On local media, professional yellers, and amateur athletes

As the countdown to football continues (73 days till Missouri State), senior defensive end Marcell Frazier continues to dominate discussion.

After throwing out broad accusations about the local media getting a kick out of the failures of Missouri athletes, Frazier doubled down on his comments by announcing on Twitter that he will not be making himself available to any local media members this season. The former JUCO standout went on to explain that he gained nothing from taking part in the media sessions.

Here’s my quick take about Marcell Frazier: He’s entirely within his rights to not talk to the media — I believe Charles Harris did a similar thing last year and it worked for him. I also think it’s fallacious to say the media is out to get players; accusing the local media of bias reflects a growing wedge being driven between journalists and the subjects they cover.

Lumping all media together is a mistake, and as friend of the site Dan Keegan pointed on twitter the other day, “I also think athletes/coaches don't always see the difference between actual sports reporters and Professional Sports Opinion Yellers.”

Finally, I have to appreciate how quickly Frazier has turned a conversation about a minor incident into a discussion about a larger, and in my opinion more important, topic.

David Morrison will have a deeper dive about all this up later today, He’s certainly got a more experienced perspective on this issue than anyone else here.

By the way, did you catch that Damarea Crockett is really, really fast?

For those who can’t see tweets, Crockett “clocked in at 21.6mph”.

For context, Kansas City Chief Tyreek Hill’s fastest runs were clocked at 23.24 and 22.77 MPH; they were the two fastest times in NFL according to this Andrew Carter tweet.

ESPN has Crockett and Mizzou’s backfield as the fourth-best in the SEC heading into 2017.

4. Missouri: QB Drew Lock, RB Damarea Crockett, RB Ish Witter. Lock was second in the SEC with 3,399 passing yards and tied for third with 23 touchdowns. He also had 123 rushing yards and a score, but he's more arm than legs. Crockett was a pleasant surprise in the league with 1,062 yards, while Witter followed up with 750 yards on the ground.

For what it’s worth, ESPN also ranked the Tigers’ receiving corps as second best in the SEC:

2. Missouri: J'Mon Moore, Dimetrios Mason. Josh Heupel's offense really took off in Barry Odom's first season as Mizzou's head coach. Moore was second in the SEC with 1,062 yards, averaging 16.3 YPC in the process, while collecting eight touchdowns. Mason grabbed a starting role as a freshman and caught 47 passes for 587 yards and three touchdowns.

(That dovetails nicely with this SEC Network/ESPN feature about Drew Lock and J’Mon Moore. It also reminds us of this other SEC Network/ESPN feature video about Missouri’s comeback victory over Arkansas on Senior day providing the Tigers with momentum heading into this year. Worth it to check out Eric Beisel’s intense gaze.)

More Links:

• The Winnipeg Blue Bombers shared this video interview with L’Damian Washington last night.

• On the recruiting front, Mizzou basketball offered local 2019 forward Isiaih Mosley. Andrew Kauffman caught up with with the rising Rock Bridge junior, who was “thrilled” to receive an offer from Cuonzo Martin.

• Finally, Mizzou target Christian Bishop from Lee’s Summit will be announcing his decision today around 7:30 pm. Sam Snelling predicts he’s headed to Creighton, though Mizzou’s got a shot.