Tre’Vour Wallace-Simms, DeMarkus Acy, Cale Garrett make award watch lists

For the second year in a row, Missouri landed at least one player on the Outland Trophy Watch List. In 2018, it was Terry Beckner Jr. and Paul Adams; this year, it’s guard Tre’Vour Wallace-Simms.

The Outland Trophy is given annually to the nation’s top interior lineman.

Cale Garrett and DeMarkus Acy made the Bronco Nagurski Watch List — the award given to the nation’s best defensive player. Missouri had two players on the watch list last year (Beckner, Terez Hall).

Mizzou gets love as a Tight End U — but not as D-Line Zou

ESPN took an updated look at which schools produce the most talent at each position since the BCS era (so, late 90s) and the results probably won’t surprise you.

Alabama leads the way at three positions (RB, OL, DL) and USC is atop the rankings at two (QB, WR). Missouri’s lone inclusion is at tight end, where it ranks fourth behind Miami, Iowa and Stanford. The Tigers aren’t in the top ten at defensive line.

Here’s the (kind of murky) explanation for how they arrived at these rankings:

ESPN Stats & Information dug deep into the numbers, culled details on all-conference performers, All-Americans, NFL draft picks and stars from the pro ranks, and came up with a formula to determine the official rankings for the schools best at producing quarterbacks, receivers, tight ends, running backs, linemen, linebackers and defensive backs.

We weighted an All-America nod higher than an All-SEC selection. We had to come up with a metric to determine a player’s performance at the next level that would function for all position groups, so we used average Approximate Value over the first four seasons (or fewer, if applicable) in the NFL. We needed a way to account for Notre Dame’s lack of conference affiliation, and we used Brian Burke’s NFL draft pick values chart to figure out how much more to value a first-round draft pick than a seventh-rounder.

They kept it just murky enough to keep writers like me from calling foul. However, with the length of time going back to the late 90s and Missouri’s volume of talented defensive ends not really hitting until the mid-aughts — well, it makes sense.

More Links:

• Gabe DeArmond talked to Rex Sharp after the long-time football trainer announced he was stepping away from his day-to-day duties. The piece is a really good look at someone who has been around the program longer than, well, anyone else currently at the program. It’s free, and you should check it out.
• Cam’Ron Fletcher better get going on these official visits if he wants to hit his late September commitment goal, as he told 247 Sports. Fletcher has an OV scheduled to Kentucky on Aug. 1, and then wants to take visits to Missouri, Alabama and North Carolina before making that decision.
• Sophie Cunningham was doing some w-o-r-k in her second career start for the Phoenix Mercury. Here was her halftime line:

• Yahoo states the obvious and says Missouri is a big winner from the transfer portal — not just because of who they added (Kelly Bryant, Jonathan Nance) but who they lost (basically no one).
• Hear from Mizzou interim volleyball coach Joshua Taylor: