Mizzou Links, 8-15-08

 Thursday practice reports!  Dave Matter, PowerMizzou, mutigers.com, KC Star (basically just a blurb on Will Ebner).  From mutigers.com...

Off the field, the attention continues to pour in from the national media for Mizzou.  On Tuesday, QB Chase Daniel taped a couple of interview segments for ESPN shows College Football Live and for ESPN's First Take that runs on ESPN News in the mornings.  Daniel's segment for CFB Live ran Wednesday afternoon, and after the segment, show hosts Desmond Howard and Bruce Feldman had the Tigers in high cotton, as Howard predicted that Jeremy Maclin was the Big 12's best bet to win the Heisman Trophy, while Feldman said that Daniel was the best bet, and then he upped the stakes by saying that Mizzou was his pick to win the national title in 2008!  If you didn't get a chance to see the show, check out the ESPN.com website, a lot of times they will archive segments from their shows, and even if they don't have this specific segment, they have lots of great things to say about the Tigers!

It also appears that Andy Maples has a broken foot and will miss a few weeks.  That means that our two DT backups and at least one DE backup will be redshirt freshmen.  Not a bad situation when you've got experienced starters.

 More from Dave Matter here.  Lots of stuff about the vaunted 2006 Rock Bridge team, Playboy's Top 10 (football teams), and news on why the Trib's videos are at least temporarily down...

 The Missourian talks about the Van Alexander recovery plan...seriously, is there an injury that Rex "Miyagi" Sharp can't fix in one offseason?  Further case in point: another day, another Andrew Gachkar article.  Dude had a rib removed a few months ago, and he's lighting people up already.

(And if we're on a perpetual hunt for new nicknames, I saw Gachkar's is "Marilyn Manson"...you know...'cause of that whole rib removal thing...remember that rumor?)

 The Trib has a nice piece on the most unsung member of the secondary, Castine Bridges, another reason why Mizzou has the hardest-hitting secondary I've ever seen.

 Thanks to Mizzou's coaches, the Houston Cougars do not have the best LB corps in Conference USA.  And thank you to that Houston Mall carrying that lone Mizzou sweatshirt.

 Congrats to Kellen Winslow for finally getting that AD job he's always sought...

 Does Dave Matter sleep?  Along with the multiple football links above, he also cranked out a nice story on Olympic Shot Put finalist (and possibly more than that soon) Christian Cantwell.  The P-D has a story as well.

 For PowerMizzou subscribers: 1) MAILBAG!!! 2) Enter The Chamber!!  From the 'Bag...

gstrang asks: A lot has been made about how awesome Ziggy Hood has looked so far in practice. In order for Hood to have a great year though its imperative that Jaron Baston is able to take some of the pressure off of Big Ziggy. I'm not expecting him to replace the production of a Lorenzo Williams just yet but how has Baston looked so far and what type of year do you expect from him?

First off, Ziggy can have a great year without big numbers. If he's occupying two blockers all the time, he's done his job without making a tackle. I like Baston. I think he's going to be a good player. Is he going to be Zo? Certainly not right away, but to balance that out, the other three starters on the line return and theoretically they should all be better. The line as a whole, I think, will be improved, especially after what I have seen in the first couple of weeks.

 Finally, volleyball's right around the corner, baby.  With no pieces left from the 2005 Elite Eight run, Mizzou is picked preseason #5 in the Big 12.