What's On
Here are the highlight videos for Aarion Penton and Kenya Dennis when Mizzou signed them in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
Impressive, to be sure, but I'm not sure we knew what we were getting in those two.
Post-Dispatch: Dennis, Penton form Tigers' hungry tandem
"I think we can be one of the best tandems in the SEC right now," Dennis said.
He’ll get no argument from Missouri’s young receivers, who had their training wheels ripped off in Saturday’s scrimmage as Penton and Dennis at times took turns manhandling their counterparts. Dennis, a 5-11, 200-pound senior, and Penton, a 5-10, 190-pound former All-Metro receiver and defensive back at CBC, played a significant amount of man coverage last year and have since earned trust from their position coach to play more aggressively this season.
"We want them to be more aggressive but be smart and not put them in positions to hurt the defense," cornerbacks coach Cornell Ford said. "Hopefully (with) their experience from last year they know the ins and outs and know how to do things differently. I’ll allow them a little bit more flexibility than I did last year, just because of their youth."
More football:
The Trib (David Morrison): MU Notes: The "Execution of the Offense" edition
Quarterbacks coach Andy Hill said some of the interceptions were excusable, such as Eddie Printz's desperation heave on 4th-and-20 at the end of the scrimmage that Ian Simon intercepted.
Some of them had to do with the still-building chemistry between the quarterbacks and Missouri's young receivers.
And some of them were just "really dumb decisions" on the part of his quarterbacks.
"It was disappointing," Hill said. "We want to be much better than that. We understand we've got different dudes at wide receiver than we had last year, but we've got to be focused on what we're doing at quarterback. For Maty" Mauk, "Eddie, Marvin" Zanders, "Corbin" Berkstresser "all those guys all the way through there, we just didn't have a good day on Saturday. And we want to do better this Saturday."
Mauk, at least, looks better in the technical game than he did at this point last year, Hill said. Mauk only had two throws in the scrimmage that Hill said he'd "like to have back."
The Missourian: After late arrival, Missouri football's Charles Harris confident in big role
Harris said he began to think he had a future in football. Under Lee's direction, he joined the track team. Winning races wasn't the objective; becoming a faster and more confident football player was.
"When he saw that he could really do this, he took off," Allen said.
As a senior, Harris recorded 60 tackles and 12 sacks and forced two fumbles. He was his league's defensive MVP.
"He just blossomed into a man-child," Allen said.
Harris played basketball his senior year, and his coach, Steve Evans, told him that basketball programs at Boston College, Houston and Southern Illinois were calling. But Harris was set on football — even when his best shots at playing in college appeared to be Missouri Western State or Northern Iowa.
Down a game on Rocky Top
MUTIGERS.COM: No. 23 Mizzou Drops Series Opener at Tennessee, 5-2
The Missourian: No. 23 Missouri baseball falls to Tennessee in series opener
At some point, it would be great to put Tanner Houck in a position where he doesn't HAVE to win to give Mizzou a shot in a given series, but we'll see what he can do. He's been passing tests left and right of late.
MUTIGERS.COM: Tanner Houck Named to Golden Spikes Award Watch List
USABaseball.com: News: USA Baseball reveals 60-player midseason Golden Spikes Award watch list
Next up for softball:
MUTIGERS.COM: No. 21 Mizzou Softball Set to Host Crucial Series vs. Mississippi State
The Missourian: Driven by hometown support, Jordan Zolman is stepping up for Missouri softball
Boom
MUTIGERS.COM: Mizzou Earns First-Ever Learfield Cup Top-25 Rank
Not bad considering the points Mizzou clearly didn't earn in basketball.
Hey, speaking of basketball (what a segue!) ... the Kim Anderson statements and the comments in Sam's post yesterday have been interesting, revealing, and honestly a bit too much for me to process yet. Still catching up. But there are potential soul-of-the-program and soul-of-the-site conversations in there, and I'm curious how they unfold over the coming days or weeks. This is one of SB Nation's most mature, tightly-knit communities, and I'm excited to see where the conversation goes here.