Mizzou Links, 8-8-14: Gary Pinkel was young once, and Charles Harris is a gem

Maty Mauk is the next in a long line of long-term Mizzou quarterbacks, Charles Harris is looking more and more like a gem, and Division I autonomy is here, ready or not.

By Bill Connelly@SBN_BillC Aug 8, 2014, 5:18am CDT

What's On

Holy crap, this 13-year old commercial is what's on.

Football

Mizzou got another commitment yesterday! Expect a post about that (and practice reports) shortly.

State of Mizzou
MUTIGERS.COM: Letter to Tiger Nation

On August 14, the SEC Network will launch, and we anticipate it will be the most successful launch of any like network ever. As we compose this message, the channel will be available to 91 million subscribers BEFORE we launch... that is an amazing number and a significant statement by the SEC, college athletics and of course our great fans in the SEC. Tiger fans throughout the U.S. and the world will have unprecedented access to content from the University. While the focus of the Network is on sport, there will be many opportunities for the entire school to have greater exposure academically and athletically. This will truly be a remarkable tool for promoting all things Mizzou. [...]

As we welcome our 550 student-athletes back to campus this fall, we are focused on enhancing their experience from a social responsibility level even more. Our Men For Men/Women For Women (M4MW4W) initiative is developing into a model program in college athletics. It constantly reinforces educating all of us on developing as men and women, showing respect for all, being responsible for our actions and representing excellence every day. With the serious issues facing all of us on college campuses today, and with the heightened attention to athletics, we must grow in our roles as positive examples for all. We can never sacrifice our core values of Respect, Responsibility, Discovery and Excellence for anything... and we must always focus on Social Responsibility, Academic Integrity and Competitive Excellence every day. We should expect no less from any of us associated with Tiger Athletics. While we have prioritized this constantly and have come a long way, there is continuous work to be done.

Maty
The Trib: Mauk is latest in line of long-term QBs

The pattern for Smith’s successors — Chase Daniel, Blaine Gabbert and James Franklin — was to play a little as freshmen and take over full-time as sophomores. Barring the unforeseen, Maty Mauk will do the same this season.

"My whole career has been like that," Pinkel said. "I go back to when I was with Coach" Don "James at Washington, as a head coach at Toledo. I could go through the quarterbacks we had, and not always but pretty much you had a starter almost a minimum of three years. I’m glad that we’ve had that. It’s a good thing in this business to have good quarterbacks."

Pinkel credits good fortune for the trend, but he has aided the process with long-range planning, giving his freshman backups meaningful snaps so they would be ready when it was their turn.

Charles Harris
Post-Dispatch: Mizzou's defensive line uncovers hidden gem

As they do with every prospect, Gary Pinkel’s coaches studied Harris’ ‘‘measurables.’’

"He was an OK football player, but he had size and could run and jump," Pinkel said. "Honestly, the evaluation was made off of basketball. We said, ‘Gosh, look at this athlete.’"

Harris’ combination of size, raw power and speed convinced the staff he was a project worth the investment.

"If you’re going to take a risk," Hill said, "you want to take an athletic risk." [...]

The expectations are starting to build. Harris has since put on 35 pounds, most of it muscle. He cuts a similar figure to Smith, who racked up 17 sacks in just two seasons at MU. If the season started today, he’d be in the game-day rotation, backing up veteran edge rushers Markus Golden and Shane Ray, defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski said.

The biggest news from yesterday wasn't directly a Mizzou story but a Division 1 story. Power 5 conferences now have autonomy to make rules for themselves without the support of the rest of the Division. It's basically a new division, only with basketball and other sports unaffected. I don't love this, and at some point I want to write about it for SBN (when I have more well-formed thoughts), but ... for now it just is what it is. I would say we're inching toward a haves-and-have-nots model, but we already arrived there a long time ago.

On autonomy
SB Nation: The 4 things to know about the new NCAA's autonomy structure
SI.com: Breaking down NCAA's approval of Power Five autonomy
The Sporting News: RIP: Autonomy ruling marks death of Division I as we know it
Senator Blutarsky: Autonomy, if you can keep it.
Frank the Tank: Summer Mailbag: Power 5 Conference Autonomy, Conference Realignment, Playoffs and More

And more on Truman's Terrace
Mizzou Network: Truman's Terrace Informational Video