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Tolton head football coach Michael Egnew, a former All-American tight end at MU, instructs players in a drill during practice last year. [BRIAR NAPIER/ TRIBUNE FILE PHOTO]
Former MU athletes give back as high school coaches
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BY ERIC BLUM Columbia Daily Tribune
he city of Columbia’s identity wouldn’t be the same without the University of Missouri — and vice versa. The relationship, particularly within athletics, extends well beyond campus. There are several examples of former MU student-athletes staying in the town where they once starred in their
respective collegiate sports. Now, they’re passing their knowledge to the next generation of Mid-Missouri athletes. There are a number of Tigersturned-coaches within Columbia high schools, such as Tolton’s Michael Egnew, Rock Bridge’s Lisa Alvis (Simmons), Hickman’s Morgan Scott (Eye) and Battle’s Atiyyah Ellison. “Me being a representative of Mizzou in all the things that I do, they changed me, they changed the person I was coming in,”
said Ellison, a former All-Big 12 defensive lineman, earlier this year. “So you carry some pride being a couple miles from where you learned so many good lessons. “You want to instill those into the next generation coming up.” Alongside being Tolton’s head football coach, Egnew has been the coowner of API Project Fitness, a gym on East Nifong Boulevard in Columbia. Egnew co-owns the gym with fellow MU football alumnus Jerrell Jackson, who
