Logan Cheadle has 2 years left to fulfill his E.J. Gaines-style promise

Logan Cheadle

5’10, 180, Jr.

Lee’s Summit, MO

2015: 10.5 tackles, 1 TFL (1 sack), 2 PBU

davidcmorrison: Coming in, Logan Cheadle wanted to fashion himself as another E.J. Gaines, and you can kind of see where he’s coming from. Not the biggest guy in the world, but tough. Not shy about crashing down toward the line on run and pass plays alike.

He’s been a bit of a victim of circumstances in his first two years. Aarion Penton and Kenya Dennis were just further along than him. In limited playing time, though, he has shown an ability to disrupt opposing receivers, look back, find the ball and make a play. But he — like Gibson (and, really, the rest of the cornerbacks room) -- receded to the background over the back third of last year as Cornell Ford leaned more heavily on Penton and Dennis.

Missouri needs a capable corner on the other side of the field so that, when teams do throw away from Penton, the Tigers won’t pay. Cheadle has the smarts to be that guy, but he’s also never had to prove himself for more than about 20 snaps a game.

Sam Snelling: I want Cheadle to play because I want lots of cousin Don Cheadle tweets about Mizzou football. Is that a ridiculous reason to want a guy to play? Absolutely. But I stand behind it without qualm.

It is hard to believe that Logan is a junior. It feels like he’s only been around for a season, but you almost forget how much of an impression he was able to make on the coaches as a freshmen. With that trajectory stagnating just a bit last season, it would be nice to see Cheadle take the mantle of starter and become the dependable outside guy Missouri is looking for across from Penton. He’s never been bad, but he hasn’t been noticeable enough for me to get fully on board, aside from just wanting tweets from his Uncle.

Bill C.: It’s weird -- Cheadle is basically the same size as Penton (and Gaines, for that matter), but when he was seeing the field last year, it seemed opponents were far more capable of exploiting height/size advantages against Cheadle. Maybe that’s a strength thing, and maybe it’s just experience ... as in, Cheadle just didn’t have enough of it. Either way, he’s obviously still got time to fulfill the promise the staff saw in him in 2014. From a matchups perspective, it might be optimal to line up a bigger corner opposite Penton, but if Penton’s stronger this time around, maybe that won’t matter.

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