will be a steadying factor for a Crimson Tide offense that has yet to announce whether Jalen Hurts or Tua Tagovailoa will be the starting quarterback.

“He just has such a knowledge of the offense that he understands everything we’re doing,” center Ross Pierschbacher said.

“Communication is just nightand-day between some guys, so, yeah, it’s just good to have that experience back there.”

Harris understands that last year’s national championship doesn’t guarantee them anything this season.

“If anything, it is just going to make it that much harder,” he said. “We know that winning a national championship puts a target on your back.”

ARKANSAS 2017 RECORD: 4-8 At his introductory press conference at Arkansas, new coach Chad Morris let the phrase “Hammer down” slip.

Now the slogan for this season’s edition of the Razorbacks, the phrase has been part of Morris’ vocabulary since his days coaching high school football in Texas in the 1990s and 2000s.

He said he used to break it out his speech before big games.

“I’d pull it out and I’d say, ‘All right, guys. We’ve gotta rev the engine, pop the clutch and put it in the left lane and put the hammer down,’” Morris said. “I lost them at ‘pop the clutch,’ because these guys are like, ‘I don’t know what a clutch is. I just put it in drive.’”

Offensive lineman Hjalte Froholdt, who has been named to the Outland (interior linemen) and Wuerffel (community service) award watch lists, said that it was all part of the new coach’s personality.

“There’s so many, I don’t even know if I can remember them all,” Froholdt said. “It’s just the way he says everything, he’s super energetic. We’ve got hammer down, full-tilt boogie, etc.

It’s the whole culture, it’s hard to pinpoint one.”

Morris will bring an up-tempo spread offense to Arkansas — a style antithetical to the Razorbacks’ traditional ground-andpound football. But that doesn’t mean Arkansas will abandon the running game.

Morris’ SMU team had 486 rushes to 487 passes.

The Razorbacks’ stable of running backs will be led by junior Devwah Whaley, who rushed for 559 yards after running for 602 as a freshman.

To prepare his philosophy for the SEC, Morris has studied game film with his new defensive coordinator, John Chavis, who has almost 30 years of experience in the SEC coaching defenses at Tennessee, LSU and Texas A&M. “We’ve done a great job of working together,” Morris said.

See WEST, Pg. 15

Sunday, August 26, 2018

From WEST, Pg. 14 AUBURN 2017 RECORD: 10-4 During fall camp in 2017, the Jarrett Stidham-to-Darius Slayton deep ball worked so well, Auburn coach Gus Malzahn and offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey decided to make it a part of the Tigers’ attack.

Once the lights came on, however, that air attack did not develop into the perfect complement to Kerryon Johnson’s running game. Exposed by an offensive line that couldn’t protect him long enough to let deep routes develop, Stidham threw for just 79 yards in a Week 2 loss to Clemson.

Lindsey introduced more short and intermediate routes to the game plan, and Stidham thrived.

In 2017, Stidham had one of the better seasons for a quarterback in Auburn history, throwing for 3,158 yards and 18 touchdowns while leading the Tigers to the SEC championship game.

“The way he was playing, middle part of the year, end of the year was really phenomenal,” Malzahn said. “I said this before, but from a quarterback standpoint, in this league, experience, there’s nothing like it.”

Stidham, fully healthy after offseason surgery on his left shoulder, doesn’t expect Auburn to get off to a slow start again this season. But there are questions along the offensive line.

“We’ve got three guys that have started and I think a total of 20 games. So we’re very inexperienced,” Malzahn said.

LSU 2017 RECORD: 9-4 Steve Ensminger took over LSU’s play calling as the interim offensive coordinator in 2016 and saw immediate success.

Before Ensminger, the Tigers averaged 339.5 total yards and 18 points. In eight games under Ensminger that year, LSU exploded for an average of 32 points and 464.9 total yards. That included a 634-yard outburst against Missouri.

Then coach Ed Orgeron shuffled his staff and hired Matt Canada to lead the offense. That lasted one year. Ensminger is back in charge of the offense.

“Circumstances were different when I got the job,” said Orgeron, who was a graduate assistant under Ensminger at McNeese State in 1979. “I went out and tried to get the best coordinator in the league and possible for our football team. It didn’t work. And all the while I was saying: You know what? Steve Ensminger is the guy, and if I have a chance, I’m going to hire him.”

Ensminger is expected to bring a more pass-oriented offense to the Tigers, moving away from LSU’s run-heavy tradition. LSU will employ a quick-hitting spread offense, and Ensminger hinted at running at least 50 percent of plays from a no-huddle offense.

That attack, however, will be in new hands with quarterback Danny Etling exhausting his eligibility. LSU went out and signed Ohio State graduate transfer Joe Burrow a month after spring ball to compete for the starting job after none of LSU’s three quarterbacks — Justin McMillan, Lowell Narcisse and Myles Brennan — earned the job.

MISSISSIPPI STATE 2017 RECORD: 9-4 Through two seasons as the Mississippi State starting quarterback under Dan Mullen, Nick Fitzgerald hasn’t had the opportunity to throw the ball downfield often. Actually, Fitzgerald has been known as much for his legs as his arm.

In two seasons, Fitzgerald has had 357 rushing attempts and 355 completions. The Bulldogs ran on nearly 65 percent of their plays last season, but Fitzgerald still had a pedestrian 55.4 completion percentage.

New coach Joe Moorhead brings the promise of a more wide-open passing game.

Moorhead, who comes to Starkville after two seasons as Penn State’s offensive coordinator, has said he sees a lot of similarities between Fitzgerald and Trace McSorley, who led the Nittany Lions to the Rose and Fiesta bowls the past two years.

McSorley threw for 7,181 yards with 57 touchdowns and 18 interceptions under Moorhead. Last year, MSU ranked tied for 94th nationally in passing plays over 20 yards. Under Moorhead, Penn

State was tied for 12th in that category.

“Watching Penn State’s film, (Moorhead) does a lot of unique things, a lot of different motions, putting two quarterbacks in at the same time and his concepts of throwing the ball down the field,” Fitzgerald said. “It is a different offense than what I am used to, so in that way it is fresh to me.”

Moorhead is expected to win immediately.

The Bulldogs, picked to finish third in the SEC West, return 17 of 22 starters, including 1,107-yard rusher Aeris Williams and the entire defensive front, which is headed by junior tackle Jeffery Simmons and senior end Montez Sweat.

OLE MISS 2017 RECORD: 6-6 Mississippi quarterback Jordan Ta’amu’s first seven possessions after he replaced starter Shae Patterson, who had suffered a knee injury against LSU in October, were scoring drives.

That was a point coach Matt Luke repeated during SEC media days.

“I think he got the players’ attention pretty quickly,” Luke said. “That’s what I was most impressed with, him being in tough situations, taking a two-minute drive on the road at Kentucky and winning that game. I think he earned the respect of his teammates quickly.”

Ta’amu led the Rebels to wins in three of their last four games, including the Egg Bowl rivalry against Mississippi State. He completed 115 of 173 passes (66.5 percent) for 1,682 yards, 11 touchdowns and four interceptions in eight games.

Patterson transferred to Michigan after Mississippi was dealt a bowl ban by the NCAA for rules violations, leaving the Rebels and their standout receiving corps in Ta’amu’s hands.

A.J. Brown was an All-American after catching 75 balls for 1,252 yards and 11 touchdowns. No surprise, he was a first-team All-SEC pick at media days.

DaMarkus Lodge and D.K. Metcalf also return after finishing last year as top-15 receivers.

The Rebels, who return four starting offensive linemen, including All-American tackle Greg

15

Little, averaged 462.3 yards per game, ranking second in the SEC and 18th nationally. The Rebels’ passing attack led the SEC with 328.4 yards per game.

To avoid becoming a one-dimensional offense, though, the Rebels will need to replace the production of 1,000-yard rusher Jordan Wilkins.

TEXAS A&M 2017 RECORD: 7-6 Texas A&M dug deep into its coffers to lock up a coach who has instant SEC credibility.

Jimbo Fisher is one of the winningest coaches in the FBS and one of just four active coaches to have won a national championship — with Florida State in 2013.

He won 83 games and three ACC titles in eight years leading the Seminoles.

That résumé landed Fisher a 10-year, $75 million guaranteed contract from a middle-of-thepack Aggies program looking to gain the same credibility in the SEC West. It also comes with great expectations.

In February, A&M chancellor John Sharp gifted Fisher an NCAA championship plaque — with a date to be filled in later.

“Coach Fisher has brought a sense of history. He has been to the National Championship, and he knows what it takes to win,” running back Trayveon Williams said.

Williams rushed for 798 yards last season and was a second-team All-SEC preseason selection.

The Aggies will get a heavy dose of championship-caliber games this season. Texas A&M hosts Clemson in Week 2 and has an SEC road slate of Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi State and Auburn.

Texas A&M headed into fall camp with an ongoing quarterback duel. Nick Starkel was 123-of-205 passing for 1,793 yards with 14 touchdowns and six interceptions. Kellen Mond finished 117-of-277 passing for 1,375 yards, eight touchdowns and six interceptions.

Starkel opened 2017 as the starter before fracturing his ankle. He returned for the end of the season and capped the year with nearly 500 passing yards in a Belk Bowl loss to Wake Forest.

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