Mizzou Links, 8-8-08

 It appears the offense struck back at yesterday's practice.  See full practice reports from the usual suspects: PowerMizzou, Trib.

 Meanwhile, Tim Griffin went nuts with Mizzou articles yesterday (he was in Columbia, so there you go), which is always lovely to see.  He posts about Chase Coffman, Jerrell Jackson, the coaches' T-shirts, the staff's stability, and again about the T-shirts.  And most interestingly, he spent 5 minutes with William Moore.

Give me an idea of how hard it is to play defensive back in the Big 12 with all of those receivers and quarterbacks?

WM: It's not easy. You have to be able to run and cover. It's that simple. Playing free safety against the spread, you have a lot of fast receivers and it's tough to press those guys. You have to play off them. And the quarterbacks aren't that bad, either. It's a big challenge every week. 

How much do you think it prepares you for everybody else in the Big 12 by facing Chase Daniel and all of your receivers during your own practices?

WM: That's the best practice you can ever get going against those guys. We can play with anybody after we match up with those guys every day. It's great training for us. If we can shut them down, we can play with anybody.

 

All's forgiven for those coach rankings the other day, Tim.

 Want a feel-good story?  Take a look at how Andrew Gachkar has bounced back from a pretty damn bad situation.

Early in the second semester last year, with his right arm swollen--in his words "gigantic"--Gachkar sought medical help. Doctors found a 13-centimeter blood clot in the vessel above his first rib on the right side of his chest. Over two separate surgeries that lasted 20 hours, they removed the rib and the scalene muscle on the right side of Gachkar's neck, in addition to doing work on his right wrist and leg to improve blood flow. He spent a little more than three weeks in the hospital all told.

"It's a very difficult surgery. I know from talking to him after, he felt like he got hit by a truck," Gary Pinkel said. "To see what he looked like when he had that surgery and what he looks like now. It's a different human being."

 The Trib goes back-to-back with the videos today!

 If you like stories about the freshman receivers, today's your day.  The Trib talks about them "drinking from the firehose"...and KC Star compares them a bit to Jared Perry and Danario Alexander.  Plus, here's a quick Q&A with Andrew Jones.

 Brian Coulter is 100 percent frustrated...but he's happy to be here...

 Good, Bad and Sleezy is back!

 Remember Justin Gage?  He's doing pretty well...

 Finally, The Trib catches up with Christian Cantwell as he prepares for (skipping) the Olympic Opening Ceremony...