Missouri tight end Kendall Blanton will miss spring practice with an ankle injury

More reps for the underclassmen! Junior-to-be Kendall Blanton, a potential starter for Missouri at tight end in 2017, will miss spring practice with an ankle injury.

Blanton, a Blue Springs South graduate who will be a junior in the fall, underwent surgery last week to repair torn ligaments resulting from a sprained right ankle.

He was spotted wearing a protective boot on the foot and walking with crutches Tuesday at the Tigers men’s basketball game against No. 11 Kentucky at Mizzou Arena.

Blanton flashed some tantalizing talent as a sophomore last fall. He caught 16 balls for 161 yards and three touchdowns, which isn’t an amazing total, but a) half of those catches came in the last four games of the season, and b) his diving touchdown against MTSU was one hell of a highlight.

Blanton isn’t a known quantity, but his absence will mean a little bit more playing time on the first- or second-string for two exciting redshirt freshmen, Brendan Scales and Albert Okwuegbunam. Jason Reese is your presumable No. 1 option at the position (he might have been even before Blanton’s injury), but Scales and Okwuegbunam will get a little bit more of a chance to prove themselves.

More Links

• PowerMizzou takes a look at what might be Mizzou’s top five targets at quarterback for the 2018 class. Montgomery (Ala.) dual-threat James Foster was at one point considered a Mizzou lean and might still be, but the Tigers continue to put out offers.
• Mizzou made the top 10 list for four-star cornerback D’Shawn Jamison of Houston, the No. 161 prospect in the 2018 class (and No. 21 cornerback) according to 247. Don’t believe me? Just ask him.

• More from PM: A spring look at Mizzou’s wide receivers position.
• It’s Senior Night at Mizzou Arena! Robin Pingeton’s Tigers host Ole Miss (on SECN+). Ceremony starts at 6:40, game at 7. The Tigers are the toast of Columbia, but they’ll be attempting to keep their emotions in check. The program’s growth from when these seniors were freshmen is remarkable.
• Still on the women’s team for a sec: One of tonight’s seniors, Lianna Doty, was named to the SEC Community Service Team for the third time.
• Your 3-1 Mizzou Baseball team is in Corpus Christi for a four-game series. The Tigers play host Texas A&M-CC tonight at 6:30 pm CT (listen here), then Houston at 2pm on Friday, A&M-CC again on Saturday at 6pm, and Illinois at 11 am on Sunday. Mizzou finished the opening weekend of the year nicely — the Tigers lost with Tanner Houck on the mound, then won three in a row. Not really the way that was supposed to work.
• Meanwhile, Mizzou Softball is just hoping for some sunny skies.
• Hoooooooooo boy, the NCAA added a little bit to its Notice of Allegations to Ole Miss. The Rebels will self-impose a postseason ban for 2017. We’ll see if that’s enough. Meanwhile, our friends at Red Cup Rebellion have put together a timeline of the NCAA’s investigation.
• A new PAPN for your listening pleasure! We talked about Godfrey’s preseason BOLD PREDICTIONS, UAB football, etc. You know, the important things in life.

A PSA

I’m trying to be as shameless as I can about book promotion since ... well ... I need to actually sell books. Two things of note:

• I talked about 50 Best* on The Closers with George and Jay yesterday. You can check it out in podcast form here:

• COME TO McNALLY’S TONIGHT, FRIENDS. I’ll be selling books there tonight, starting at 6:30 pm. Get a book, have a drink, watch the women’s game. Everybody wins.