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Mizzou Links, 8-29-12

By Bill Connelly

Mizzou Football Links

So ... yeah.

First things first, however: good luck to those in the path of Hurricane Isaac, and safe travels to the folks from SE Louisiana coming up here. Not fun.

  • Game Week (And That's A Mighty Bright Shirt, James)
    The Trib (Dave Matter): Tuesday Morning Links
    PowerMizzou: Tuesday's Top Tigers

    6. E.J. Gaines

    Gaines set the school record for pass breakups in his first season as a starter. It would be surprising if he approaches that number again because teams are likely to throw away from him much more than they did a year ago.

    KC Star: Battered offensive line at last catches a break
    Mizzou Network: Tigers QB Ready For Opener
  • Isaac
    KC Star: Southeastern Louisiana has to deal with hurricane before Tigers
    Post-Dispatch: SE Louisiana prep for Mizzou scrambled by Isaac
  • Tix
    MUtigers.com: GA Tickets for SE Louisiana and Kentucky On Sale Wednesday
  • ROCK AND ROLL
    The Trib: From injury comes opportunity

    With a thick red beard and a wild mane to match, the 6-foot-3, 290-pound Copeland could pass for one of William Wallace's Scottish sidekicks in the film "Braveheart." Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel made the same observation on his radio show last night, saying the former walk-on looks like one of the movie's "berserk warriors" on the practice field.

    But Pinkel nearly had the same player in tears two Saturdays ago. That's when Pinkel summoned Copeland to his office to deliver some news: He had earned a scholarship.

    "I'm not that emotional of a dude," Copeland said. "But I was emotional, man. Very emotional. Just because I've played that story in my mind a thousand times before and dreamed about what it's like."

    The dream isn't done there. An inexplicable string of injuries has left Missouri without what would have been four of its top 10 offensive linemen heading into the season. That list includes senior guard Jack Meiners, who's out for at least a week with a strained knee ligament suffered Thursday.

    The Trib (Dave Matter): Mad Max Copeland, Uncut

    If the coaches kept a swear jar for blue language in practice, Copeland might owe one year's tuition in quarters. For the Motörhead-loving rocker, the football field is his stage and he's Lemmy. How will he prepare for Saturday's game, his first career start?

    "I guess we’ll find out. I’m a little nervous how that’s going to play out. You’ve got to have a game plan for everything. Sometimes you can't just go with the flow because you can get burned pretty hard. I kind of like to crank it up a little bit once it starts to be about that time. And I need to make sure I’m not exhausted by kickoff because it’s going to be really hard … The temptation’s going to be pretty great as soon as I wake up at 6 o’clock to put on some Motörhead on and start head-banging, but I can’t do that because I’ll be exhausted by kickoff. … My intensity, I consider that a pretty big edge for me. And I need to make sure I maximize that so I don’t burn too hot too quick. So it’s important that I can temper it a bit and harness it at the right times and the right places. That way there’s no wasted energy.

    "I’ll come up with some loose guidelines, because if it starts to seem like rules I’ll resist the hell out of it."

  • The Team Hammer
    Post-Dispatch: Andrew Wilson follows in father's hard-hitting footsteps at MU

    "I try to avoid him as much as I can," Lawrence said, smiling. "He's always eager to just hit anything he can hit."

    Even his defensive teammates aren't immune.

    "He's knocked out my spinal cord; he's blown out my back a few times," junior defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson said. "I didn't wrap up (a running back) clean enough, so Andrew came and finished him off."

    Not that Wilson is insensitive. He even has apologized to Richardson during games: "My bad, bro," Richardson recalled him saying.

  • Special Teams
    KC Star: Pinkel addresses kickoffs, the kicking situation and more

    Missouri's head coach had some interesting thoughts about the new NCAA rules moving kickoffs from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard line and touchbacks up five yards. The NCAA says the changes were made to reduce the number of injuries on what is statistically considered to be one of college football's most dangerous plays.

    "I think they’ll make the game safer," Pinkel said. "I think you’ll see huge numbers of touchbacks."

    Pinkel said teams would be wise to take the touchbacks, since teams will now get the ball at the 25-yard line instead of the 20-yard line.

    "If you averaged 25 (yards) per return, you’d be in the top 15 in the nation," Pinkel said. "So you’ve got to really think long and hard about bringing the ball out, and it depends on the players you’ve got back there. Jeremy Maclin, we’d probably put him back there and say come out anytime you want because of the potential of a big play.

    "It will also be interesting (in) the long-term, when kickoff cover teams aren’t as good because there are so many touchbacks. So we’ll have the advantage then (of) sometimes being able to take it three or four yards deep because the kickoff teams are not really, gameday-wise, (ready) to cover. There’s a lot of dynamics there, we’re going to see what happens. Anything we can do for safety is good. We have to be as proactive as we can."

  • Danario
    Fox Sports MW: Alexander's career with Rams full of 'what ifs'
  • 2014 Recruiting
    PowerMizzou: LSW's Monte Harrison breaks out
  • Newbies
    We Are Mizzou: Rickey Hatley Mic'd Up

Other Football Links

  • Dammit, Truman
    EDSBS: THE GREAT PRESEASON HARMFUL THOUGHTS PURGE

Mizzou Basketball Links

  • St. Louis, Then?
    KC Star: KC unlikely to bid for SEC hoops event

Mizzou Diamond Sports Links

Other Mizzou Links

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