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Watercooler, 7-15-14: SEC Media Day 1 roundup, depth charts, and Ricker's dream job

Vanderbilt mistook Mizzou for cake, A.J. Ricker's hire is officially announced, and Jordan Clarkson is thriving in the summer league.

Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

What's On

College Football
SEC Media Days — ESPNU, 10 a.m.

NBA Summer League

Los Angeles Clippers vs. Houston — NBA TV, 6 p.m.

MLB
2014 MLB All-Star Game, Target Field, Minneapolis, MN
American League vs. National League — Fox, 7:30 p.m.

SEC Media Days

PowerMizzou.com - SEC Media Days Hub
PowerMizzou.com - Monday's SEC Notebook
PowerMizzou.com - Powered Up: Gabe DeArmond says "Prove It"

College football is a funny game. Largely, the teams that receive all the preseason publicity are the same ones that received it fifty years ago, back before the Internet was a gleam in Al Gore's eye and before anybody probably thought there would ever be a need to dole out 800 some credentials to media members that wanted to ask SEC coaches and players everything from who could beat Alabama (a yearly staple) to whether or not they would wait for marriage to have sex (see Travis, Clay and Tebow, Tim). It takes a long time to lose your spot among college football's mid-summer darlings. It takes even longer to earn a spot there.

SEC MEDIA DAYS: Muschamp feels his seat warming up - Columbia Daily Tribune
SEC Media Days 2014: Florida Gators - Good Bull Hunting

Like any good salesman, he [Muschamp] pushed specifications at the customer until they couldn't remember any of their concerns about the rusted body panels or unseasoned defense. All we could think about was that recently rebuilt V8 quarterback under the hood.

SEC MEDIA DAYS: Slive brings up Division IV possibility, but not in so many words - Columbia Daily Tribune

Most notably, he basically reiterated his threat from the spring meetings that, if the NCAA membership doesn't pass Power 5 autonomy measures in August, the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC could break off into their own "Division IV." Although he didn't actually drop the phrase this time.

Vanderbilt defensive tackle says Commodores took Mizzou for granted | The Kansas City Star

When Missouri played at Vanderbilt in football last season, Commodores defensive tackle Adam Butler wasn’t a believer in the Tigers. Mizzou’s 51-28 triumph in Nashville made an impression. "We took them for granted and we paid for it."

SEC Media Days: Vanderbilt men, but no QB – The Maneater

Tiger cake

Asked about the conference’s newest schools, Missouri and Texas A&M, Butler said the conference has developed respect for them, though he told the media there wasn’t much respect for Mizzou heading into Vanderbilt’s week six game against the Tigers last season.

Butler said Vanderbilt players called the Tigers "cake" and thought they’d beat Missouri easily. "I think they respect them more, of course," Butler said. "Missouri kind of snuck up on many teams last year. Teams didn’t expect that out of them. I think they established their own respect."

SEC MEDIA DAYS: The 3 Questions MU's Contingent Will Get Tired of Answering - Columbia Daily Tribune

Missouri takes its place in front of the thousand-strong media contingent at SEC Media Days in Hoover, Alabama, on Wednesday.

Mizzou Football

Missouri cornerback Logan Cheadle adjusts quickly to college atmosphere | The Kansas City Star - Tod Palmer

Cheadle started the spring fourth on the depth chart behind sophomore John Gibson, but Cheadle played significant minutes with starters and reserves during the spring scrimmages.

Mizzou releases preseason depth chart : Dave Matter

Take note: Incoming freshmen who did not take part in spring practices are not included here and will be added to the bottom of their respective positions.

Missouri releases a new football depth chart | The Kansas City Star

There were four changes to the starting lineup compared with the original spring depth chart, including a shuffling of all three starting linebacker spots.

SEC MEDIA DAYS: Missouri Pre-Season Depth Chart - Columbia Daily Tribune - David Morrison

I should stress that this depth chart is "tentative" and subject to change over fall camp.

MUTIGERS.COM A.J. Ricker Named Assistant Football Coach - Official Athletic Site Official Athletic Site - Football

COLUMBIA, MO. - Former University of Missouri standout center A.J. Ricker has been named assistant football coach for his alma mater, as announced today by Mizzou Head Coach Gary Pinkel.  Ricker will join the staff as offensive line coach, after spending the past season in the same role at Illinois.

PowerMizzou.com - Ricker ready to return

Ricker lands dream job at Mizzou : Sports

"As coaches you always have those few jobs that are your dreams jobs," Ricker said Monday, "and Missouri is definitely one of them for me."

Missouri officially adds A.J. Ricker to football staff | The Kansas City Star

"I’m grateful to coach Pinkel and his staff for having the faith in me to bring me on," Ricker said in a release from MU Athletics. "They’ve done a heck of a job of building this program and I’m really pleased and excited to be part of it."

Ricker: 'Mizzou is obviously a dream job for me' - Columbia Daily Tribune

"Mizzou is obviously a dream job for me. I played there, was born in Missouri, got family still in Columbia," Ricker, 34, told the Tribune. "It was always somewhere I wanted to go back to and coach. Having this opportunity this early in my career, I never would have dreamed of.

Basketball CLARKSON!

Jordan Clarkson, not Julius Randle, gets winning tip-in for Lakers - LA Times

The 46th player drafted scored 19 points in the Lakers’ 89-88 overtime victory over Golden State in an NBA summer league game at Cox Pavilion.

Missouri basketball alumni expand horizons by playing abroad - Columbia Missourian

COLUMBIA — This summer, three years after leaving the Missouri basketball program, Marcus Denmon is coming off his best professional season. He led his Turkish league team, Tofas, with 13.9 points per game and made the Turkish all-star game.

Brandon Morris dismissed from Georgia men's hoops - Dawg Sports

Brandon Morris is no longer a member of the UGA men's basketball team. Morris was expected to be the starting SF this season for a team with hopes of making the NCAA Tournament.

Olympic Sports

MU assistant wrestling coach happy to be home - Columbia Daily Tribune - Blake Toppmeyer

Alex Clemsen wasn’t on the job long as the Missouri wrestling team’s top assistant coach before he witnessed the benefits of returning to Mid-Missouri.

MU Olympic sports VIT countdown: No. 9 Taylor Gadbois - Columbia Daily Tribune - Blake Toppmeyer

Note: Tiger Tidings is counting down its projected top-15 Very Important Tigers of the 2014-15 Olympic sports season. These are athletes who seem poised for a dominant 2014-15 season and project to be key parts of their respective teams. One athlete will be revealed each day, culminating with the No. 1 VIT on July 22. The term "Olympic sports," for the purposes of this blog series, means all MU sports except football and men’s basketball.

Misc

Impact Tackles & the need for more Comprehensive Stats in the NFL

This realization is what launched me into a two-year study of linebackers and the scrutiny of one of football’s most fallible statistics: the tackle. For those who aren’t aware, tackles are recorded by spotters in the press box during games and are rarely subject to correction. As a result, tackles are often misidentified, or when in doubt, are given to the team’s most prominent tackler. Over the past two seasons I couldn’t begin to count how many tackles were falsely credited to players like Rey Maualuga, Ray Lewis, and Luke Kuechley at times when they were literally 10+ yards away from the play.