Kony Ealy was incredible in Carolina's Super Bowl 50 loss

Here are today's Mizzou Links.

By Bill Connelly@SBN_BillC Feb 8, 2016, 4:58am CST

What's On

If Carolina had won the Super Bowl last night, Kony Ealy probably would have been the MVP. Hot damn, was he great.

Post-Dispatch: Denver's Shane Ray latest Super Bowl winner from Mizzou

Ealy, a second-round draft pick in 2014, had a record-setting performance for the Panthers with three sacks, a forced fumble, a recovered fumble and an interception. He tied the single-game Super Bowl record with his three sacks and became the first player in Super Bowl history with multiple sacks and an interception.

The Trib (David Morrison): Denver Broncos, Shane Ray win Super Bowl 50; former MU teammate Ealy shines

Ealy also forced two turnovers on the night. The first came with about 4:30 left in the first half, when he dropped into coverage on Broncos receiver Emmanuel Sanders, snagged a Manning pass with just his right hand and returned it 19 yards to the Panthers' 39.

KC Star: Ex-Mizzou star Kony Ealy excels in Panthers’ losing Super Bowl effort

But again, Ealy wasn’t done. In the third quarter, he picked up his second sack of the game by beating Schofield again and hauling down Manning, making him the only player in Super Bowl history to record multiple sacks and an interception in the game.

"The better team won. They didn't make mistakes. We did." - #Panthers' Kony Ealy pic.twitter.com/TcMmNKJ1be
— L.Lattimore-Volkmann (@docllv) February 8, 2016

From the KC Star earlier this season: Ex-Mizzou star Kony Ealy has taken a big leap in year two for Carolina

Ealy, a second-round pick of the Panthers in 2014, has improved on a rookie season in which he tallied 12 tackles and four sacks in 15 games. This year, he’s recorded nearly three times as many tackles — 32 — while increasing his sack total to five and improving his understanding of the finer details of defense.

Shane Ray got in on the action too.

Re/code: Super Bowl Breaks a Web Streaming Audience Record Says CBS

What does that mean in numbers? CBS won’t say, for now. But here are the numbers NBC recorded when it streamed the game a year ago, and also said it broke records: 800,000 average viewers per minute, 1.3 million concurrent users, and 213 total minutes. Let’s assume, for now, that CBS eclipsed all those numbers. That wouldn’t be a surprise, since TV and video experts assumed that the streaming audience for the game would top last years’.

Recruiting

Post-Dispatch: Mizzou wide receivers get a big boost in talent

Hill now inherits a receiver group heavy on numbers — the Tigers return 10 scholarship players at the position — but short on production. Nate Brown and J’Mon Moore are the only returning wideouts with more than 11 career catches, with 32 and 31, respectively. "I’m trying to be unbiased with how those guys look and what they do and their effort and attitude for the next month prior to spring football," Hill said. "Then once spring football hits, it’s going to be about who’s the best guy. There’s a lot of bodies there, and we’re going to try and make some players out of those bodies."

PowerMizzou: 2016 Class Wrap

Scout.com: Video: Missouri offensive coordinator Josh Heupel

Tre'Vour Simms wants to be a Freshman All-American at Mizzou

ESPN.com: Recruiting rankings continue 10-year trend in SEC

When it comes to development, you can't help but applaud Missouri. In the four prior SEC classes, Missouri's highest in-conference ranking was eighth (2015) and it was 14th in 2013. Well, before this past season, the Tigers went to back-to-back SEC title games. Stars have meant nothing, it's been all development and coaching in Columbia. Former coach Gary Pinkel got some of that talent while still in the Big 12, but neither of his previous two classes ranked inside ESPN's top 25.