* That was at least fairly entertaining. I appreciated that they treated it like a real game, not an open practice. The teams were evenly matched. And the starters played longer than I expected. Team Mizzou (captained by Barrett Banister and Isaiah McGuire) beat Team Tigers (Darius Robinson and Connor Wood) 35-34.
* The focal point, obviously, was the quarterbacks. Tyler Macon had a rough start and a rough finish. Both his first and last pass attempts were picked off by Daylan Carnell. His first throw was behind his intended receiver, bounced off his hands and was returned for a touchdown by Carnell. On the last one, Carnell just jumped in front of the receiver. In between, however, I thought Macon was decent. He had a couple other missed throws, but also made some nice passes. The touchdown to Tauskie Dove and five-yard out to JJ Hester stood out to me. Brady Cook also had a pick on a bad throw when he tried to complete a pass through double coverage in the end zone. But aside from that play, I thought Cook was excellent. He threw three touchdowns, including a deep ball to (an admittedly wide open) Chance Luper. Most impressive was the way he ran the two-minute drill at the end of the first half. His unit got the ball with less than a minute left and went all the way down the field and scored with five seconds on the clock. He put a couple passes right where they needed to be along the sidelines on back-shoulder throws. Obviously Missouri is looking to add to the quarterback room with JT Daniels on campus right now, but I didn’t come away from today feeling like the QB position is going to be a disaster if they aren’t able to bring in a transfer.
* The wideouts wound up being the stars of the show. And yes, that includes Luther Burden. In his first appearance in a Mizzou uniform, the nation’s No. 1 wide receiver recruit lived up to the hype. He made a nice back-shoulder catch. He cooked Snoop Reeves on a slant for a touchdown. And he made some moves with the ball in his hands that left you shaking your head. Now, it’s worth noting that a lot of those plays were made against reserve defenders. But today likely only accelerated the Burden hype train. Dominic Lovett was just as good. Lovett took a screen pass 62 yards and then scored from 18 yards out on a little push pass a few plays later. He was clearly Macon’s favorite target and looked good with the ball in his hands. Chance Luper made a few nice plays, as well, and Tauskie Dove had a couple impressive catches in the second half where he was able to high-point the ball. That doesn’t even mention Barrett Banister’s touchdown, during which he juked Dreyden Norwood out of his shoes. There’s reason to be excited about this receiving corps.
* The running backs didn’t have as much room to operate. It makes sense to me that this format would be tougher on the offensive lines than most units. That group relies on cohesion, and today you had guys from all over the depth chart playing with each other and probably some guys playing out of position. But Nate Peat showed a nice burst on his 23-yard touchdown run. Elijah Young had a couple solid carries. And Cody Schrader looked really solid when he got into the game in the second half. The walk-on transfer from Truman State had at least three runs of 10 or more yards and carried a couple guys into the end zone on a nine-yard touchdown. It’s important to remember that the spring game doesn’t always translate to the actual season, but it looked to me like Schrader could actually get a chance to play in a running back room where obviously there is no entrenched players.
* It was a bit harder to identify any standouts on defense, other than Carnell. Clemson transfer safety Joseph Charleston made a few nice plays, as well. He had the interception of Cook. Darius Robinson had a big-time tackle for loss and Arden Walker got into the backfield a couple times. The corners definitely struggled a bit, although that’s not a shock with Kris Abrams-Draine and Ennis Rakestraw not playing. Overall, the defense looked pretty similar to last season from an alignment and schematic standpoint, although obviously Blake Baker wasn’t going to dial up any exotic packages or blitzes in the spring game.
* The focal point, obviously, was the quarterbacks. Tyler Macon had a rough start and a rough finish. Both his first and last pass attempts were picked off by Daylan Carnell. His first throw was behind his intended receiver, bounced off his hands and was returned for a touchdown by Carnell. On the last one, Carnell just jumped in front of the receiver. In between, however, I thought Macon was decent. He had a couple other missed throws, but also made some nice passes. The touchdown to Tauskie Dove and five-yard out to JJ Hester stood out to me. Brady Cook also had a pick on a bad throw when he tried to complete a pass through double coverage in the end zone. But aside from that play, I thought Cook was excellent. He threw three touchdowns, including a deep ball to (an admittedly wide open) Chance Luper. Most impressive was the way he ran the two-minute drill at the end of the first half. His unit got the ball with less than a minute left and went all the way down the field and scored with five seconds on the clock. He put a couple passes right where they needed to be along the sidelines on back-shoulder throws. Obviously Missouri is looking to add to the quarterback room with JT Daniels on campus right now, but I didn’t come away from today feeling like the QB position is going to be a disaster if they aren’t able to bring in a transfer.
* The wideouts wound up being the stars of the show. And yes, that includes Luther Burden. In his first appearance in a Mizzou uniform, the nation’s No. 1 wide receiver recruit lived up to the hype. He made a nice back-shoulder catch. He cooked Snoop Reeves on a slant for a touchdown. And he made some moves with the ball in his hands that left you shaking your head. Now, it’s worth noting that a lot of those plays were made against reserve defenders. But today likely only accelerated the Burden hype train. Dominic Lovett was just as good. Lovett took a screen pass 62 yards and then scored from 18 yards out on a little push pass a few plays later. He was clearly Macon’s favorite target and looked good with the ball in his hands. Chance Luper made a few nice plays, as well, and Tauskie Dove had a couple impressive catches in the second half where he was able to high-point the ball. That doesn’t even mention Barrett Banister’s touchdown, during which he juked Dreyden Norwood out of his shoes. There’s reason to be excited about this receiving corps.
* The running backs didn’t have as much room to operate. It makes sense to me that this format would be tougher on the offensive lines than most units. That group relies on cohesion, and today you had guys from all over the depth chart playing with each other and probably some guys playing out of position. But Nate Peat showed a nice burst on his 23-yard touchdown run. Elijah Young had a couple solid carries. And Cody Schrader looked really solid when he got into the game in the second half. The walk-on transfer from Truman State had at least three runs of 10 or more yards and carried a couple guys into the end zone on a nine-yard touchdown. It’s important to remember that the spring game doesn’t always translate to the actual season, but it looked to me like Schrader could actually get a chance to play in a running back room where obviously there is no entrenched players.
* It was a bit harder to identify any standouts on defense, other than Carnell. Clemson transfer safety Joseph Charleston made a few nice plays, as well. He had the interception of Cook. Darius Robinson had a big-time tackle for loss and Arden Walker got into the backfield a couple times. The corners definitely struggled a bit, although that’s not a shock with Kris Abrams-Draine and Ennis Rakestraw not playing. Overall, the defense looked pretty similar to last season from an alignment and schematic standpoint, although obviously Blake Baker wasn’t going to dial up any exotic packages or blitzes in the spring game.
