Welcome to Four Down Territory where I’ll give you three thoughts on Missouri football or college football in general. Then, the last thought will be whatever I want it to be.
1. What we've learned from each offensive position group during fall camp in three words or less.
Quarterback- It's settled.
Brady Cook is the starter and Drew Pyne is the backup. Nothing more really needs to be said.
Running back- Nate Noel wins.
Nate Noel flashed in spring ball and kept the momentum into fall camp. So much so, that the team is already load-managing him for their second scrimmage of camp that happened Saturday.
Marcus Carroll should still have a healthy role but on paper, it seemed like Carroll would slide into that starting spot when you look at his stats and similarities to Cody Schrader.
Wide receiver- Only one ball.
The wide receiver room has a good problem. Everyone looks good and has a viable argument for offensive snaps. From Luther Burden as WR1 to Daniel Blood and Joshua Manning at the bottom, all have looked good. Even the freshmen, Courtney Crutchfield and James Madison have looked good, but because of how deep the team is expect them to both redshirt unless one of them gets the starting punt returner job.
Tight end- They'll be fine.
Brett Norfleet and Jordon Harris each missed multiple practices with minor injuries but head coach Eli Drinkwitz expects both back by the end of this week.
Offensive line- We knew this.
The coaching staff tried to tell us that there was an offensive line competition but we knew the starting spots for center to right tackle were filled already by Connor Tollison, Cam'Ron Johnson and Armand Membou.
The big competitions came at left tackle and left guard with players like Jayven Richardson challenging Marcus Bryant for the left tackle spot and players like Logan Reichert challenging Cayden Green for the left guard spot.
Bryant and Green have seemingly won their position battles as they were expected to. We knew this would be the outcome, and camp is just a formality, at least for these particular battles.
2. What we've learned about each defensive and special teams position group during fall camp in three words or less.
Defensive end- We know three.
The top three defensive ends will likely be Johnny Walker, Zion Young and Darris Smith. Walker was a given and Young was getting buzz in spring ball as likely leading the race for DE2. Membou and Bryant have said Smith really makes the offensive tackles work in practice. He's trying to run through them and Bryant and Membou aren't small men.
Those are the top three and behind them is Joe Moore, Eddie Kelly, Jahkai Lang, Williams Nwaneri and Jaylen Brown are vying for DE4 and spot reps at DE5.
DT- Still a battle.
Kristian Williams and Chris McClellan seem to be penciled in as the starters with Sterling Webb taking hold of the DT3 spot. Marquis Gracial, as of now, looks like the DT4 but he's still battling primarily with Jalen Marshall for that spot. Sam Williams, Elias Williams and Justin Bodford are also options.
Linebacker- Has good depth.
This position is about four-deep. Chuck Hicks, Triston Newson, Corey Flagg and Khalil Jacobs will all be in the rotation and the first two will probably be the starters. Jeremiah Beasley is someone Drinkwitz mentioned as a freshman who could contribute on special teams and if that's the case then he may see spot snaps throughout the season.
Cornerback- Emerging starter?
Nic DeLoach has somewhat surprisingly gone from not being a defensive back when he committed two years ago, to being at the bottom of the depth chart last year to possibly starting Week 1. Check out his story here.
It's looking like Dreyden Norwood will be joined by DeLoach or Pride and then the CB4 position may be taken by Marcus Clarke.
Safety- Plenty of options.
This group is about seven deep. Marvin Burks and Tre'Vez Johnson are the primary candidates to nab the starting free safety spot but whoever doesn't win will still play many snaps this season. Joe Charleston will start at strong safety. Daylan Carnell will start at STAR and behind them are Sidney Williams, Phillip Roche and walk-on Caleb Flagg, who has taken second-team reps in camp.
Kicker- Craig is good.
Drinkwitz said Blake Craig went 6-of-7 in the scrimmage on Saturday with his lone miss being a 51-yard attempt. He then made a 51-yard try from one of the hash marks on his next try. Drinkwitz seems confident and is "proud" of what he's done. If he isn't worried then Mizzou fans shouldn't be.
Punter, kick returners and punt returners- It's a toss-up (hyphenated words count as one in my game).
There's no clear indication as to who is winning these battle.
To be honest, the media doesn't see much special teams work during the portions of practice we attend. So, we don't know who is leading any of these position battles.
Luke Bauer and Orion Phillips will continue to duke it out to be the starting punter, and a host of players are working for the return roles.
Burden, Theo Wease, Speedy Johnson, Blood, Crutchfield and Madison have been fielding punts in camp.
Manning, Mookie Cooper, Kewan Lacy, Tre’Vez Johnson and Speedy Johnson are among the kick return candidates.
3. Freshmen to keep your eye on.
This won't be long but it's important to mention how much I've heard about this freshman class.
Trajen Greco and Cameron Keys are atop of the list. The two cornerbacks are always mentioned when someone gets asked about impressive freshmen.
Crutchfield and Madison are two receivers, who Cooper said look like they've been here since spring ball. That's a great sign.
Lacy is not a guy I think will be a contributor this year barring injury, but I can tell the team likes the running back’s physical attributes and what he can provide down the line.
Jude James looks like a nice H-back option. I don't know how often he will see the field at around 210-215 pounds, but his athleticism pops out among the tight ends in practice.
Drinkwitz mentioned in his first presser after camp started that offensive linemen Talan Chandler and Caleb Pyfrom have also had good camps.
All of this and we haven’t really gotten to Nwaneri.
By all accounts, his teammates have said the sky is the limit for him, and while fans probably would love for him to have more of a standout presence in camp, remember he's raw. Plus, there's no pressure on him to perform right away because his position group is pretty deep.
This is what playoff-contending teams do. Get talented starters and veterans in the two-deep while they build up their young guys to play down the line. Drinkwitz has found a formula that's working.
4. The Olympics were fun.
This is probably the most I've watched the Olympics since 2008. Every time the Olympics come on, I'm doing some traveling or working so I don't get to see much for one reason or another. I'm working plenty now but a lot of it can be done at home. Also, with the streaming platforms, we can watch replays of events. That was a big help and it allowed me to watch track and field, swimming, steeplechase, basketball (men's and women's), speed climbing and tennis.
The Olympics are sports for people who don't watch sports or watch certain sports frequently. I'd never watch most of these events on regular TV, but for those two weeks, it's fun to watch.
Speaking of fun to watch, how about Stephen Curry? How about A'ja Wilson?
Curry really kept USA in the semifinal game versus Serbia and then his barrage of clutch threes in the final against France were things of legend. It was so great to see him Kevin Durant and LeBron James do their thing on the biggest stage together.
Wilson is the most dominant player in the world. That was known before the Olympics. But now her dominance looks like 2000 MVP Shaquille O'Neal. She's a double-double machine before and during the Olympics and was far and away the best player on the best team in the world.
She's climbing the GOAT rankings fast. She's not there yet but she's getting there fast.
1. What we've learned from each offensive position group during fall camp in three words or less.
Quarterback- It's settled.
Brady Cook is the starter and Drew Pyne is the backup. Nothing more really needs to be said.
Running back- Nate Noel wins.
Nate Noel flashed in spring ball and kept the momentum into fall camp. So much so, that the team is already load-managing him for their second scrimmage of camp that happened Saturday.
Marcus Carroll should still have a healthy role but on paper, it seemed like Carroll would slide into that starting spot when you look at his stats and similarities to Cody Schrader.
Wide receiver- Only one ball.
The wide receiver room has a good problem. Everyone looks good and has a viable argument for offensive snaps. From Luther Burden as WR1 to Daniel Blood and Joshua Manning at the bottom, all have looked good. Even the freshmen, Courtney Crutchfield and James Madison have looked good, but because of how deep the team is expect them to both redshirt unless one of them gets the starting punt returner job.
Tight end- They'll be fine.
Brett Norfleet and Jordon Harris each missed multiple practices with minor injuries but head coach Eli Drinkwitz expects both back by the end of this week.
Offensive line- We knew this.
The coaching staff tried to tell us that there was an offensive line competition but we knew the starting spots for center to right tackle were filled already by Connor Tollison, Cam'Ron Johnson and Armand Membou.
The big competitions came at left tackle and left guard with players like Jayven Richardson challenging Marcus Bryant for the left tackle spot and players like Logan Reichert challenging Cayden Green for the left guard spot.
Bryant and Green have seemingly won their position battles as they were expected to. We knew this would be the outcome, and camp is just a formality, at least for these particular battles.
2. What we've learned about each defensive and special teams position group during fall camp in three words or less.
Defensive end- We know three.
The top three defensive ends will likely be Johnny Walker, Zion Young and Darris Smith. Walker was a given and Young was getting buzz in spring ball as likely leading the race for DE2. Membou and Bryant have said Smith really makes the offensive tackles work in practice. He's trying to run through them and Bryant and Membou aren't small men.
Those are the top three and behind them is Joe Moore, Eddie Kelly, Jahkai Lang, Williams Nwaneri and Jaylen Brown are vying for DE4 and spot reps at DE5.
DT- Still a battle.
Kristian Williams and Chris McClellan seem to be penciled in as the starters with Sterling Webb taking hold of the DT3 spot. Marquis Gracial, as of now, looks like the DT4 but he's still battling primarily with Jalen Marshall for that spot. Sam Williams, Elias Williams and Justin Bodford are also options.
Linebacker- Has good depth.
This position is about four-deep. Chuck Hicks, Triston Newson, Corey Flagg and Khalil Jacobs will all be in the rotation and the first two will probably be the starters. Jeremiah Beasley is someone Drinkwitz mentioned as a freshman who could contribute on special teams and if that's the case then he may see spot snaps throughout the season.
Cornerback- Emerging starter?
Nic DeLoach has somewhat surprisingly gone from not being a defensive back when he committed two years ago, to being at the bottom of the depth chart last year to possibly starting Week 1. Check out his story here.
It's looking like Dreyden Norwood will be joined by DeLoach or Pride and then the CB4 position may be taken by Marcus Clarke.
Safety- Plenty of options.
This group is about seven deep. Marvin Burks and Tre'Vez Johnson are the primary candidates to nab the starting free safety spot but whoever doesn't win will still play many snaps this season. Joe Charleston will start at strong safety. Daylan Carnell will start at STAR and behind them are Sidney Williams, Phillip Roche and walk-on Caleb Flagg, who has taken second-team reps in camp.
Kicker- Craig is good.
Drinkwitz said Blake Craig went 6-of-7 in the scrimmage on Saturday with his lone miss being a 51-yard attempt. He then made a 51-yard try from one of the hash marks on his next try. Drinkwitz seems confident and is "proud" of what he's done. If he isn't worried then Mizzou fans shouldn't be.
Punter, kick returners and punt returners- It's a toss-up (hyphenated words count as one in my game).
There's no clear indication as to who is winning these battle.
To be honest, the media doesn't see much special teams work during the portions of practice we attend. So, we don't know who is leading any of these position battles.
Luke Bauer and Orion Phillips will continue to duke it out to be the starting punter, and a host of players are working for the return roles.
Burden, Theo Wease, Speedy Johnson, Blood, Crutchfield and Madison have been fielding punts in camp.
Manning, Mookie Cooper, Kewan Lacy, Tre’Vez Johnson and Speedy Johnson are among the kick return candidates.
3. Freshmen to keep your eye on.
This won't be long but it's important to mention how much I've heard about this freshman class.
Trajen Greco and Cameron Keys are atop of the list. The two cornerbacks are always mentioned when someone gets asked about impressive freshmen.
Crutchfield and Madison are two receivers, who Cooper said look like they've been here since spring ball. That's a great sign.
Lacy is not a guy I think will be a contributor this year barring injury, but I can tell the team likes the running back’s physical attributes and what he can provide down the line.
Jude James looks like a nice H-back option. I don't know how often he will see the field at around 210-215 pounds, but his athleticism pops out among the tight ends in practice.
Drinkwitz mentioned in his first presser after camp started that offensive linemen Talan Chandler and Caleb Pyfrom have also had good camps.
All of this and we haven’t really gotten to Nwaneri.
By all accounts, his teammates have said the sky is the limit for him, and while fans probably would love for him to have more of a standout presence in camp, remember he's raw. Plus, there's no pressure on him to perform right away because his position group is pretty deep.
This is what playoff-contending teams do. Get talented starters and veterans in the two-deep while they build up their young guys to play down the line. Drinkwitz has found a formula that's working.
4. The Olympics were fun.
This is probably the most I've watched the Olympics since 2008. Every time the Olympics come on, I'm doing some traveling or working so I don't get to see much for one reason or another. I'm working plenty now but a lot of it can be done at home. Also, with the streaming platforms, we can watch replays of events. That was a big help and it allowed me to watch track and field, swimming, steeplechase, basketball (men's and women's), speed climbing and tennis.
The Olympics are sports for people who don't watch sports or watch certain sports frequently. I'd never watch most of these events on regular TV, but for those two weeks, it's fun to watch.
Speaking of fun to watch, how about Stephen Curry? How about A'ja Wilson?
Curry really kept USA in the semifinal game versus Serbia and then his barrage of clutch threes in the final against France were things of legend. It was so great to see him Kevin Durant and LeBron James do their thing on the biggest stage together.
Wilson is the most dominant player in the world. That was known before the Olympics. But now her dominance looks like 2000 MVP Shaquille O'Neal. She's a double-double machine before and during the Olympics and was far and away the best player on the best team in the world.
She's climbing the GOAT rankings fast. She's not there yet but she's getting there fast.
