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All right, let's get going.
1. Mizzou opens camp 11 days from now. Somebody asked me last week if this was the most important season since at least 2014. We say that every season. Every year is important for one reason or another. They all feel like the biggest one ever when they start. This is the first season Barry Odom starts (since his first one) with no real thought that he might get fired, but in the SEC, you're one bad season away from that talk. Here's my Odom hot seat factor broken down by win total this season:
0-3: He might very well get fired this year
4-5: He's not gonna get fired this year but he'd be uncomfortable starting next year
6-7: It's not a good season. It's good enough to keep him here certainly, but his seat will be warm next August
8-9: We're not going to entertain any discussion he's coaching for his job in 2020
10 or more: Jimmy Sexton busts down the door of Jim Sterk's office like
2. Here are my ten most important players on the roster
1) Kelly Bryant
2) Jordan Elliott
3) Whoever starts at defensive end
4) Joshuah Bledsoe/Tyree Gillespie
5) Albert Okwuegbunam
6) Yasir Durant
7) Cale Garrett
8) Larry Rountree
9) Tucker McCann
10) Christian Holmes
3. Here are the five biggest questions that will shape the season:
1) Can special teams just not kill them? They don't have to be great. They just need to not be awful.
2) Is there a pass rush? I don't care where it comes from, it just has to come.
3) How different does the offense look? It's going to look different. They'll go about it in new ways. Just how different?
4) Who steps up at receiver? I didn't mention any receivers in my top ten other than Albert O because I think wideout is probably the most easily replaceable position on a roster. Somebody's going to catch the ball. I expect Jonathan Johnson to lead the team in catches. I expect Johnathan Nance to be the biggest deep threat. Of the rest, who splits from the pack?
5) Do they avoid the "Holy crap how did they lose that game?" game? Last year it was Kentucky and South Carolina. The year before, to a lesser extent, it was South Carolina and in a different way Purdue. The year before that Middle Tennessee. Almost every team loses a game we don't see coming, so I'm not saying Missouri has to completely avoid upsets or losses in swing games. But they can't lose one that you thought they had under control (UK, SC, SC) or one that comes against a team that just shouldn't beat them under reasonable circumstances (Purdue, MTSU).
4. I want to go off the field with this thought. Jim Harbaugh made headlines this week saying that he thought there were players using depression as a way to get a transfer waiver.
Jim Harbaugh says a lot of things I don't like. In general, I just don't really like him. But this is beyond the realm of something that should be okay. So far as I know, I do not have a mental illness of any sort. There are times I get down, but I don't think it's at the level of depression. But I have family members who have been diagnosed with it. And I simply don't think it's something you should pass judgment on if you don't have it. I don't really pretend to understand it. But I know it's a thing. It's easy for someone who isn't an alcoholic to say "Just don't drink." But it's not that easy for an alcoholic. It's easy for someone who doesn't battle depression to say "Get off your ass and do something." But it isn't that easy for someone who is depressed.
I've had coaches tell me that the biggest difference in coaching today against 20 years ago is dealing with the emotional and mental health issues of players. I promise you every team in the country has kids fighting this. It's a real thing. We just look at the stuff on the field to assess who should be playing, who isn't playing well, etc. A lot of times there are reasons for that but we ignore them or don't know about them. This is a serious issue, not just among college athletes, but in society. Shame on you, Jim Harbaugh.
5. LSU has a new locker room
I have three main reactions to this:
1) This is the game now. It's an arms race. Good for LSU, I guess. We can argue that it shouldn't be this way, but it is. You better be trying to keep up or you're falling behind.
2) We can spend all the money on this, but we can't pay players or even let them benefit from their names or likeness? That's dumb.
3) Things like this are why I cringe when I hear people compare college athletics to slavery and indentured servitude. You think those folks had digs like this? Hell, you think a regular college student has digs like this?
Points 2 and 3 might seen contradictory. But they aren't. I'm fine with players making money. I also think it should be recognized that they get facilities like this, pretty much unlimited meals, all kinds of free clothing and equipment and an education and a place to live. Could they make more money? Sure. But they don't have it all that bad.
