Spring football kicks off today!

If I had a professional baseball team to root for I'd probably be a little less excited about spring football kicking off this week.  However, I'm a Kansas City Royals fan so hope begins to fade for me somewhere between April 15th and the first of May.  So since I'm really not much of a basketball fan, (although I've become a big Mike Anderson guy) the thought of my favorite team getting out and getting after it is my main sports fix this time of year.  Missouri still enters spring ball as one of the youngest teams in the Big XII and the north division and is one of the co-favorites, largely being picked second behind hick nation up in Lincoln.
Today I'd like to take a look at the offense for the Tigers.  Despite losing most of their weapons from the year before, the Tigers averaged 29 points per game last year, which ranked 6th in the conference.  Not the heady statistics from the previous 2 seasons of course, but still pretty good from a conference that views defense as just something you do while you're drawing up plays for the next drive.  Sophomore Blaine Gabbert was ranked 3rd in the conference in yards per game and 2nd in pass efficiency with a score of 140.5, trailing only Colt McCoy of the Longhorns.  Of course, he's going to lose his biggest weapon in Danario Alexander, which might actually make him a better quarterback in the long run.  He's got to improve on his habit of staring down the receiver.  If he does that you can pretty much pencil him in as one of the favorites for 1st team all conference along with Jerrod Johnson from Texas A&M.

A bigger question, at least in my mind is who takes over the number 2 job.  The Tigers were rolling along at 4-0 when they met Nebraska in Columbia on October 8th in what turned out to be a monsoon.  Gabbert got his ankle rolled up on a completely clean tackle and wasn't the same for the next few weeks.  It was apparent that the coaching staff felt that a hobbled Gabbert was preferable to either of the alternatives, former walk on Jimmy Costello or true freshman Ashton Glaser.  So this year the Tigers went out and recruited and landed 2-4 star prospects in Tyler Gabbert, Blaine's younger brother and James Franklin from Lake Dallas high school in Corinth, Texas.  James was the 20th ranked player in the state and represents the highest ranked player Coach Pinkel has ever been able to pull out of the Lone Star state.  Both James and Tyler enrolled in January and are available for spring practice.  I'm going to go out on something of a limb right now and predict James is # 2 on the depth chart when fall practice rolls around in August.  I think Tyler takes a red shirt.

Despite the popular notion that all Missouri does is throw the ball, last year was the first time since 2006 when they didn't have a 1,000 yard rusher.  Senior Derrick Washington went for slightly over 800 yards last year after rushing for over 1,000 as a sophomore.  He's backed up by junior DeVion Moore and sophomore Kendial Lawrence, a former Parade All America as a senior in high school.  This year they also recruited Marcus Murphy, Henry Josey and Greg White as running backs.  I think the 3 returnees are all solid and expect red shirts for the incoming freshmen unless someone surprises in fall camp.  To me the problems we had running the ball had less to do with talent and more with scheme.  I hear rumblings that we'll see more 2 back sets this year and hope to see some of that occurring with a quarterback under center.

As I said, the receiving corp takes a hit this year with the loss of All America Danario Alexander.  He was Gabberts #1, #2 and #3 option last year and I believe we had some other guys miss opportunities as Blaine tended to focus in on Alexander.  Hell, the guy caught 113 passes for 1781 yards and 14 touchdown last year.  Why wouldn't you look for him?  However, there is absolutely some talent left in the cupboard as Wes Kemp returns for his junior year firmly entrenched as one of the starters.  Another junior, Jerrell Jackson absolutely showed that he's capable of making the big play.  There's also plenty of returning talent in Rolandis Woodland, Michael Egnew, Jaleel Clark and TJ Moe as well as incoming freshmen Marcus Lucas, Jimmy Hunt and Bud Sasser.  I think the red shirt burns on at least 1 of these guys, but frankly, I doubt any of them open the season as starters.  The tight end position was forgotten last year which was surprising considering the success of former Tigers Martin Rucker and Chase Coffman.  Junior Andrew Jones opens as the starter and really the only thing I believe he lacked last year was Gabbert being able to find him.

The offensive line returns 4 of 5 starters from last year, minus guard Kurtis Gregory who's moved on.  The tackles last  were juniors to be Elvis Fisher and Dan Hoch.  Elvis will miss most of spring ball due to surgery which should give "Big" Jack Meiners a chance to show his stuff with the 1st unit.  Tim Barnes will man the center position as the only senior starter this year and I expect expect either Meiners or Jayson Palmgren to fill in at the guard spot for Gregory.  I actually wouldn't be surprised if one of the starters last year, guard Austin Wuebbles is replaced by one of those 2 also.  To top it off, the Tigers brought in 3 highly regarded offensive line prospects in Mitch Morse, Nick Demien and Anthony Gatti.  Offensive line is a difficult position to play as a freshman in the Big XII and both Gatti and Demien are coming off knee injuries as seniors.  I really expect all 3 to take a red shirt but wouldn't be surprised if one is able to crack the 2 deep.   
So in closing, despite the fact that Mizzou lost one of the premier receivers from last years team, I really don't expect the Tigers to miss a beat this year.  They've been recruiting top notch talent and frankly they expect to succeed.  Offensive coordinator David Yost will benefit from his year of experience and the youngsters will have the benefit of another year in the program.  Mark it down, the Tigers will average 35 points a game this fall.
Next time we'll talk about the other side of the ball where the future is just a bit more cloudy.  Have a good week folks!