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Missouri still carries on Aaron O’Neal’s legacy, 12 years later

Here are today’s Mizzou Links.

Mizzou had its first fall scrimmage on Saturday. We have virtually no idea what happened at it because it was closed to the public. But here are two minutes of Barry Odom talking about it:

He said virtually nothing of magnitude, but I guess “no major injuries” and “healthy locker room” are good things, yeah?

One area of potential concern, health-wise, is tight end, where quite a few guys were held out of practice recently.

Senior Jason Reese missed practice with back spasms, while two other tight ends — redshirt freshman Albert Okwuegbunam (hamstring) and freshman Logan Christopherson (right ankle) — were limited.

“They took the day off today,” second-year Tigers coach Barry Odom said. “(Tight ends) coach (Joe Jon) Finley has been hard on them.”

Of course, that list doesn’t include likely starter Kendall Blanton, so it could be worse.

Despite limited access, there were quite a few good player profiles that you need to catch up on from the weekend.

My favorite profile of the weekend is Dave Matter’s piece on freshman LB Jamal Brooks.

After the staff suggested he wear 25 earlier this summer, Brooks did his homework on O’Neal — and he didn’t start and stop with a simple Internet search. Brooks researched the old fashioned way. He asked questions. He listened. He learned. [...]

“As soon as they brought it up to me in that first conversation I started looking into (O’Neal),” Brooks said. “I understand that was a devastating day for Mizzou and the entire Tiger Nation. For some people who were there, when they’ve been ready to talk to me about it, I’m always ready to talk. I’ve wanted to learn as much as I can about the situation. Google and the Internet can only tell you so much. The strength staff, Coach [Will] Franklin, they all have their own views and memories of that day. Just to hear them talk about it has been a good thing to sit down and listen to.” [...]

“Aaron’s still very special to me,” [Cornell] Ford said. “Even 12 years later, it’s still hard to believe he’s not with us anymore.”

12 years!

Definitely check out all of that one. Can’t wait to see Brooks and fellow freshman Aubrey Miller on the field. Sounds like both of them are good candidates to avoid redshirts and join the crowded competition at linebacker.


More Links:

  • Switching sports, four-star 2018 guard Alex Lomax also cut his list down to six, and there were evidently no surprises on it. Mizzou made the cut, along with Memphis, Wichita State, and three other SEC schools.
  • Andrew Gachkar is a Jaguar. #MizzouMade