Mizzou Links, 8-24-11

Mizzou Football Links

And with the return of football practice comes the return of links to the links posts! Hooray. And I love that Jerrell Jackson's helmet few off simply because he ran into Sheldon Richardson. I also love that Sheldon didn't realize that Jackson's red jersey meant you can't actually tackle him.

And yeah, I included that Lost Lettermen link below because of what I will simply call a tenuous Mizzou tie.

• Practice Reports
  The Trib (Dave Matter): Injured starters on the mend

  A couple snot-bubbling hits during team drills today that warrant their own paragraph. First, Jerrell Jackson snatched an inside screen and had the misfortune of colliding with Sheldon Richardson just past the line of scrimmage. Jackson's helmet popped off on impact and traveled at least 5 yards in the air. Luckily, his head was still attached to his neck. Richardson later apologized to Jackson and said he didn't realize players in red jerseys were off limits during a live contact drill. To Richardson's credit, he had a full head of steam by the time he got to Jackson and letting up wasn't much of an option at that point. "That rookie hit me," Jackson said. "Or, I hit him. I just didn't win."

  Later, wideout Marcus Lucas went airborne along the sideline for a 15-yard pass from James Franklin and just as leather met hands, Braylon Webb came hurtling toward him and leveled Lucas in the air, helmet on helmet. Webb's helmet won the collision as Lucas' snapped off and rolled away, but the ball never left Lucas' hands. He was instantly greeted by receivers coach Andy Hill, who was one happy dude. "He said, 'Great catch, but just make sure you act like you've been there and get ready to make the next one,' " Lucas said. "You can't celebrate that play. You have to be ready to go back and make that same play again." Lucas has shown glimpses in camp of being a significant part of this offense, and that was his best play of camp, no doubt.

  PowerMizzou: Down the stretch

  The biggest news was the return of some players from the injured list. Brad Madison and Jacquies Smith practiced without limitation. Kenji Jackson, Jerrell Jackson and Matt White were all back working out, but limited in red pullovers. Of the players expected to play significantly, only Travis Ruth, Will Ebner and Tavon Bolden were unable to go.
  
  Pinkel said he hopes to have Ruth back for Thursday's final camp scrimmage. Bolden has a lower back injury and is day-to-day. Pinkel struggled to recall exactly what was wrong with Bolden. "We've got like 15 guys injured," he said with a laugh.

  The Missourian: PHOTOS: MU football players prepare for season opener
  Post-Dispatch: MU defensive ends back to full practice
  
• The Missourian: Tigers try to find balance between preparation and pain
• Inside STL (Gabe Dearmond): Is Mizzou ready for some football?
• MUtigers.com: Kick-Off Four-Pack for Opener Announced
• Lost Lettermen: Casting "Friday Night Lights" With Real-Life College Football Personalities
• We Are Mizzou: Welcome Back BBQ
• Quarterback No. 1
  We Are Mizzou: KOMU-TV8 Story on James Franklin
• Defensive Backs
  The Missourian: Missouri reserve cornerback Xavier Smith not short on personality
  PowerMizzou: PHOTOS: Camp Close-Up: Safeties
• Recruiting
  PowerMizzou: 2012 Football Hot Board: Offense

Other Football Links

Frank Alexander is motivated? Interesting. Wonder what tactic Bob Stoops could have used to make that happen...

• $$$$$$
  Forbes.com: Value of College Football Scholarship Exceeds $2 Million for College Football's Top 25
• Football Porn
  Smart Football: Run and Shoot "Go" Concept
• Oklahoma
  Daily Oklahoman: OU defensive end Frank Alexander 'very motivated' to have breakout year
• Texas
  SI.com (Andy Staples): Down powers Texas, Florida keeping identities mysteries

MIZZOUEXPANSIONAPALOOZA™ 2011

Why yes, I did position these articles so that they would read like this:

Peter Bean: There is a zero percent chance Notre Dame comes to the Big 12. Anybody who thinks this will happen is just wasting everybody's time.

Dandy Dave Sittler: The Big 12 should go after Notre Dame.

• Burnt Orange Nation: Conference Realignment Rumors
• Tulsa World (Dandy Dave Sittler): Big 12 needs an aggressive plan for realignment
  

Haithshapirogate Links

Well-done by Burwell here.

• Post-Dispatch (Bryan Burwell): Mizzou owes the NCAA no favors

  The NCAA has done Missouri absolutely no favors in this mess. Unless we're all missing some less than obvious morsel, at the very least it seems like a lot of people misled Missouri officials when they were conducting their due diligence in the hiring of new basketball coach Frank Haith five months ago. According to university chancellor Brady Deaton, members of the basketball coaching search committee talked directly to people from the NCAA and the University of Miami last spring, and no one indicated anything remotely was questionable about Haith, who was then the Miami basketball coach.

  The NCAA says it has been conducting an investigation for five months, so that would mean they were buzzing around the Hurricane scandal last March. So it's not unreasonable to assume that Hurricanes officials were aware something was up during the NCAA Tournament, too. So somewhere in this process either before or after Haith was hired, several important officials with direct ties to the NCAA and the Miami athletics department possibly misled Mizzou officials or flat-out lied to them, or members of the search committee simply asked all the wrong questions. [...]
  
  There is so much wrong with the way this has gone down, and it is just the latest in a long line of nonsensical misadventures that prove the NCAA is hopelessly plodding along with no redeeming value. This is the same organization that could spend six hours interviewing the chancellor of UMSL about a part-time, $5,000-a-year golf coach running a fantasy sports operation and put the school on a two-year probation for that silliness, but couldn't find a few minutes to spare to give the Mizzou chancellor a heads-up on something far more serious — accusations that a $1 million-a-year, full-time basketball coach was accused of complicity in a $10,000 payoff to a player — until after everyone else in the world could read about it on the Internet?

• All About The U: A Few Shapiro Updates And Other Things
  

Mizzou Basketball Links

Hey Flip, I narrowly avoided bumping you with my car when you were on your scooter going toward the athletic complex yesterday. You're welcome.

• MUtigers.com: Mizzou Basketball Strength & Conditioning Feature
• Ball Is Life: 5'8" Phil Pressey: Mizzou PG Makes It Look "TOO EASY"!

Other Mizzou Links

• Mizzou Volleyball
  MUtigers.com: Volleyball Opens 2011 with Tiger Invite
  

Other

Awkward segue here, eh? Alzheimer's runs in my family, and it is just a ridiculously mean, petty, vindictive disease. Pat Summitt will do more for Alzheimer's fundraising than anybody ever has, but this is still incredibly sad. That said, she's not gone yet, and it will take a while, so there will be plenty of time to celebrate her presence in the meantime.

And then we go from Alzheimer's to the latest OK Go video. Just because, I guess.

• Horrible News
  Washington Post: Pat Summitt, Tennessee women's basketball coach, diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease
  Rocky Top Talk: Summitt News Difficult to Digest
• Music
  Nah Right: VIDEO: Lauryn Hill on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
  YouTube: OK Go And The Muppets