We will always start out by linking yesterday's post, so everyone can make sure they're up to speed. So here's that.
Now, on to today. The first order of business is that fall camp begins at 4:00 this afternoon. They can't be in pads for a couple of practices, so we're not going to get a full look at everything today, but the first practice is always interesting.
So far as we know, the only players who won't be there are Harold Brantley, Walter Brady and Jerod Alton. Alton is expected some time in August. The plan was likely for him to redshirt anyway, but being this late virtually assures it.
Brantley and Brady aren't coming back. Safe to say there might be a little bit of focus on the defensive line. I've heard really good things about Marcell Frazier. I also know that the staff really likes Rickey Hatley. If Terry Beckner is 100% healthy and ready to go, he joins that duo and Charles Harris as the starters in my opinion.
Brantley, I don't believe, really has any options for this year. If he's not eligible here, he wouldn't be eligible anywhere else either. Brady will certainly look to transfer. It will be interesting to see how many suitors he has. I've heard that he'd like to try to get to Miami and reunite with Craig Kuligowski. No idea if the Canes would have any reciprocal interest. Had someone tell me Nebraska had some very preliminary interest. What we don't know at this point in time was exactly why he was booted. That plays a major factor in the transfer process. A new coach and new program has to decide if a kid is worth taking on. What he did is a big factor there.
Back to the players that are actually on the team, here are position battles we're going to be watching:
OFFENSE
Running Back: Pretty confident Alex Ross is the starter, but the backup will be interesting
Wide Receiver: Not sure there's one guy we can say for sure we know will be a starter. Lot of bodies, nothing established
Center: Sam Bailey and Alec Abeln are the guys competing here
DEFENSE
Defensive End: With Brady gone, who grabs the extra snaps?
Outside Linebacker: Donavin Newsom, Joey Burkett, Terez Hall and Brandon Lee are all in the mix here. Which two step forward? We'd expect Newsom and Burkett to get first team reps to start camp.
Cornerback: Aarion Penton is going to start on one side. We have no idea who will start on the other.
*Elsewhere, there is growing expectation that the Ehren Earleywine situation is resolved this week. And there is pretty much universal agreement at this point (nothing official in any way though) that Earleywine is coming back next season. From what I can gather, I don't even know if that decision has been officially made, but everyone expects that to be the outcome at this point in time. I would be surprised if there is not closure on that issue this week.
*Athletic Director? It's all over the map. I've had people tell me they think Jon Sundvold is in good shape and I've had people tell me they don't think there's any way Sundvold is the hire. Had someone tell me last night they're starting to hear Mike Owens' name more. I'm leaning toward the thought that they're going to hire someone with experience being an athletic director, or at least working in an athletic department. But at this point, I couldn't really say who that is. Personally, I'll just sit here and wait for it to be my turn to be interim AD.
*Later today we'll be at a press conference with Steve Bieser and Brian McRae, then we're doing a podcast later today with coaches for Case Cook and Aubrey Miller as well as Pete and I previewing fall camp. Obviously we'll have full coverage from practice this afternoon.
10:00 AM UPDATE
I'm at the baseball press conference with Steve Bieser and Brian McRae. Will post quotes and updates here.
McRae has 40 hours left to get a degree in psychology. Will be a year to a year and a half from getting that.
Said he uses a lot of psychology in coaching, most of coaching is mental.
McRae and Bieser knew each other through time with the Mets. Never played together, but were in organization at the same time.
When Bieser got the job here he reached out, looking for an opportunity. Reached out to him three weeks ago and deal came together from there.
"I think he was surprised. I don't think he realized the connection I had with people here in Columbia and how much time I spend here...I've been hanging out here since 1982."
As far as the future, he said it depends on what opportunities would arise either here or elsewhere. "I don't want to be the type of guy that bounces all over the place. I get somewhere, I like being there. It was hard to leave Park University...It had to be something that I thought was a great move and a great fit."
"I could see myself being here for a while and learning under a great staff and trying to do some great things here with Missouri baseball."
Said he'll learn the role as he goes along, doesn't have set guidelines or know exactly what he'll do.
"I'm looking forward to just being in this conference. The SEC is the best conference in college baseball."
"Being a coach in the SEC is something that you can't envision."
On the program: "History says that they can do it. A lot of prominent big leaguers that have come through here and that was in a conference that was not considered as strong as the SEC. Kids should want to play at Mizzou and challenge themselves against the best college players in the SEC."
"That should be enough to entice some of the better players in the Midwest to come here. Why do I need to go South?"
McRae coached Bryce DeOca (sp?) said he would have been a first round pick out of high school if he hadn't been hurt.
McRae signed out of high school, said he never really considered college. Tells kids now "You don't want to go back to college at 49 years old. It ain't a whole lot of fun. Take care of your stuff now."
McRae will be here every day in the spring. Not sure in the fall, thinks probably four days a week until practice starts for real. Will be here all the time from Christmas break through the end of the season.
On what stood out about Bieser: "Success. You can only get better being around coaches like Coach Bieser. What he was able to do, the Ohio Valley Conference is a pretty decent baseball conference, think they won three straight conference titles. Cape Girardeau is not an easy place to recruit to and he was able to bring, what about him was able to bring in the caliber of players that they brought in there and then to have the level of success they had there when that program has not traditionally had that kind of success in baseball. That speaks volumes."
McRae said first two years of coaching he would stress out and lose sleep over losses, but then learned to step back and put it in perspective. Said it can't be more important to him than it is to the kids.
HEAD COACH STEVE BIESER
"I just remember that Brian was the reason I got sent to Triple A."
"He's a humble guy, I like that. He's coming back to finish his undergrad degree and I respect that. The first thing he said is he just wants to learn about Division One baseball and NCAA baseball."
"He's very limited on what he can and can't do. He's a student manager and that's his title. There's really no on field coaching that he can actually do." Can be in the office, see how the program works, learn compliance.
"I want our staff to be successful and have other opportunities. Everybody on our staff wants to be a head coach and I tell them not to hide that from me."
Said he got to really know McRae when he was at SEMO and Brian was coaching the KC Sluggers.
"If you want to be in the NCAA, you've got to start in the NCAA at some level."
"When you look at a guy that's been highly successful and has played in the major leagues and still wants to come back and get his undergrad degree, that speaks volumes."
No recruiting involved. When kids come to campus, obviously he can talk to them, etc, but can't leave campus to recruit.
On recruiting: Thinks it's going well. Said they missed the first half of the recruiting season and are catching up. Said he had already ID'ed a lot of players, but knew at SEMO he couldn't recruit a lot of them, now he can at Mizzou. "The challenge is we're behind on relationships...We feel we've identified a lot of the right guys for our program. For me alone, it's not just the ability and the talent."
"If you can get them on campus, this place shows outstanding. There's no way to say you can't prepare a team in this facility."
On the last class that signed under Jamieson, first thing he did after his press conference was go to meet all of them. "We did a pretty good job of keeping what we needed to keep here." Columbia native Cole Evans is going to junior college rather than Missouri. That was quite likely to happen even under Jamieson. "He has pro potential and he wants it to happen sooner rather than later." Said it was the right decision for him.
10:49 AM UPDATE
Make sure to see Josh Helmholdt's post and story on Trevor Trout.
6:05 PM UPDATE
A couple of links:
Practice photo gallery
Camp Preview Podcast
We will update this post throughout the day.
Now, on to today. The first order of business is that fall camp begins at 4:00 this afternoon. They can't be in pads for a couple of practices, so we're not going to get a full look at everything today, but the first practice is always interesting.
So far as we know, the only players who won't be there are Harold Brantley, Walter Brady and Jerod Alton. Alton is expected some time in August. The plan was likely for him to redshirt anyway, but being this late virtually assures it.
Brantley and Brady aren't coming back. Safe to say there might be a little bit of focus on the defensive line. I've heard really good things about Marcell Frazier. I also know that the staff really likes Rickey Hatley. If Terry Beckner is 100% healthy and ready to go, he joins that duo and Charles Harris as the starters in my opinion.
Brantley, I don't believe, really has any options for this year. If he's not eligible here, he wouldn't be eligible anywhere else either. Brady will certainly look to transfer. It will be interesting to see how many suitors he has. I've heard that he'd like to try to get to Miami and reunite with Craig Kuligowski. No idea if the Canes would have any reciprocal interest. Had someone tell me Nebraska had some very preliminary interest. What we don't know at this point in time was exactly why he was booted. That plays a major factor in the transfer process. A new coach and new program has to decide if a kid is worth taking on. What he did is a big factor there.
Back to the players that are actually on the team, here are position battles we're going to be watching:
OFFENSE
Running Back: Pretty confident Alex Ross is the starter, but the backup will be interesting
Wide Receiver: Not sure there's one guy we can say for sure we know will be a starter. Lot of bodies, nothing established
Center: Sam Bailey and Alec Abeln are the guys competing here
DEFENSE
Defensive End: With Brady gone, who grabs the extra snaps?
Outside Linebacker: Donavin Newsom, Joey Burkett, Terez Hall and Brandon Lee are all in the mix here. Which two step forward? We'd expect Newsom and Burkett to get first team reps to start camp.
Cornerback: Aarion Penton is going to start on one side. We have no idea who will start on the other.
*Elsewhere, there is growing expectation that the Ehren Earleywine situation is resolved this week. And there is pretty much universal agreement at this point (nothing official in any way though) that Earleywine is coming back next season. From what I can gather, I don't even know if that decision has been officially made, but everyone expects that to be the outcome at this point in time. I would be surprised if there is not closure on that issue this week.
*Athletic Director? It's all over the map. I've had people tell me they think Jon Sundvold is in good shape and I've had people tell me they don't think there's any way Sundvold is the hire. Had someone tell me last night they're starting to hear Mike Owens' name more. I'm leaning toward the thought that they're going to hire someone with experience being an athletic director, or at least working in an athletic department. But at this point, I couldn't really say who that is. Personally, I'll just sit here and wait for it to be my turn to be interim AD.
*Later today we'll be at a press conference with Steve Bieser and Brian McRae, then we're doing a podcast later today with coaches for Case Cook and Aubrey Miller as well as Pete and I previewing fall camp. Obviously we'll have full coverage from practice this afternoon.
10:00 AM UPDATE
I'm at the baseball press conference with Steve Bieser and Brian McRae. Will post quotes and updates here.
McRae has 40 hours left to get a degree in psychology. Will be a year to a year and a half from getting that.
Said he uses a lot of psychology in coaching, most of coaching is mental.
McRae and Bieser knew each other through time with the Mets. Never played together, but were in organization at the same time.
When Bieser got the job here he reached out, looking for an opportunity. Reached out to him three weeks ago and deal came together from there.
"I think he was surprised. I don't think he realized the connection I had with people here in Columbia and how much time I spend here...I've been hanging out here since 1982."
As far as the future, he said it depends on what opportunities would arise either here or elsewhere. "I don't want to be the type of guy that bounces all over the place. I get somewhere, I like being there. It was hard to leave Park University...It had to be something that I thought was a great move and a great fit."
"I could see myself being here for a while and learning under a great staff and trying to do some great things here with Missouri baseball."
Said he'll learn the role as he goes along, doesn't have set guidelines or know exactly what he'll do.
"I'm looking forward to just being in this conference. The SEC is the best conference in college baseball."
"Being a coach in the SEC is something that you can't envision."
On the program: "History says that they can do it. A lot of prominent big leaguers that have come through here and that was in a conference that was not considered as strong as the SEC. Kids should want to play at Mizzou and challenge themselves against the best college players in the SEC."
"That should be enough to entice some of the better players in the Midwest to come here. Why do I need to go South?"
McRae coached Bryce DeOca (sp?) said he would have been a first round pick out of high school if he hadn't been hurt.
McRae signed out of high school, said he never really considered college. Tells kids now "You don't want to go back to college at 49 years old. It ain't a whole lot of fun. Take care of your stuff now."
McRae will be here every day in the spring. Not sure in the fall, thinks probably four days a week until practice starts for real. Will be here all the time from Christmas break through the end of the season.
On what stood out about Bieser: "Success. You can only get better being around coaches like Coach Bieser. What he was able to do, the Ohio Valley Conference is a pretty decent baseball conference, think they won three straight conference titles. Cape Girardeau is not an easy place to recruit to and he was able to bring, what about him was able to bring in the caliber of players that they brought in there and then to have the level of success they had there when that program has not traditionally had that kind of success in baseball. That speaks volumes."
McRae said first two years of coaching he would stress out and lose sleep over losses, but then learned to step back and put it in perspective. Said it can't be more important to him than it is to the kids.
HEAD COACH STEVE BIESER
"I just remember that Brian was the reason I got sent to Triple A."
"He's a humble guy, I like that. He's coming back to finish his undergrad degree and I respect that. The first thing he said is he just wants to learn about Division One baseball and NCAA baseball."
"He's very limited on what he can and can't do. He's a student manager and that's his title. There's really no on field coaching that he can actually do." Can be in the office, see how the program works, learn compliance.
"I want our staff to be successful and have other opportunities. Everybody on our staff wants to be a head coach and I tell them not to hide that from me."
Said he got to really know McRae when he was at SEMO and Brian was coaching the KC Sluggers.
"If you want to be in the NCAA, you've got to start in the NCAA at some level."
"When you look at a guy that's been highly successful and has played in the major leagues and still wants to come back and get his undergrad degree, that speaks volumes."
No recruiting involved. When kids come to campus, obviously he can talk to them, etc, but can't leave campus to recruit.
On recruiting: Thinks it's going well. Said they missed the first half of the recruiting season and are catching up. Said he had already ID'ed a lot of players, but knew at SEMO he couldn't recruit a lot of them, now he can at Mizzou. "The challenge is we're behind on relationships...We feel we've identified a lot of the right guys for our program. For me alone, it's not just the ability and the talent."
"If you can get them on campus, this place shows outstanding. There's no way to say you can't prepare a team in this facility."
On the last class that signed under Jamieson, first thing he did after his press conference was go to meet all of them. "We did a pretty good job of keeping what we needed to keep here." Columbia native Cole Evans is going to junior college rather than Missouri. That was quite likely to happen even under Jamieson. "He has pro potential and he wants it to happen sooner rather than later." Said it was the right decision for him.
10:49 AM UPDATE
Make sure to see Josh Helmholdt's post and story on Trevor Trout.
6:05 PM UPDATE
A couple of links:
Practice photo gallery
Camp Preview Podcast
We will update this post throughout the day.
Last edited:
