Now that 2008 is officially over and we officially turn our eyes toward recruiting (in one month) and spring football (in two), I thought we could take the time to talk about each unit on the team and how it's shaping up for 2009.  One exciting thing about 2009 in comparison to 2008 is, well, there's more to talk about and debate.

Returnees

Blaine Gabbert (6'4, 225, sophomore)

Gary Pinkel's first 5-star signee, Gabbert played in junk time in five games, completing 5 of 13 passes for 43 yards.  In a lot of ways, he is the anti-Daniel.  He is tall (Justin Whitlock won't get away with calling him "sawed-off"), cannon-armed, and extremely highly-touted.  He's also mobile and, it seems, down-to-earth and sculptible.  He has all the tools to be a massive success, but there are two primary concerns (for me, anyway):

1) Unlike Daniel, he wasn't a massive winner in high school.  In fact, I believe his team (Parkway West) had a losing record in his senior year before he got hurt.  Now, you can't pin this all at the quarterback's feet.  If the rest of the team is terrible, there's not much a guy can do.  Chase Daniel had an extraordinary amount of talent surrounding him at Southlake Carroll, not to mention top-flight facilities and an innovative, soon-to-be-snatched-up-to-the-college-ranks coach.  However, one problem I always had was simply that if you put Chase Daniel on any high school team of any caliber, he'd have figured out a way to win more than he lost.  Maybe I'm horrendously incorrect there, but it's been a red flag for me on Gabbert since back when he was a Nebraska commit.

2) This could be completely and totally coincidental, but he got hurt his senior year in high school (foot and shoulder) and again in two-a-days (shoulder sprain).  Maybe he'll never be hurt again, but three injuries in about 14 months is at least a small red flag that he might be injury-prone.

Jimmy Costello (6'3, 225, sophomore)

A walk-on from Liberty who impressed Gary Pinkel enough that he was given a scholarship without actually seeing the field, Costello might be more of an option at quarterback than any of us might have thought.  Pinkel went so far as to compare him to Hugh Millen, a former walk-on at Washington who made it to the NFL.  I can't say I know a single thing about this kid, but a) he's a good size, and b) Pinkel likes him.  That means I like him, and that means we might actually have a 4-way QB race in March.  How freaking fun is that??

Incoming recruits after the jump.

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1 - With the 2008 season in the books for Mizzou, what's the single lingering image you take away from this Tiger season?  Doug, I bet I know what your answer is going to be...

2 - What would have been a better finish for Missouri this season--beating OSU or Kansas and losing the Holiday Bowl to finish 10-4, or losing to OSU and Kansas, but winning the Alamo Bowl (albeit it in uninspiring fashion) to finish 10-4?  Which one would have felt more satisfying/disappointing now that all is said and done?

3 - Disappointment or no, Missouri has gone 22-6 in the last two seasons and 30-11 in the last three.  Is this the high point of the Pinkel era, or can he bring Missouri back to this level again now that this batch of seniors (and at least one stud underclassman) have played their last game in Missouri uniforms?

4 - Mizzou plays Georgia on a basketball court in Athens this Saturday.  Georgia needed a buzzer-beater 3 to beat Wofford and has already lost to Loyola-IL and Texas A&M-CC (the A&M cross-country team?  Oh...A&M-Corpus Christi...).  What % chance does Missouri have of losing this game on Saturday?

5 - New Year's Eve plans?

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1 - Who will miss All-Americans Chase Coffman and Jeremy Maclin more next year--the team or the fans?

2 - Lots of stories are coming out Blaine Gabbert's positive development from August through the bowl practices.  What should Mizzou legitimately expect from him in 2008?

3 - Missouri is ranked ahead of Kansas in basketball for the first time in at least five years.  What do you see from these two teams the rest of the season?

4 - Does anybody have a cooler nickname than the Stetson Hatters?

5 - How are you planning on celebrating Christm...uhh, Hanuk...uhh, Kwanz...uhh, Festivus...uhh, your chosen religious winter holiday?

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Another day, another "Gabbert's figuring it out" article...this one from Dave Matter.

As the team’s No. 3 quarterback, Gabbert saw the field in five games this season and attempted just 13 passes - including only two throws during Big 12 Conference play - leading some to question whether it was worthwhile to sacrifice a season of eligibility for MU’s highest-profile recruit in years.

Daniel staunchly defends Missouri’s decision to play his protégé this season. As Daniel explained it Saturday, the prep work Gabbert put in Sundays through Fridays defines his rookie experience more than his participation on Saturdays.

"The mental part of it is something people don’t understand," Daniel said. "People say, ‘I wish he would have redshirted,’ but, well, it’s great to have that year back but except for one day of the week, he’s preparing like he’s the starter. He’s going to be just fine."

Monday meant weekly features...Like Father, Unlike Son and Dave Matter's Big 12 football notes Steve Walentik's Big 12 basketball notes (and accompanying Top 25 ballot).

Matt Lawrence's shot still isn't tremendously consistent, but one thing's for certain--he's playing better this year.  And apparently he's having some fun as well.

And speaking of having fun, there's a reason why everybody in the program (including fans) are enjoying this year more: new blood.  And after the, uhh, experiences of the last few seasons, you have to love this quote from Kimmie English:

"We know we have to represent this team 24-7, every single day, like we're always being looked at," said English, adding, "What's that saying, with great responsibility … ?

"I represent my family, my city, my state, myself, and I don't ever want to put shame on my family name or on this program."

Clearly we still need to recruit some more size to be successful in the future, but I've gotta say...after both seeing and hearing these freshmen, I'm more optimistic about Mizzou Basketball right now than I have been for a long time.  I'll let you know when I get all the way back up to "Luol Deng and Ricky Clemons"-level optimism.

Finally, this is completely Mizzou unrelated, but just in case you didn't see the ending of last night's Cleveland State/Syracuse game...holy moly...

Despite the disappointment of the last couple weeks of the 2008 season, it's clear by now that the Chase Daniel Years will be considered a high point in Mizzou history.  Hopefully there are plenty more great years to come under Gary Pinkel, but when you cycle from one group of recruits to another, you never know for sure that success will follow.

Of all the success of the Chase Daniel Years, there's an interesting dichotomy in Mizzou's record from 2006-08, one that was driven home mercilessly this past weekend:

Chase Daniel versus Oklahoma and Texas: 0-5 (last two years: 0-4).
Chase Daniel versus everybody else: 29-6 (last two years: 21-2).

Missouri lost to both Oklahoma State and Kansas this year, and while both of those losses were painful and unexpected, it's clear that over the last three years, Missouri has been better than just about every team it played...except Oklahoma and Texas. Two me, that brings up two questions: 1) Can Missouri ever truly compete consistently with OU and Texas, and 2) If not, what should be expected of Gary Pinkel (or any other Missouri coach)?  We'll cover Question 1 today, Question 2 hopefully tomorrow.

Can Missouri ever truly compete consistently with Oklahoma and Texas?

Let's re-visit a post I made back in May, called "Culture vs Caliber."

I had a theory a while back--and I never had the time/non-laziness to prove or disprove it--that building a sustained power is cyclical.  And few programs from the mid-level of D1 (that would include, historically, us) have the resources, length of rope, or luck involved to actually crack through to the upper echelon and stay there.  Think about how many not-historically-successful programs have emerged and threatened to break into that USC/Ohio State/Florida/Oklahoma/etc level over the past 10-15 years.  There's Virginia Tech, and then there's...well...that's it.  I guess you could count Kansas State (though they've obviously taken about 8 steps backwards in recent years), and I guess you could maybe count West Virginia or Louisville if you really wanted to, but only VT and K-State have cracked that Top 10 echelon in more than one recruiting cycle (meaning, the 4-5 years that a special, 'breakthrough' class of players attends a school) under the same coach (or branch of the coaching tree), and only VT is still there (I guess).  Otherwise, that's about it.

...

Honestly, it seems that the only way a program can jump to the upper echelon and stay there is in cycles.  You recruit some kids who believe in what you can bring them, they succeed as upper-classmen, you parlay that success into higher-caliber recruits, you endure a down(ish) year or two when the last class cycles through and the high-upside youngsters are cutting their teeth, then you achieve even higher heights when those kids are upper-classmen...which leads to higher-caliber recruits, smaller down-periods, higher upside, etc.  Sounds great, but honestly it just doesn't happen very often.  Again, the list after Virginia Tech and K-state is pretty much nonexistent...and even then, Tech hasn't gotten back to a Title Game like they did in the Michael Vick years (though I guess they, like about 23 others teams, came relatively close last year), and K-State fell off of the relevance map as soon as Bill Snyder retired (actually, about a year or two before that--his recruiting had plummeted, and the writing was on the wall).

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Oh baby...8 degrees...20 mph winds...a layer of sleet/snow/frozen rain on the roads...this is gonna be fun...

So it was a big weekend for Mizzou Football Recruiting...not necessarily in the "hosting uncommitted recruits" sense, but in the "hosting mostly committed recruits and solidifying everybody's commitments" sense (it seems to have worked).  The only big-name, uncommitted kid in town was Ronnie Wingo, who had a "perfect" trip.  He's insisting on taking five visits, but I think there's at least a small chance that doesn't happen.  His family's on-board with Mizzou, and I'm quite optimistic about our chances whenever he decides to pull the trigger.

Chase Coffman may not get his name on the wall, but he is indeed getting a mural...

Mizzou Back to Practice links!

• Dave Matter: Tigers get back to practice

  "The coaches will give significant reps to younger players during the pre-bowl practices in Columbia. Nobody took advantage of the extended time more on Saturday than freshman quarterback Blaine Gabbert. This was really the first substantial practice time I’ve seen from Gabbert since preseason camp back in August, and other than his No. 11, not much looked the same. He zipped some fastballs downfield during 11-on-11 drills, something we didn’t see much from Gabbert during two-a-days. On one, he fired a 30-yard rope to Wes Kemp between defenders that would have gone for a touchdown."

• PowerMizzou: Gabbert takes over
• Post-Dispatch: Maclin says jump to NFL isn't a done deal yet (of course...what else is he going to say?)

Carl Gettis: future leader.

Another day, another "What a disappointing season" article from Vahe Gregorian at the Post-Dispatch, this one on Chase Daniel and the Heisman...and yes, he's not the only one writing them...but I always notice when it's him...

To basketball.  Here is a handful of Murray State wrap-up links for you...

• The Trib: A little more than they bargained for
• The Trib: [Isaac] Miles lives the dream
• The Missourian: Missouri frontcourt held in check
• The Missourian: Tigers find a way to win
• KC Star: Mizzou wins sixth straight
• Post-Dispatch: Lyons leads Missouri past pesky Murray State

Finally, for those who don't keep up with stat-nerd Ken Pomeroy and his basketball rankings, you may want to check them out.  He's sooo over the RPI, he's come up with something better, and Mizzou's #9.  Fun.  It's too early to take that too seriously, but it does show that while Mizzou has beaten up on mostly cupcakes (USC's #33, Cal #46, and Mizzou's SOS is #6 in the Big 12), they've done it in a pretty statistically sound way, which is encouraging.  Now we just need DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons to hold onto the ball, and we're really in business...

We have a long-standing rule here at Rock M Nation: win a national award, get your very own 40-comment thread, and get your own set of bullet links.  Therefore...JOHN MACKEY AWARD-WINNING CHASE COFFMAN LINKS:

• Mutigers.com: Coffman Wins John Mackey Tight End Award

  "I’m really honored by this, to win the award that says you’re the best in the nation at your position, it means a lot," said Coffman, who was in Orlando attending the show, as the guest of teammate and friend, Jeremy Maclin, who was one of three finalists for the Biletnikoff Award (tight ends aren’t invited to the show, but Maclin insisted that Coffman come with him anyway because he deserved it).

  "I’m really happy for my family and especially my Dad (Paul) who taught me so much about football," Coffman said. "I have to give a lot of credit to my coaches over the years, and definitely Coach (Bruce) Walker (MU tight end coach) and Coach Pinkel for giving me the opportunities they have at Mizzou. It’s an individual award, but it’s also something that our team earns, because it doesn’t happen without a great quarterback like Chase (Daniel) and our great playmakers like Jeremy (Maclin) and D-Wash (TB Derrick Washington) who draw attention away from me, and our offensive line which gives Chase time to make the throws. I hope everyone takes some satisfaction in knowing they helped make this happen," he said.

• Dave Matter: Coffman Captures Mackey Award
• KC Star: Coffman wins top tight end award
  

Wow...Dave Matter just joined the mailbag fray, and his first one is a friggin' doozy...in fact, that's right..I think it deserves the graphic...

MAILBAG!!!!

Q: Without Maclin and Coffman next year, will we have a respectable receiving corps? And what do you think about Glazer and Dalton competing with Gabbert at QB? — Roy Johnson

A: Covered the receivers question earlier. There’s not one developed No. 1 option right now. Danario Alexander would be the closest example, but I think he needs a full offseason to get back to where he was before the knee surgeries. If he can get back to where he was before the 2007 season — when he was no less impressive than Maclin in practice, it not more — than he’s the obvious No. 1 weapon. Jared Perry and Andrew Jones can be productive options, but I’d say MU needs significant production out of three or four among Jerrell Jackson, Gahn McGaffie, Wes Kemp, Mike Egnew and Rolandis Woodland.
As for the quarterbacks, I don’t think it’s fair to speculate or evaluate their potential until they’re on campus practicing side by side. Anything else would be premature and wasteful guesswork.

Journalism Bowl Alamo Bowl buzz links!

• Post-Dispatch: Gary Pinkel live from San Antonio in advance of Alamo Bowl
• The Missourian: Pinkel, Fitzgerald begin Alamo Bowl buzz
• KC Star: Northwestern coach has MU connection
• Post-Dispatch: Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald comes a long way fast (weird use of present tense there)
• Chicago Tribune: Northwestern braces for a big challenge vs Missouri

To basketball, where PowerMizzou submits the latest "They're having fun out there" article, the Post-Dispatch talks about the attention Mizzou isn't getting (fine by me), and The Trib's Steve Walentik talks about Mizzou's attendance problems.  Mizzou is 11th in the Big 12 in attendance so far, though I will say...I think the Lloyd Noble Center counts attendance the way the Hearnes Center did...no WAY is OU actually averaging 10,665 in attendance...

Two years ago, it was pretty easy to see what was in store for the Big 12 in football.  Colt McCoy was having a monster RSFr season.  Chase Daniel and Graham Harrell were having monster sophomore seasons.  Stephen McGee and Bobby Reid were young and looked like gamers.  Josh Freeman was a true freshman starter, and while he looked it from time to time, his upside was huge.  Even Bret Meyer and Blake "Blizzle Szyzzle" Szymanski had their moments.

Beyond that, the offensive lines (especially Oklahoma's) were young, as were the RBs and WRs.  Oh yeah, and just about every proven defensive end had run out of eligibility.  While there was still defensive talent throughout the conference, it was clear that the next couple of years were going to see some unprecedented offensive continuity and success in the Big 12.

Sure enough, that's what happened.  And it was an even bigger surge than anybody expected.  Todd Reesing and Zac Robinson outshone their promising counterparts (Dylan Meier and Reid) and thrived.  Jeremy Maclin and Michael Crabtree were All-Americans as redshirt freshmen.  Add to that the fact that half the league's starters are of the "3-year" variety, and this run of offense has just been ridiculous.  Josh Freeman is still talked about as a potential first rounder in the 2009 (or 2010) draft, and he's at best the #8 QB in the conference.

But it all changes in 2009.  Daniel and Harrell?  Gone.  Crabtree and Maclin?  Almost certainly gone.  McCoy, Bradford, Freeman?  Possibly gone.  Chase Coffman, Joe Ganz, Marlon Lucky, Nate Swift, Chris Ogbonnaya, Quan Cosby, Jordan Shipley, Shannon Woods and Eric Morris?  Gone.  Even the J-Train, Jorvorskie Lane, has finally exhausted his eligibility.  So many guys who have become household names in the midwest are leaving.

And that says nothing about William Moore, Brian Orakpo, all of KU's linebackers, Nic Harris, and the potential defensive exodus.  Or even Dave Christensen, Matt Eberflus, Brent Venables, Kevin Wilson, and the potential assistant coaching exodus.

The watchword for '08 was "offensive explosion."  For '09?  "New"  Through the clarity of 2007 and 2008 lies the fog of 2009.  We don't yet know all who will return and who will not, but one thing's for certain: everything changes in 2009.

It's still pretty hard to grasp this yet, as we don't know who will be leaving for the draft, but let's take a super-duper early look at who might be good (or not so good) in 2009.  We'll start with the North Division.  To do this, I'm not going to jump into BTBS numbers.  There will certainly be a time and place for that.  Today, we'll simply go unit-by-unit and make some early rankings.  And I'm not even going to think about redshirts or incoming recruits.  Making predictions about how newcomers are going to fit in and/or thrive can drive you crazy.  Plus, you'll probably be wrong.  Remember how Darrell Scott and Jocques Crawford were supposed to be total studs the moment they walked in the door at CU and KU?

In other words, the projections after the jump are strictly from this year's depth chart.

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Atch is out today...he sent in his contribution below...

1 - Three teams remain in the running for the Big 12 South--Texas, OU, and Texas Tech.  Of the three, who would you most rather face in title game, and who would you least rather face?

2 - Wants aside, who do you think we will face?  (And since your answer will be directly impacted by this game, who wins OU-TT this weekend?)

3 - Favorite moment from the 2008 season thus far?

4 - A week later, I'll ask it again: Any thoughts about your local basketball club yet?

5 - Both Missouri and Kansas have ridiculous numbers of freshmen on this year's basketball team...just a week into their respective careers, who's your favorite to this point?

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So I don't think I knew this award existed, but...Sean Weatherspoon: Lott Trophy IMPACT Player of the Week.

Iowa State Links!

• Dave Matter: Cut to the Chase(s)!  (“You look at the depth at receiver and the talent coming back, and you’re going to have a rookie guy in Blaine” Gabbert “or Blaine” Dalton “… or Ashton Glaser. And you have a talented tailback. They’re still going to throw the football around 30-35 times a game, but I think they’re going to lean on” Derrick Washington “at the beginning of the year, obviously, at the beginning of the year to try and get some yards out of him and protect Blaine a little bit so he can get his feet wet a little bit more. But they’re not going to change drastically by any means. It’s what got us here and what got us this far. You look at 2006, we didn’t dramatically run the ball, still threw it 400 times a year.”)
• KC Star: Legend of MU's Daniel was born against Cyclones
• The Missourian: Iowa State eyes potential spoiler role
• Post-Dispatch: MU wins big in its final exhibition game

Chase Coffman: bad spectator.

Here's a nice article about two Mizzou targets for the 2010 football class: DeSmet's DT Ryan Isom and QB Steve Kaiser.  From what I've read, Isom could be a pretty decent recruit...not sure about Kaiser yet.

On to basketball...Missouri Southern Links!

• Mutigers.com: Mizzou handles Mo. Southern, 87-58.
• KC Star: Mizzou trounces Missouri Southern
• The Missourian: Carroll adds range in exhibition win

Here's the Mo. Southern box score.  Some thoughts...

I'll say this much: we've got a lot of "energy" guys now.  I don't think you can run an organized offense through Demarre Carroll, JT Tiller, Keith Ramsey, Justin Safford, or Laurence Bowers just yet, but they can throw their bodies around and create chaos...which, I guess, is part of the plan with this system.  However...this offense HAS to run through Leo Lyons, else we'll be in a massive slog anytime we attempt a half-court offense.  Leo's 19 points on just 9 shots (in all of 13 minutes) were very encouraging, and his shot is looking as good as ever, but as we know, the biggest problem with Leo is that we simply don't know when he's going to decide to disappear for a while.

Major kudos to Bowers for managing 3 blocks in 13 minutes.  In all, I can't remember the last time Mizzou had 8 blocks in a game, but it was nice to see.  We have to be able to score in a half-court set to be a tourney contender, but you can certainly tell that this team fits Anderson's system much better than previous teams.  Lots of hustle guys making hustle plays.

Man, are the freshmen fun to watch...and MAN, ARE THE FRESHMEN TURNOVER-PRONE.  Miguel Paul, Marcus Denmon and Kimmie English combined for 3 assists and 9 turnovers in 41 minutes.  But they also combined for 25 points on 16 shots, which is quite a nice total for guards.  With all the "energy" guys out there, though, we're going to have to rely on Paul and Denmon more than we probably should at times (i.e. anytime Bad Leo makes an appearance instead of Good Leo).

Zaire Taylor.  Hmm.  Not sure what to think about him yet.  I thought he looked more-or-less in control, but then I saw the box score, and he had 4 assists and 5 turnovers.  His shot looks better than I thought it would, but...against Missouri Southern, your starting point guard needs to show more assists than turnovers.  Long-term, it would benefit us if Denmon and Paul overtook Taylor and Tiller in the starting lineup, but short-term, I don't know what's best.  All I know is, we have a great "Mizzou's down 10 with 2 minutes left--time to make some steals and take some 3's" lineup of Tiller, Denmon, Matt Lawrence, Bowers/Ramsey, and Lyons.  Hopefully we don't have to use that lineup too many times.

Finally, the Trib takes a look at Mizzou Soccer's first-round NCAA matchup...