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Reading the draft decision tea leaves and Drew Lock takes in a game... at Kansas

Here are today’s Mizzou Links.

By Pete Scantlebury

1. Will the decision of other tight ends impact Albert Okwuegbunam’s draft consideration?

I don’t think there have been any firm reports of how seriously Okwuegbunam is considering declaring for the NFL Draft — as usual, Missouri’s big tight end has been pretty quiet and private about this possibility.

But one thing to watch is how the landscape of the position changes as we get closer to the declaration deadline of Jan. 14. And, over the last two days, there have been two big declarations.

First, it was Texas A&M’s Jace Sternberger who announced on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Michigan tight end Zach Gentry made his intentions known.

Neither player may impact Okwuegbunam, however, as he’s projected by CBSSports.com to be the second tight end taken; WalterFootball.com has him as the No. 1 overall tight end and a possible first or second-round pick.

Coupled with the fact that injuries can force a player’s decision — well, I’d venture a guess that there’s better-than-even odds that Albert O declares. Of course, as more players at the position declare, that could change things.

We’ll know in, at most, 12 days.

2. Drew Lock spotted at Allen Fieldhouse — but wearing Missouri gear.

Drew’s father, Andy Lock, tweeted out this picture on Wednesday night:

Assuming that’s the Kansas-Oklahoma basketball game. Lock himself is dressed a little more subtle compared to his seat mates, but I’ll let it slide. He’s going to be a first-round pick and he needs to be kissing babies, shaking hands and not coming off as too controversial.

Either way, a bold move from Missouri’s True Son.

3. Athlon Sports includes Missouri in its way-too-early 2019 Top 25.

Missouri checks in at No. 20 in Athlon Sports’ first Top 25 poll, which is meaningless but for some reason fans (myself included) love these pre-preseason polls.

Here’s part of what they say about Missouri:

Missouri will be an intriguing team to watch in 2019. Coach Barry Odom landed an impact transfer in Clemson’s Kelly Bryant to replace Drew Lock under center, so the offense shouldn’t drop too much on the stat sheet next fall. Bryant also has a strong supporting cast at his disposal.

The article also mentions Missouri’s “manageable” schedule and a defense that took a step forward to this year.

4. Reminder: We’ve got SEC basketball tonight.

Missouri kicks-off its conference schedule tonight against Ole Miss: 7 p.m. CT on SEC Network+, which means you have about twelve hours to figure out how to stream the game.

Yesterday at Rock M

More Links:

  • Make sure you’re checking out MUTigers.com’s excellent multi-part feature on Sophie Cunningham. Here’s Part 1 and Part 2 so far.
  • Former Missouri recruit Carte’Are Gordon appears to be transferring from SLU, which is certainly something to monitor.
  • I’m just going to leave this column by Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch right here and slowly back away.
  • You know what, nevermind, I’m going to say something: I do not know what the intended audience is for a column that refers to the fanbase of a school you cover as “substandard” in the headline, when that fanbase actually did a fantastic freakin’ job of traveling to Memphis for the Liberty Bowl. But I don’t work for a big city paper and I’m not a capital J-ournalist so what do I know?
  • Me, on a Friday night:

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