The Missouri Tigers Legends Draft: Round III

Just jumping in? Here are the previous rounds of the Missouri Tigers Football Draft

Round I

Round II

Welcome, Tiger fans, to #PeakOffseasonContent. Despite a lack of championships, the Missouri Football Tigers have had some excellent players throughout the years, both at the college and professional levels. There have been excellent ambassadors, on and off the field, as well as some that changed the program or revolutionized a position. So what better time than now to draft a hypothetical team of these exquisite athletes?

BK and I will build a team of 22 starters (sorry, specialists!) to craft a team to play against the other. For simplicity’s sake, we’re limiting our selections to guys who played on the 2000 team going forward, including the current roster in 2020. Each Round will alternate who goes first and we’ll provide our reasonings/explanations/defense afterwards.

At the end, you all will be able to vote for who you think has the best team! And of course, we’d love to hear your picks for each round as well and why we are dumdums who don’t know what we’re talking about.

Round III goes back to Team BK!

Round III, Pick 5: BK selects WR Jeremy Maclin

Photo by Jim Barcus/Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

I feel like I’m just re-creating the 2007 Mizzou football team with Chase Daniel, Sean Weatherspoon and now Maclin, but I suppose that’s not such a bad thing. I considered some other players that I’m sure will come up shortly, but I kept coming back to a simple question: With the game on the line, who would you trust to make the biggest play in the biggest moment?

The answer is J-Mac.

Anything that’s been done at Missouri as a wide receiver, it was probably done by Maclin. He’s the only Tiger to be a two-time first-team All-American. He was the first Mizzou freshman to be named to the All-American team. He broke the MU record for career all-purpose yardage in just two seasons. He scored 16 total touchdowns as a freshman, and he literally one-upped himself the following season with 17 total touchdowns.

Maclin was a threat to score any time he touched the ball from any spot on the field. He could light you up with the dink-and-dunk underneath, and then suddenly he’s burning you deep over the top. Get him out in space on a screen, and look out.

Elusive. Explosive. Exciting.

Those are the words that come to mind when I think of Jeremy Maclin. I couldn’t allow that man to go against me in this draft.

Nate, you’re up!

Round III, Pick 6: Nate selects WR Danario Alexander

Well, if BK is going to get his game breaking wide receiver than I should probably do the same before he fields an unstoppable passing offense.

I’ve watched a lot of football in my day, particularly Missouri football, and I’ve never before, or since, see a receiver so thoroughly dominate the competition like Danario Alexander did in 2009. How do you even pick the marquee moment? The first game of the year when he abused every corner assigned to him for ten catches and 132 yards? The Nevada game where he was, seemingly, the only guy who remembered to show up as he hauled in 9 catches for 170 yards and 2 touchdowns? Outdueling Justin Blackmon in Stillwater? Trying to beat the usurper Baylor by himself?

My personal favorite is the Kansas State game of ‘09: 10 catches, 200 yards, 3 touchdowns...I mean, just look at the bones!

When he was healthy, Alexander was unstoppable. The fact that he didn’t win the Biletnikoff that year is just absolute highway robbery but I will never forget, nor fail to appreciate, the kid from Marlin, TX that turned into a one man offensive nuke.