2010s At Mizzou: Top Tigers of the Decade, the best of the rest Part 1

We’re listing out the rest of our Top 50 Tigers of the Decade in alphabetical order, here’s A through H.

By Josh Matejka, Nate Edwards, Brandon Kiley, Sam Snelling, Karen Steger, and Ryan Herrera Dec 26, 2019, 11:30am CST

Since we published our initial lists of the Top Tigers of the Decade, we’ve heard from a lot of y’all about the athletes that you think are missing from the list. In the comments a few days ago, someone said something to the effect of, “How can you forget Marcus Denmon? He was the backbone of one of the most successful Mizzou teams of all time?” Fortunately, Madam Editor Karen Steger stepped in and explained that, in fact, we had listed out 50 athletes we wanted to honor as the decade comes to a close!

Today we’re starting with athletes last names A through H. Tomorrow, we’ll bring our athletes pieces to a close with last names I through Z.

To catch up on the rest of our 2010s At Mizzou coverage, see below:

Evan Boehm

Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl - Minnesota v Missouri

One of the few freshmen linemen to earn a starting spot during the Gary Pinkel regime, Boehm took his lumps with the mess of the 2012 season then helmed one of the greatest (and weirdest) Missouri offensive lines of a generation. His career ended the way it began, with a historically messy offense (a la 2015), but there’s no denying his talent and leadership during his time as a Tiger. — Nate Edwards

David Bonuchi

Newly inducted 2019 Missouri Sports Hall of Fame honoree, David Bonuchi, took Mizzou diving to new heights. The 10-time first team All-American and 2013 SEC Male Diver of the Year awards are impressive enough, but during his junior year, he won one of his 3 conference titles — the first in history to do so in two conferences — with a burst eardrum. — Karen Steger

Dominique Bouchard

2018 Missouri Sports Hall of Fame inductee Dominique Bouchard is the most decorated Tiger swimmer in history— a 4-time first team All-American backstroke specialist, two-time SEC champ, and two-time runner-up finisher at NCAA Championships in the 200 back, holding the 7th fastest time in history. Post grad, she continued to train at Mizzou, making both the Pan-Pacific & Pan-American teams, and eventually, the Canadian Olympic team in 2016. Talk about a splash. — Karen Steger

Laurence Bowers

Bowers’ raw numbers during his four-year career as a Tiger (9.8 points, 5 rebounds per game) won’t blow you away, but numbers weren’t the only thing L-Bo brought to the table. Bowers felt like the heart and soul of Mizzou’s program for years, and he steadily improved all the way through his senior season, when he averaged career highs in points, rebounds and minutes.— Josh Matejka

Kentrell Brothers

Kentrell Brothers epitomized what some of Missouri’s most successful teams were built on during Gary Pinkel’s tenure — 3-star recruits who developed into some of the most impressive players in the country at their positions. His 152 tackles in 2015 led the nation, and though the Tigers failed to find the success of the 2013-14 teams, Brothers earned AP third-team All-American honors and a fifth round selection in the 2016 NFL Draft. — Ryan Herrera

Jabari Brown

One of the most decorated recruits to land on campus at Missouri in the 2010s, Jabari Brown proved himself an elite floor spacer for Frank Haith’s second NCAA tournament team in 2013, and was even better as a Junior playing alongside Jordan Clarkson in 2014. Brown put up an absurd 119.4 Offensive Rating while carrying nearly 25% of the possessions his junior year, but his performance was overlooked due to the roster’s lack of depth, as they faded down the stretch. Brown would turn pro after his junior year, but not before landing on the All-SEC first team. — Sam Snelling

Jordan Clarkson

The most successful professional basketball player of the 2010s, Clarkson only played for Missouri for one year, and like Jabari Brown, fought against a lack of depth. He also played out of position, playing the primary lead guard for the entire season. Clarkson took the role and was the team’s second leading scorer, and earned seven KenPom MVPs that year. Clarkson was so good, with Jabari Brown, it leaves you to wonder ‘what if’ Phil Pressey came back? — Sam Snelling

Marcus Denmon

Marcus Denmon will forever be seared into the minds of Mizzou fans when he stared down rival Kansas, and a 3.5% win probability down by 8 points with just 2 minutes to play, Denmon scored 9 points in a row to put Mizzou up by a point with 56 seconds left. The Tigers would hold on, and Denmon’s legend solidified. But his career was even better than that moment. Denmon helped Mizzou win more games than any 4-year player in school history, while earning consensus 2nd Team All-American honors scoring over 17 points per game and leading Mizzou to a 2-seed in the NCAA tournament. — Sam Snelling

Kim English

Big 12 Basketball Tournament - Championship: Baylor v Missouri

All your fond memories of the 2011-12 season begin with a phrase, uttered by the enigmatic wordsmith and vocal leader of that team, Kim English: Reconcile by winning. English went from a role player as a freshman on an Elite Eight team, to an offensive focal point as a Sophomore and Junior. But it was a new offense, where English took on the role of a small ball four, when Missouri really took off. English embraced the role of being a catch and shoot guy and his 3-point percentage soared. Being a lethal sniper with a 65.8% true shooting percentage on an elite team will earn you some deserved accolades. — Sam Snelling

Michael Egnew

Mizzou is now known as D-Line Zou, but there was a time not too long ago when the Tigers were known nationally more for the production they got out of their tight ends than they were the defensive linemen Coach Kool was producing for the NFL. Egnew burst onto the scene in 2010 by leading all tight ends nationally with 90 receptions, and finished the year as Mizzou’s 11th consensus All-American in program history. — Brandon Kiley

Morgan Eye

NCAA BASKETBALL: JAN 30 Women’s - Vanderbilt at Missouri

Steering the women’s basketball program into the Sophie Cunningham era, Eye typified the fulcrum of Robin Pingeton’s offensive scheme — the three-pointer. The sharpshooting Eye holds the career, season and single-game records for three-point shooting in a program who depends on the three ball for its lifeblood. — Josh Matejka

Sami Fagan

When you put a bat in Sami Fagan’s hands, damage was liable to be done — you could only hope to contain it. By her All-American prowess at the plate and fierce competitiveness on the field, Fagan roared through her career as the last great offensive force of the Ehren Earlywine era. — Josh Matejka

James Franklin

You can make a strong argument that James Franklin is the most underrated Mizzou player of the last 20 years. He had the unfortunate task of following in the footsteps of two of the most beloved players in program history, Brad Smith and Chase Daniel. He was chasing ghosts. But he was also unbelievably productive. In his breakout sophomore campaign, Franklin became one of just 10 quarterbacks in the last 20 years to throw for 2,500 yards and 20 touchdowns to go along with rushing for at least 900 yards and 15 touchdowns. Was he Chase Daniel? Of course not. Very few are. But he was a heck of a college quarterback who left a great legacy at Mizzou. — Brandon Kiley

EJ Gaines

I’m always going to be a sucker for an overlooked local kid making a big impact for the home town school. Gaines saw the field as a freshman and never relinquished his starting spot in his four years on campus, but I think the most telling aspect of his game was what he did to Texas A&M’s uber-receiver Mike Evans in 2013: 4 receptions for 8 yards and 0 TDs in a year where Evans had 69 receptions for 1,394 yards and 12 touchdowns and was a 1st round NFL Draft pick. Well done, EJ. — Nate Edwards

Cale Garrett

Have you ever seen a Missouri Tiger football player have two interceptions, two tackles for loss, and one interception return for a touchdown in a single game? If you’ve watched the Tigers this century, you can say you’ve seen it twice, with Cale Garrett doing the honors in 2019. He filled in for the fallen Michael Scherer at the end of the disastrous 2016 season, and simply got smarter and hit harder as the years went on. A pectoral injury robbed him (and us) of an All-American campaign, but nothing will rob us of the joy he gave the fan base as he flattened players over a stellar four-year career. — Nate Edwards

Jordan Geist

When Jordan Geist arrived on campus there was no predicting what he’d end up meaning to the program. Geist was lightly recruited out of Junior College and was put into a difficult spot as a bit player on a bad team in year one, and somehow turned himself into a integral leader in Cuonzo Martin’s first two seasons. Geist’s toughness and grit personified the introduction of a new era of Missouri Basketball. — Sam Snelling

Dorial Green-Beckham

Dorial Green-Beckham’s exit from Mizzou will always be mired in the consequences of his own poor decision-making. But for two seasons, DGB was everything Tiger fans hoped he’d be when he spurned the blue bloods to don black and gold — intense, imposing and, at times, unstoppable. — Josh Matejka

Emanuel Hall

When you think Emanuel Hall, you think speed. And for good reason. He was the second half of one of the best deep threat passing duos in recent college football history. There isn’t a power-five player in the last 20 years who averaged more yards per reception (min. 90 receptions) in their career than Hall. Drew Lock to Emanuel Hall struck fear every opposing defensive coordinator. — Brandon Kiley

Charles Harris

#DLineZou seems to have fallen off in recent years, but Harris is a good example of what it looked like at its peak. Going from a two-star recruit to an NFL Draft pick is tough enough, but Harris turned himself into a first-round pick and a two-time All-SEC honoree on the back of a career that saw him finish seventh in Tigers’ history in career sacks despite not returning for his senior season. — Ryan Herrera

Trey Harris

Peoria Javelinas v. Scottsdale Scorpions

Trey’s infectious smile, charismatic personality and breakout senior season was a true joy to watch. After working with new head coach Steve Bieser, he learned to only swing at pitches he could hit hard and slashed .316/.413/.508 in his final year at Mizzou with 11 homers and 49 RBIs in just 53 games. Selected on the third day of the MLB draft, the Atlanta native has only gotten better since, recently awarded the 2019 Braves Minor League Player of the Year. — Karen Steger

Tanner Houck

Peoria Javelinas v. Glendale Desert Dogs

While Houck may never live up to the insurmountable greatness I once pegged him for, there should be no shortchanging what he did. In the shoes of Mizzou pitching greats like Max Scherzer, Kyle Gibson and Aaron Crow, the lanky right-hander used his heavy two-seamer and devastating change up to become the most dominant Tiger hurler this side of Mad Max. — Josh Matejka