Mizzou Links, 9-4-08

We start today with a basketball link.  That's right, a basketball link.  Michael Snaer and Mike Dixon are both visiting this weekend, and they're scrimmaging at 4pm before the SEMO game.  The most important thing from SEMO weekend could be a big crowd showing up at the scrimmage and showing Mr. Snaer that Mizzou's fans do care about basketball.  There's been a nice movement for participation over at PowerMizzou, so I figured the least I could do was encourage it myself.  Show up, cheer, make signs, etc.  Getting a commitment from a 5-star recruit would be a big-time step toward (finally) turning around the program.

Here's a nice column by PowerMizzou Gabe about Michael Keck and the uncertainties of recruiting.

If a coach signs 25 players, deep down, he probably hopes eight of them become starters. Perhaps 15 of them will contribute somehow to his program. If that happens, he's landed a recruiting class that has had ridiculous success.

Just look back at that Class of 2007. While Keck is now gone, Carl Gettis is a rock in the Tiger secondary. Luke Lambert, who turned out to be the linebacker that played as a true freshman from that class, will likely start this weekend against SEMO. If you like the four stars, it's Derrick Washington that now seems headed for superstardom. Heck, Elvis Fisher was told by the Missouri coaches they weren't sure they had room for him. Now he's a rock star among Missouri fans after playing masterfully in the season-opening win over Illinois.

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College coaches criss-cross the country looking for the kids they think will be the best players for their team. Sometimes they're right. Just as often, they're not. The really, really good ones hit on a few more than they miss. But even the best probably hit on two-thirds. That's a "D" for my fifth grader.

While we're talking about Rivals, you've gotta love Rivals' latest national positional player rankings.  #1 TE, #1 LB, #1 Special Teams player, #1 offensive coach, #2 QB, #2 DB, #3 WR, #10 defensive coach, #15 head coach, #19 DL, #22 RB.  And if anything, it should have been even better--I mean, where's Jeff Wolfert??  I remember the days when were excited to see a player or two on the list.  Now we've got 4 #1's.  Here's a video about the latest power rankings.

Dave Matter takes a look at Rivals' #1 LB, Mr. Spoon

"Guys were saying, ‘Man, somebody needs to make a play,’ " Weatherspoon recalled. "I just wanted to be that guy."

What Spoon wants, he apparently gets.

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More late-game heroics like that and Weatherspoon could add to his credentials, which include last year’s first-team All-Big 12 selection. Linebacker, though, has been one of the least-celebrated positions in MU’s history. Since Gus Otto’s All-Big Eight season in 1964, only eight MU linebackers have earned first-team all-conference honors, including Weatherspoon last season. Over that same span, first-team honors have gone to 13 defensive linemen, 23 defensive backs, 33 offensive linemen and 12 receivers. Of the 28 Missouri players to earn All-American honors, none played linebacker as a primary position. The two players usually mentioned among the best linebackers in school history, Andy Russell (1960-62) and Chris Garlich (1975-78), weren’t all-conference selections.

The last Missouri linebacker to get drafted to play the position in the NFL was Rocky Wallace, a fifth-round pick by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1971. Bobby Bell (fourth round, 1984) and Jeff Gaylord (fourth round, 1982) were drafted as linebackers but played along the defensive line at Missouri.

SEMO Links!

• Dave Matter goes behind the numbers.  A man after my own heart.  And you've gotta love the video suggestions as well.
• The Missourian says SEMO wins, even if it doesn't score.
• The Post-Dispatch talks about Rockwood Summit grad and star SEMO WR Eddie Calvin.  You'll be hearing more about him in today's BTBS post.

Jeff Wolfert's still diving.  Off cliffs.

Finally, I'd be remiss as a Mizzou blogger if I didn't point and laugh at Darrell Arthur and Mario Chalmers.  So...ha ha.  Mizzourah has more.