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Why Drew Lock didn’t attend the 2017 Manning Passing Academy

Here are today’s Mizzou Links.

By Pete Scantlebury

1. Josh Heupel wouldn’t let Drew Lock attend the Manning Passing Academy

The Drew Lock series wrapped up on both MUTigers.com and PowerMizzou.com this weekend, and a couple things jumped out to me from Part 4 and Part 5.

  • This is the most Blaine Gabbert-story every written, and so succinctly covers Gabbert’s quarterback style at Missouri. Via Brian Neuner:

A chance meeting with former MU quarterback Blaine Gabbert, who was a first-round NFL draft pick in 2011, yielded some new advice.

“Blaine told me to loosen up and ‘tee it high and let it fly,’ ” Lock remembered.

  • This second part, however, is more eyebrow-raising and really goes to show that Heupel’s departure from Missouri was more interesting than previous believed.

A big sign of the change in the offensive coordinator-quarterback dynamic was Lock’s appearance at the Manning Passing Academy. Archie Manning, the family patriarch, actually invited Lock last year. Heupel nixed the idea, preferring that Lock remain on campus and work out with his teammates.

“Archie couldn’t believe I was turning him down, and neither could I,” Lock said. “He started explaining all the things they do to help develop quarterbacks, and I really felt bad. Archie Manning shouldn’t have to sell me on his camp. I knew it would be amazing, and I wanted to go.”

Odom said he wasn’t aware at the time that Lock was forced to turn down Archie Manning or he would have interceded. When the opportunity came again this year, Dooley and Odom were all for it.

Again, I mentioned this during an early part where the article discussed the negative recruiting done by Jim Harbaugh — I find it VERY interesting that this article series ran on MUTigers.com. It is fantastic work by Neuner, but it’s no puff piece by any means — not the type of neutral-to-glowing articles you typically see on athletic department sites. Having a critical story of a former coach like that on an official athletic department web site is really novel, at least from what I’ve seen.

I suggest you read all five parts if you haven’t. A great series by Brian Neuner.

2. A trip home with Barry Odom

Great read by Vahe Gregorian of the Kansas City Star. Gregorian accompanied Odom to the coach’s hometown of Maysville, Okla., and wrote a great profile off of the trip. Interesting to see Odom open up a little more to the media, and there’s some great insight into the town and people that made Odom who he is today.

3. Big-time performances for some Missouri track stars, both past and future

Future Missouri track athletes Roberto Vilches and Mirieli Santos medaled at the IAAF World U20 Championships in Finland. Vilches won the gold medal in the high jump; Santos won silver in the triple jump.

Also, Karissa Schweizer managed to set a Missouri record (and a personal record) in the 1500m in Belgium over the weekend. Here’s how she set a school record despite not being at the school anymore, via MUTigers.com:

Because Schweizer has yet to choose a professional club to run with, her mark will stand as a school record since she ran it in a Mizzou uniform.

Schweizer also had the tweet of the weekend after her win:

Yesterday at Rock M

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