Much smaller crowd than last week during this morning's open football practice, which I think had a lot to do with the weather. The group of visitors was a bit smaller, as well, but I was able to identify a few prospects in attendance, which are posted here. It's very possible there were a few others here that I missed, as most of them spent a lot of time inside the south end zone area and out of the cold. I'll post video of a couple interviews once I get them uploaded and will have a notebook early tomorrow morning.
On the field, I found this practice pretty interesting by spring football standards. A ton of 11-on-11 work today with actual live tackling— first red zone, then hurry-up, then normal drives. For the most part, when the first-team defense and first-team offense squared off, the defense had the upper hand. Now, keep in mind that the defense wasn't able to touch the quarterback and there was not a ton of physical, between-the-tackles running. There might also have been other wrinkles in play I didn't know about. But the defense did force a field goal in the red zone and a stop in the two-minute. The offense put together a long scoring drive later, then the defense forced a turnover on downs (albeit with Brady Cook at QB for the last of those possessions).
Again, I wouldn't draw any sweeping conclusions from those results. I do have some notes on individuals, though.
-- The first-team offense was generally pretty similar to what we saw last week. Starting OL, from left to right: Foster, Delgado, Cook/Maietti, Griffin, White. Remember, Drinkwitz said last week they're splitting time with Cook and Maietti at center to keep the reps down on both and give some other guys a shot at guard. Whenever just one of those two wasn't on the field, it was always Luke Griffin at right guard today. Feels safe to say he's made a good impression.
-- Mookie Cooper and Barrett Banister split time in the slot with the first team, and actually were on the field at the same time for at least a couple plays (I'm not supposed to get into the specifics on the formation). Assuming Cooper is eligible, I think it's a safe bet he'll be used in a wide variety of ways. Banister had a nice catch in traffic for about 20 yards at one point. Chism got open for a third down conversion on a third and 11.
-- Pretty much all the scholarship running backs got some amount of time with the first team. Dawson Downing had a couple nice runs.
-- It was not the sharpest of days for Connor Bazelak. He wasn't awful, no interceptions or anything, but just seemed like a lot of throws were a hair off the mark. Tyler Macon was pretty clearly the third-string QB, but I thought he showed some nice things, particularly with his legs. He had a long scramble for a first down (which, who knows how successful that would have been if QBs could get hit) and made a couple decent throws on the move. I want to get out ahead of the hype and be clear that I was not blown away by Macon or saying he looks like Mizzou's best quarterback or anything remotely approaching that, but he looked better than he did a week ago. Also, if you haven't heard, he'll be wearing No. 10. Some pretty big shoes to fill with that number at that position.
-- I thought the back seven had a strong practice. Didn't feel like pass-catchers were ever wide open. JC Carlies continued to work as the starting free safety, Martez Manuel at strong safety, Chris Shearin in the slot. Shearin made a couple nice break-ups. Rakestraw manned one starting corner spot and the other was as rotation between Ishmael Burdine (who broke up a pass to Dove in the end zone during red zone work) and JaDarrius Perkins. Shawn Robinson played a bit with each unit, mostly the twos and threes, and while he did look like he missed a read that led to an easy touchdown for the second-team offense during red zone, he also made the loudest hit of the day later on. Stacy Brown made a few notable plays, mostly with the backups. Looked like he was playing the same position as Manuel.
-- Chad Bailey and Devin Nicholson. look like the starters at LB, at least until Blaze Alldredge hits campus. Bailey did have a nice play today where he leveled Daniel Parker Jr. on a short completion
-- There was a lot more rotation on the defensive line. Akial Byers and Markell Utsey started at tackle. Darius Robinson was the first man off the bench there when Utsey got hurt (Drinkwitz said after practice the team made it out all healthy, so Utsey seems to be fine). Ben Key and Realus George also got some time with the first team. Chris Turner and Isaiah McGuire played most of the first-team reps at defensive end (still no sign of Trajan Jeffcoat). Daniel Robledo, Cannoon York and Johnny Walker all got some time as well. Robledo did make one really nice play where he blew past Hyrin White and strung out a sweep. Other than that, it was honestly hard to assess any sort of pass rush since no one could get near the QBs.
On the field, I found this practice pretty interesting by spring football standards. A ton of 11-on-11 work today with actual live tackling— first red zone, then hurry-up, then normal drives. For the most part, when the first-team defense and first-team offense squared off, the defense had the upper hand. Now, keep in mind that the defense wasn't able to touch the quarterback and there was not a ton of physical, between-the-tackles running. There might also have been other wrinkles in play I didn't know about. But the defense did force a field goal in the red zone and a stop in the two-minute. The offense put together a long scoring drive later, then the defense forced a turnover on downs (albeit with Brady Cook at QB for the last of those possessions).
Again, I wouldn't draw any sweeping conclusions from those results. I do have some notes on individuals, though.
-- The first-team offense was generally pretty similar to what we saw last week. Starting OL, from left to right: Foster, Delgado, Cook/Maietti, Griffin, White. Remember, Drinkwitz said last week they're splitting time with Cook and Maietti at center to keep the reps down on both and give some other guys a shot at guard. Whenever just one of those two wasn't on the field, it was always Luke Griffin at right guard today. Feels safe to say he's made a good impression.
-- Mookie Cooper and Barrett Banister split time in the slot with the first team, and actually were on the field at the same time for at least a couple plays (I'm not supposed to get into the specifics on the formation). Assuming Cooper is eligible, I think it's a safe bet he'll be used in a wide variety of ways. Banister had a nice catch in traffic for about 20 yards at one point. Chism got open for a third down conversion on a third and 11.
-- Pretty much all the scholarship running backs got some amount of time with the first team. Dawson Downing had a couple nice runs.
-- It was not the sharpest of days for Connor Bazelak. He wasn't awful, no interceptions or anything, but just seemed like a lot of throws were a hair off the mark. Tyler Macon was pretty clearly the third-string QB, but I thought he showed some nice things, particularly with his legs. He had a long scramble for a first down (which, who knows how successful that would have been if QBs could get hit) and made a couple decent throws on the move. I want to get out ahead of the hype and be clear that I was not blown away by Macon or saying he looks like Mizzou's best quarterback or anything remotely approaching that, but he looked better than he did a week ago. Also, if you haven't heard, he'll be wearing No. 10. Some pretty big shoes to fill with that number at that position.
-- I thought the back seven had a strong practice. Didn't feel like pass-catchers were ever wide open. JC Carlies continued to work as the starting free safety, Martez Manuel at strong safety, Chris Shearin in the slot. Shearin made a couple nice break-ups. Rakestraw manned one starting corner spot and the other was as rotation between Ishmael Burdine (who broke up a pass to Dove in the end zone during red zone work) and JaDarrius Perkins. Shawn Robinson played a bit with each unit, mostly the twos and threes, and while he did look like he missed a read that led to an easy touchdown for the second-team offense during red zone, he also made the loudest hit of the day later on. Stacy Brown made a few notable plays, mostly with the backups. Looked like he was playing the same position as Manuel.
-- Chad Bailey and Devin Nicholson. look like the starters at LB, at least until Blaze Alldredge hits campus. Bailey did have a nice play today where he leveled Daniel Parker Jr. on a short completion
-- There was a lot more rotation on the defensive line. Akial Byers and Markell Utsey started at tackle. Darius Robinson was the first man off the bench there when Utsey got hurt (Drinkwitz said after practice the team made it out all healthy, so Utsey seems to be fine). Ben Key and Realus George also got some time with the first team. Chris Turner and Isaiah McGuire played most of the first-team reps at defensive end (still no sign of Trajan Jeffcoat). Daniel Robledo, Cannoon York and Johnny Walker all got some time as well. Robledo did make one really nice play where he blew past Hyrin White and strung out a sweep. Other than that, it was honestly hard to assess any sort of pass rush since no one could get near the QBs.
