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Missouri’s “Turnaround” is being led by upperclassmen

This ‘turnaround’ team gets 63% of its snaps from juniors and seniors

NCAA Football: Missouri State at Missouri
Trystan Castillo has played all but two of Missouri’s offensive snaps this season.
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Rather than resting on our laurels during the bye week, we decided to take our valuable, precious time to compile all our snap count data from Missouri’s first four games of the season.

Enjoy, you animals:

Thru Week 4 Takeaways - About that “Rebuild Narrative”

  • OK, so here’s the thing. On Saturday, Barry Odom talked about this being a “turnaround” project. Another phrase for that would be “rebuilding.”
  • But...I mean...I don’t know that the snap counts really bear this out. So far this season, Missouri has gotten 63.0 percent of its snaps from juniors and seniors. The offense is younger, getting 56.7 percent of the snaps from upperclassmen and 29.8 percent from sophomores. The defense gets 68.5 percent of its snaps from upperclassmen.
  • Subbing out “garbage time” using Bill Connelly’s metric (25 points or fewer in the second quarter, 22 or fewer in the third, 17 or fewer in the fourth), the Tigers get 65.0 percent of the snaps that matter from juniors and seniors: 58.5 percent on offense, 70.3 percent on defense.
  • More than 70 percent. Of the “meaningful” snaps. On the 108th-ranked defense nationally. Come from juniors and seniors. Yeesh.
  • To be a little more fair to Odom, though, some of those juniors and seniors who are playing 65 percent of those meaningful snaps were transfers that came in under Odom and his staff -- backup receiver Dominic Collins, backup defensive end Nate Anderson, backup defensive tackles Rashad Brandon and Walter Palmore and starting nickel back Kaleb Prewett.
  • Still, to go to Odom’s point about being the only man standing from 2015 — and I hate being the #WellActually guy -- well, actually, of the 46 players who have taken a “meaningful” snap this year, 25 of them were on the roster in 2015 (that’s counting Tyler Howell, who came in with that signing class but couldn’t join the team until 2016).
  • Of the 22 “starters” (ones who have played the most non-garbage-time snaps so far), 15 were on the roster in 2015.
  • Arguably, the cupboard was more bare last year, when Missouri got only 56.3 percent of its snaps from juniors and seniors. After getting 60.2 percent of its snaps from upperclassmen in 2015.
  • Really, this is the most upperclassman-skewing team Missouri has had since 2014 (70.7 percent of snaps).
  • The Tigers got 69.3 percent of their snaps from upperclassmen in 2013, if you were curious.

Digging into the Depth Chart

  • But enough about that. Let’s dig into the snap stats. Through four games, Damarea Crockett and Ish Witter have the exact same number of snaps — 113. Granted, some of that is Crockett’s tailbone injury. In non-garbage time, Crockett leads Witter in snaps, 79-65.
  • In the receiving corps, J’Mon Moore has about an 80-20 split on Collins, Johnathon Johnson has 60-40 on Richaud Floyd, and Dimetrios Mason has about a 56-41 on Emanuel Hall, who, actually, holds a slight snap edge (79-77) over Mason in non-garbage time.
  • The tight end pecking order is Kendall Blanton-Albert Okwuegbunam(slightly)-Jason Reese overall and Blanton-Reese-Okwuegbunam in non-garbage snaps. As far as the H-back/tight end/receiver splits, Blanton’s is 47/30/23; Reese’s is 31/26/43; Okwuegbunam’s is 55/20/26.
  • They like Reese split wide.
  • On the line, they’ve pretty much left Trystan Castillo, Paul Adams and Tre’Vour Simms alone. Kevin Pendleton has about a 70-30 split on Adam Ploudre, Howell has a 65-35 on Yasir Durant.
  • Jordan Harold and Marcell Frazier are taking 78 and 76 percent of the end snaps overall, respectively, and 86 and 80 in non-garbage time. That’s nuts. When Shane Ray, Markus Golden and Charles Harris were backups, they were on the other end of about 60-40 and 65-35 splits.
  • Right now, Missouri doesn’t have a Ray/Golden/Harris-caliber backup.
  • If we’re looking at percent of the time standing vs. hand in the dirt, Harold is 21/79; Frazier’s is 22/78; Chris Turner’s is 29/71 and Nate Anderson’s is 23/77. Pretty consistent.
  • With the tackles, Terry Beckner is the only one pulling in more than half of the snaps. Markell Utsey, Rashad Brandon and Kobie Whiteside are all hovering around 40 percent.
  • At linebacker, Terez Hall has about a 70-30 split on Joey Burkett and Cale Garrett is about 65-35 on Eric Beisel. Prewett is about 63-30 on Brandon Lee at nickelback/Sam linebacker.
  • Logan Cheadle and DeMarkus Acy have taken all but seven non-garbage time snaps at corner. Adam Sparks has taken the other seven.
  • Despite disappearing after halftime of the South Carolina game, Jordan Ulmer still has the most non-garbage snaps at backup safety, behind starters Anthony Sherrils and Thomas Wilson. For now. Over the past two games, as things have normalized, Ronnell Perkins leads Cam Hilton in backup, non-garbage snaps, 21-15.
  • You can see the overall offensive and defensive set numbers below but, for brevity’s sake (LOL...brevity...), I’m only going to talk non-garbage snaps here. Even though the offensive ones are blown way out of kilter by that Missouri State game.

Non-Garbage Time Stats

  • In the course of its normal, non-garbage time offense, the Tigers run out of the 3-0-2 41 percent of the time, the 3-1-1 on 32 and the 4-0-1 on 26. The 3-0-2 is a 63/37 run set, the 3-1-1 is 54/46 run and the 4-0-1 is 76/24 pass.
  • Somewhat distressing, then, out of such a heavy pass set, is the fact that Drew Lock only completes 45 percent of his passes for 5.52 yards an attempt and a rating of 85.05 out of the 4-0-1.
  • The Tigers’ defense runs out of the base, Nickel set with Prewett on the second level 72.5 percent of the time, runs the 3-4 on 12.4 percent of non-garbage time plays, the 4-3 on 10.4 percent and the Dime on 4.7 percent.
  • When Prewett is in during non-garbage time, the Tigers give up 6.81 yards a play. When he’s out, they give up 7.40, skewed mightily by the two-play, 164-yard outing the Dime had against Missouri State.
  • In the 3-4/4-3 looks, though, the Tigers are giving up 4.73 yards a play in “meaningful” snaps. More of these maybe?
  • If you’re truly a glutton for punishment, feast your eyes on all the data I have for you below:

Pct. Snaps by Class

Team
Senior: 32.6
Junior: 30.4
Sophomore: 24.5
Freshman: 12.6 (True — 6.31; Redshirt -- 6.24)

Offense
Junior: 31.8
Sophomore: 29.8
Senior: 24.9
Freshman: 13.5 (True — 1.34; Redshirt -- 12.1)

Defense
Senior: 39.4
Junior: 29.1
Sophomore: 19.9
Freshman: 11.7 (True -- 10.7; Redshirt — 1.03)

—-———-

Non-Garbage

Team
Senior: 33.8
Junior: 31.2
Sophomore: 25.5
Freshman: 9.56 (True — 4.60; Redshirt -- 4.96)

Offense
Junior: 33.2
Sophomore: 29.7
Senior: 25.3
Freshman: 11.8 (True -- 0.75; Redshirt — 11.1)

Defense
Senior: 40.7
Junior: 29.6
Sophomore: 22.0
Freshman: 7.72 (True — 7.72)


Total Snaps — Pct. of Total Plays in Parentheses

Offense

Quarterback
Drew Lock — 256 (96.6)
Jack Lowary -- 5 (1.89)
Micah Wilson -- 4 (1.51)

Running Back
Damarea Crockett — 113 (42.6)
Ish Witter — 113 (42.6)
Larry Rountree — 39 (14.7)

Wide Receiver
J’Mon Moore -- 209 (78.9)
Johnathon Johnson155 (58.5)
Dimetrios Mason — 147 (55.5)
Emanuel Hall — 108 (40.8)
Richaud Floyd -- 104 (39.2)
Dominic Collins -- 51 (19.2)
Nate Brown8 (3.02)
Daniel Ellinger — 5 (1.89)
Steven Spadarotto -- 5 (1.89)
Cameren Rivers — 1 (0.38)

Tight End
Kendall Blanton — 105 (39.6)
Albert Okwuegbunam — 82 (30.9)
Jason Reese — 80 (30.2)

Line
Trystan Castillo — 263 (99.2)
Paul Adams -- 260 (98.1)
Tre’Vour Simms — 241 (90.9)
Kevin Pendleton — 184 (69.4)
Tyler Howell -- 169 (63.8)
Adam Ploudre -- 103 (38.9)
Yasir Durant — 100 (37.7)
Jonah Dubinski — 2 (0.75)
Alec Abeln1 (0.38)
Samson Bailey — 1 (0.38)
AJ Harris -- 1 (0.38)

—————

Defense

End
Jordan Harold — 235 (78.3)
Marcell Frazier — 227 (75.7)
Chris Turner77 (25.7)
Nate Anderson — 43 (14.3)
Tre Williams -- 12 (4.00)

Tackle
Terry Beckner — 191 (63.7)
Markell Utsey -- 121 (40.3)
Rashad Brandon -- 106 (35.3)
Kobie Whiteside -- 105 (35.0)
Walter Palmore — 47 (15.7)
Akial Byers -- 22 (7.33)

Linebacker
Terez Hall — 208 (69.3)
Cale Garrett -- 196 (65.3)
Eric Beisel — 99 (33.0)
Joey Burkett -- 87 (29.0)
Brandon Lee — 84 (28.0)
Jamal Brooks — 6 (2.00)
Jacob Trump — 3 (1.00)

Nickelback
Kaleb Prewett — 190 (63.3)
Joshuah Bledsoe — 10 (3.33)
Tavon Ross7 (2.33)

Cornerback
Logan Cheadle — 262 (87.3)
DeMarkus Acy — 248 (82.7)
Adam Sparks -- 66 (22.0)
Jerod Alton — 22 (7.33)

Safety
Anthony Sherrils — 215 (71.7)
Thomas Wilson165 (55.0)
Ronnell Perkins — 90 (30.0)
Cam Hilton — 80 (26.7)
Jordan Ulmer — 67 (22.3)
Anthony Hines9 (3.00)


Non-Garbage

Offense

Quarterback
Drew Lock — 157 (100.0)

Running Back
Damarea Crockett — 79 (50.3)
Ish Witter — 65 (41.4)
Larry Rountree — 13 (8.28)

Wide Receiver
J’Mon Moore -- 131 (83.4)
Johnathon Johnson — 108 (68.8)
Emanuel Hall — 79 (50.3)
Dimetrios Mason — 77 (49.0)
Richaud Floyd -- 48 (30.6)
Dominic Collins -- 26 (16.6)

Tight End
Kendall Blanton — 68 (43.3)
Jason Reese — 57 (36.3)
Albert Okwuegbunam — 34 (21.7)

Line
Trystan Castillo — 157 (100.0)
Paul Adams -- 157 (100.0)
Tre’Vour Simms — 145 (92.4)
Kevin Pendleton — 112 (71.3)
Tyler Howell -- 101 (64.3)
Adam Ploudre -- 57 (36.3)
Yasir Durant — 56 (35.7)

—————

Defense

End
Jordan Harold — 165 (85.5)
Marcell Frazier — 155 (80.3)
Chris Turner46 (23.8)
Nate Anderson — 21 (10.9)

Tackle
Terry Beckner — 120 (62.2)
Markell Utsey -- 87 (45.1)
Rashad Brandon -- 68 (35.2)
Kobie Whiteside -- 62 (32.1)
Walter Palmore — 39 (20.2)
Akial Byers -- 2 (1.04)

Linebacker
Terez Hall — 160 (82.9)
Cale Garrett -- 148 (76.7)
Eric Beisel — 45 (23.3)
Brandon Lee — 44 (22.8)
Joey Burkett -- 32 (16.6)

Nickelback
Kaleb Prewett — 140 (72.5)
Joshuah Bledsoe — 2 (1.04)

Cornerback
DeMarkus Acy — 190 (98.4)
Logan Cheadle — 189 (97.9)
Adam Sparks -- 7 (3.63)

Safety
Anthony Sherrils — 154 (79.8)
Thomas Wilson119 (61.7)
Jordan Ulmer — 45 (23.3)
Ronnell Perkins — 42 (21.8)
Cam Hilton — 36 (18.7)
Anthony Hines — 6 (3.11)


Offensive Set Success

3-WR/2-RB
Run: 73 for 452 (6.19 avg.), fumble lost
Pass: 27-of-44, 335 yards (7.61 avg.), 2 TD, INT
Sack: 1 for -6
Total: 118 plays, 781 yards (6.62 avg.), 2 TD, INT, fumble lost

4-WR/1-RB
Run: 17 for 88 (5.18 avg.)
Pass: 26-of-56, 340 yards (6.07 avg.), TD, 3 INT
Sack: 3 for -23 (-7.67 avg.), 2 fumbles lost
Total: 76 plays, 405 yards (5.33 avg.), TD, 3 INT, 2 fumbles lost

3-WR/1-TE/1-RB
Run: 37 for 147 (3.97 avg.), 3 TD, fumble lost
Pass: 16-of-32, 415 yards (13.0 avg.), 6 TD, 2 INT
Total: 69 plays, 562 yards (8.14 avg.), 9 TD, 2 INT, fumble lost

2-WR/3-RB
Pass: 1-of-1, 25 yards, TD

5-WR
Run: 1 for 5

COREYFATONYFAKEPUNTOHNOOOOO
Run: 1 for 3

—————

Defensive Set Success

Nickel
Run: 116 for 528 (4.55 avg.), 9 TD
Pass: 56-of-77, 732 yards (9.51 avg.), 4 TD, INT
Sack: 6 for -46 (-7.67 avg.)
Kneel: 1 for -1
Total: 200 plays, 1213 yards (6.07 avg.), 13 TD, INT

3-4
Run: 21 for 98 (4.67 avg.), 2 TD
Pass: 13-of-19, 77 yards (4.05 avg.), INT
Total: 40 plays, 175 yards (4.38 avg.), 2 TD, INT

4-3
Run: 28 for 110 (3.93 avg.), 2 TD, fumble recovery
Pass: 7-of-9, 75 yards (8.33 avg.)
Sack: 2 for -13 (-6.50 avg.)
Total: 39 plays, 172 yards (4.41 avg.), 2 TD, fumble recovery

Dime
Run: 3 for 94 (31.3 avg.), TD
Pass: 7-of-12, 146 yards (12.2 avg.), TD
Sack: 1 for -10
Total: 16 plays, 230 yards (14.4 avg.), 2 TD

3-3-5
Run: 3 for 19 (6.33 avg.)

5-4
Run: 1 for 0
Pass: 1-of-1, 1 yard, TD
Total: 2 plays, 1 yard (0.50 avg.), TD

-------—-

Offensive Set Success (Non-Garbage)

3-WR/2-RB
Run: 40 for 290 (7.25 avg.)
Pass: 13-of-23, 195 yards (8.48 avg.), 2 TD, INT
Sack: 1 for -6
Total: 64 plays, 479 yards (7.48 avg.), 2 TD, INT

3-WR/1-TE/1-RB
Run: 27 for 113 (4.19 avg.), 2 TD, fumble lost
Pass: 12-of-23, 334 yards (14.5 avg.), 5 TD, INT
Total: 50 plays, 447 yards (8.94 avg.), 7 TD, INT, fumble lost

4-WR/1-RB
Run: 9 for 36 (4.00 avg.)
Pass: 14-of-31, 171 yards (5.52 avg.), INT
Sack: 1 for -8, fumble lost
Total: 41 plays, 199 yards (4.85 avg.), INT, fumble lost

5-WR
Run: 1 for 5

—————

Defensive Set Success (Non-Garbage)

Nickel
Run: 79 for 419 (5.30 avg.), 8 TD
Pass: 41-of-56, 565 yards (10.1 avg.), 3 TD
Sack: 4 for -29 (-7.25 avg.)
Kneel: 1 for -1
Total: 140 plays, 954 yards (6.81 avg.), 11 TD

3-4
Run: 10 for 73 (7.30 avg.), 2 TD
Pass: 10-of-14, 62 yards (4.43 avg.), INT
Total: 24 plays, 135 yards (5.63 avg.), 2 TD, INT

4-3
Run: 14 for 36 (2.57 avg.), TD, fumble recovery
Pass: 5-of-5, 44 yards (8.80 avg.)
Sack: 1 for -7
Total: 20 plays, 73 yards (3.65 avg.), TD, fumble recovery

Dime
Run: 1 for 75, TD
Pass: 3-of-7, 119 yards (17.0 avg.), TD
Sack: 1 for -10
Total: 9 plays, 184 yards (20.4 avg.), 2 TD