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QB Situation An Analogy

Lots of speculation about what will happen next year. Horn has greater arm talent but isn’t polished/experienced yet. Brady Cook has the experience and some capability - but lacks the upside.

This sounds a lot like the pitching staff of the downtrodden Cleveland Indians prior to them taking the pennant. Eddie Harris was a seasoned, older pitcher with the “stuff” of maybe a 3 or 4 starter. In comes a cocky, young pitcher by the name of Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn. Erratic, unseasoned, but unparalleled arm strength and massive upside.

No easy decision for manager Lou Brown to decide who their ace is but soon the choice is clear: Wild Thing!

My message to Drink: Let’s win the pennant. Start Vaughn.

Another "this is a terrible decision by Lovett" post.

I'll start by saying clearly, in no uncertain terms, I want Lovett to stay. That said, this is a terrible decision by him for several reasons. 1. Lovett is in the perfect place to showcase his talent for the next level. If you're at the games, (tv doesn't always show), but the overwhelming amount of the time the defense is rolling it's coverage to Burden. As a result, Lovett is getting a lot of single coverage and that will only continue as Burden improves his route running (and Miller and others come in to their own as well). 2. Lovett is a 5'9-5'10 receiver. Fast, but not Jaylen Waddle fast. That's much lower on the pecking order for NFL scouts. He's not 6'4 running a 4.2. Those guys can produce less and will still get drafted higher. Thus he needs to be in a place where he's featured to put up the big numbers to continue to improve his draft stock. He has that at Mizzou. Going to another place there are no guarantees that will happen. He will be "another guy" as opposed to one of THE guys like he is here. 3. Re: NIL opportunities--what value does he have to businesses outside of Missouri? He's just another talented guy in a long line of talented guys in those other places and none of the hometown loyalty that he has here, i.e. Wingo--great season, but have you seen any feature articles/stories on him, like when he was here? Any extra attention? No.
4. Again, to be clear, I want him to stay, but he is very much replaceable in the portal, just as Wingo was, it allows Burden to go in the slot and really wreak havoc. 5. Even if he goes elsewhere, what happens when the new recruiting class comes in with a few 6'3 4-5 stars receivers? Do you think they will hesitate to replace him or reduce his playing time? He won't have that same "favorited" status that he has with this coaching staff. At Mizzou, Lovett would be in a place to ball-out one more year and then be off to the League in the 2024 draft. Playing with a generational talent that allows him more room room to operate. That can still happen in other places, but is not nearly as likely.
At the end of the day, wherever he ends up I wish him nothing but the best. MIZ

Bowl practice question

Question for Gabe or anyone else. Now that the season is over and we are bowl eligible but don’t have a bowl yet, when can teams start practicing again? Can Mizzou practice because they know they are bowl eligible or do all teams that aren’t playing in conference championship have to wait until they know the bowl they are going to? Thanks in advance.
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FOOTBALL RECRUITING What we're hearing on Dominic Lovett

Hey all, relaying this message from @GabeD, who wanted to inform you guys that he heard from sources earlier this week that Missouri WR Dominic Lovett was planning to enter the transfer portal in December when the window opens, which is the 5th. There are now reports out there saying that will happen. We haven't confirmed that with anybody with direct knowledge yet, working to do so now. But, the rumors have been out there for a few days already.

We'll keep you updated as we hear more

Watched Lovett Before 2nd Half

I cannot remember all of the messages, and when Lovett notified his teammates he was entering the portal, but I was sitting nearby and watched him closely when he came out of the tunnel before the second half. Found it interesting that he warmed up by himself in the SW end zone corner while all his teammates were gathered together and talking on the sidelines. He made no effort to join them until the last possible moment. It seemed slightly odd then. Less strange now.

FOOTBALL RECRUITING How I'd approach recruiting

I'm a realist and I know where we're at on the totem pole regarding resources, NIL, winning tradition. With that being said I'd build as many relationships as I can with highly thought of players all across the nation with the sole purposes of catching them on the rebound. I'd rather recruit players after their first transfer. I'd still recruit high school players but I would have personnel who's sole focus would be identifying kids in their 1st or 2nd year of a program. Build relationships for the transfer is the route to go, that way they'll have at least 2 years in your program...

Questions re: #7

I have some questions* for and about #7:

1. If he indeed - as I heard straight from the locker room - cleaned out his stuff and gave his goodbyes LAST WEEK, why did he even play in the game?

2. Why did we roll him out in the postgame press-conference and let him represent our team?

3. And to you, #7, are you heading to USC to also pursue an acting career? How do you bring all that talk about team and “we” and showing what the “Missouri offense can be” stuff? That’s high-level hypocrisy there.

*obviously we needed him to win the game, but what the heck?!?! Maybe Drink thought - thinks - he can recruit him to stay?

I may be done with this sport. Watching a bunch of college boys bash in each other’s skulls is pretty dumb anyhow.

A Few Thoughts on Lovett and Transfers

Hey all,

I’ve been thinking about this since yesterday.

First of all, Lovett is a decent player, he had a good year, but he’s not a potential program changing player. Far more important that they kept Burden.

Second, I don’t like losing guys, but it’s going to happen. Receiver is the last place I’m worried about losing an individual player. Should be able to find a guy in the portal to replace Lovett.

Third, I see people arguing that the portal is a feeding ground for blood bloods, not sure that’s really true. We just saw a year where there really is not dominant program. Where traditional powers have been cut down to size. Some have lost coaches. Some have lost key players. A lot have lost games. If anything there seems more parity than not this year.

I guess we’ll see where this heads. The big advantage that the portal gives you is it allows a program like Mizzou to rebuild a defense quick.

JMO

This will be the biggest Transfer Portal Season in History

The Portal is going to be massive this season according to many, including Mike Farrell.

With NIL and the one time transfer rule, every single player should think about entering the Portal to see what kind of NIL money will be thrown their way, to either stay at their current school or transfer to another school.

Two schools of thought.
1 Guys like Lovett and Rakestraw explore their NIL options at other schools.
2 Guys like T. Jones, E. Young, BJ Harris, S. Horn, Macon, etc, use the portal to find a Team where they can get on the field.

It will be an interesting December, and I hope Missouri gets either the Birmingham or Liberty, as the Vegas Bowl is December 17th, 4 days before early signing day and 12 days after the Transfer Portal opens.
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