Just jumping in? Here are the previous rounds of the Missouri Tigers Football Draft:
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.
On to Round VIII!
Round VIII, Pick 15: Nate selects DE/DT Justin “Godzilla” Smith
Getting Justin Smith at Pick 15 is an absolute steal.
The NFL knows Mr. Smith as “The Cowboy”, but before he was detonating professional offensive lines, he was known in Columbia as Godzilla, and the legends about him on campus were absolutely epic.
My personal favorite is one shared by many others:
Justin played on one bowl team and then two other unmemorable Tiger squads. But his talent and athleticism would never be forgotten, and now I get to line up two of the most disruptive defensive linemen in Mizzou history next to each other.
Round VIII, Pick 16: BK selects RB Henry Josey
Before I get to my pick, a disclaimer because I think it needs to be said: I completely overlooked Justin Smith. For some reason, I had him pegged as his final year coming in 1999. He probably should have been a top 2-3 round pick. He went in round eight. I’m embarrassed, ashamed and regret this error.
Alas, we keep on keepin’ on.
I think there’s one Missouri running back that stands above the rest at Mizzou, and that’s Henry Josey. One of the best “feel good” stories in program history, Josey was on his way to going down as one of the all-time best MU running backs before a devastating knee injury in 2011 threatened his football career.
Josey came back in 2013 with something to prove. He posted nearly 1,200 yards rushing as the lead back in a 3-back committee with Russell Hansbrough and Marcus Murphy.
Josey’s 7.0 yards per carry are the most by a Mizzou running back in the last 20 years... By more than a full yard per carry (Damarea Crockett, 5.9). He’s the only Mizzou running back in the last 20 years with multiple 1,100 rushing yard seasons.
Oh, and he’ll forever be remembered for sending Mizzou to the SEC Championship Game with his 57-yard touchdown run against Texas A&M.
Chase Daniel, Henry Josey, Jeremy Maclin & Justin Gage. Yeah, that’ll play.
My picks:
Round 1: QB Chase Daniel
Round 2: LB Sean Weatherspoon
Round 3: WR Jeremy Maclin
Round 4: DE Aldon Smith
Round 5: CB E.J. Gaines
Round 6: DE Markus Golden
Round 7: WR Justin Gage
Round 8: RB Henry Josey