Mizzou Practice Reports!

• Dave Matter: Tuesday Practice Report

  Facing the No. 1 defense, Blaine Gabbert looked like a seasoned veteran on a late series. With DE Aldon Smith breathing in his face and Sean Weatherspoon blitzing off the other edge, Gabbert calmly threw a strike to Jones down the left seam for a first down. Pretty cool under pressure.

• Dave Matter: Tuesday Practice Report, Part II

  Wide receiver T.J. Moe (foot surgery) sat out all drills again Tuesday afternoon, but only for precautionary reasons. With a double session scheduled for Tuesday, the training staff decided it was best for Moe to give his foot a full day's rest after five straight days of practice. He hasn't suffered any further damage to the original area.

• PowerMizzou: Tuesday Practice Report

  Really, really impressed with LDamian Washington so far. He's clearly the top freshman wideout through week one. Pete's going to have a story later in the week and I don't want to steal his thunder. However, one of Washington's best efforts today made him look like a defensive back. He went up high to get a hand on a pass from Ashton Glaser that saved what would have been a sure pick. Washington was also working in with the punt returners. A sign that the redshirt could come off? Too early to tell yet, but it's possible.

• Mutigers.com: Tigers Take on Two-A-Days
• PowerMizzou: August 11 practice photos

Today's videos: The Trib's Raw Video: Offensive Line, and PowerMizzou's PMTV: Two-a-days are here and PMTV: Tough up front.

Reaction: I'm getting more confident in Gabbert with each report, though I'm still not completely sold on the receiving corps.  It sounds like Danario Alexander had a pretty bad morning practice with a large case of the dropsies.  Everybody has a bad practice now and then, but hands have never been Alexander's (nor Wes Kemp's) biggest strength, so Gabbert will need to find at least a couple of reliable, sure-handed targets...at least one of which needs to be a WR.  Is that Jerrell Jackson?  Jared Perry?  TJ Moe or L'Damian "Olive Oil" Washington (get it? because he's so skinny?)?  Also: if we have such great depth at CB but Hardy Ricks is still starting at safety (no offense to him, but is he really one of our four best defensive backs?), at what point does somebody bring up potentially moving Carl Gettis (who is apparently to play safety in the nickel look) to safety and replacing him with either Kip Edwards, Trey Hobson, or I guess Munir Prince at CB?  Not saying it should or will happen, but it's just kind of odd having great supposed depth at CB and not-so-much at safety.

Other Mizzou Football Links!

• The Trib: New starters make impression
• Campus Corner (KC Star): MU's Hill Has a Lot of Young Pup Receivers
• PowerMizzou: Freshman Q&A: Kendial Lawrence
• Post-Dispatch: Mizzou gives T.J. Moe a look at WR
• Post-Dispatch: MU likes its secondary depth
• Post-Dispatch: (Defensive) Backfield in Motion

It does sound like they're taking extreme precautions with Moe, which is fine.  It also sounds like he's playing if healthy.  It ALSO sounds like one of the most interesting brewing battles in camp will be De'Vion Moore holding off Kendial "Four Heismans" Lawrence at #2 RB, as I'm pretty sure Kendial has already sprinted past Gilbert Moye at #3 and makes at least one big play every day.

Other Mizzou Links, period.

• Rivals.com: Justin McCay commits to Sooners
• Mutigers.com: Alysha Bonnick Named to Hermann Trophy Watch List (soccer's version of the Heisman...shouldn't it be called the Hamm Trophy or something?)

McCay was the recruit that I knew we weren't going to get but still held out hope for some reason.  He was always high on Mizzou, but his interest seemed to shift to OU and Florida in recent weeks, and pretty much everybody who talked to him left with the impression that he would be a Sooner, but still...boo.

Big 12 Links!

• Rock Chalk Talk: Preseason Positional Breakdowns: Running Backs/Tight Ends (interesting combination)
• Campus Corner (KC Star): For the KU football diehards ... a depth chart or something like it
• Daily Oklahoman: Oklahoma facing center shortage
• Crimson and Cream Machine: Oklahoma Safeties: The Other Big Hole No One Is Talking About

Good point by C&C about the safeties, and really, since the OU offensive line problem has reached Bill Simmons' "called underrated so long it becomes overrated" status, maybe safety is the BIGGEST issue.  I do think that the other nine players on the OU defense are good enough, however, that it won't be that big a hindrance.

Other!

• Stewart Mandel: Florida Gators, Texas Longhorns could settle culture clash in BCS
• ESPN.com: Virginia Tech's Darren Evans out for the season

The loss of Evans isn't a season-killer for VT, but it hurts a lot.  Evans breathed new life into the Hokie offense last year when he rushed for 253 yards against Maryland to help VT end a 2-game losing streak.  He rushed for 100+ yards in four of the last six games of the year, including the Orange Bowl.  VT has decent depth at RB, but this does put a lot of pressure on stud RSFr Ryan Williams to produce immediately.  If he does, no problem, but you never want to count too much on freshmen before the season even starts.