The Missouri Tigers Legends Draft: Round X

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

Round I

Round II

Round III

Round IV

Round V

Round VI

Round VII

Round VIII

Round IX

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.

10th Round starts....now!

Round X, Pick 19: Nate selects OT Justin Britt

Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images

I’m kind of embarrassed that we’ve made it ten rounds and this is the first offensive linemen we’re taking. Missouri certainly hasn’t been renowned for its offensive linemen on an individual basis, but there have been several units that have been excellent over the past 20 years.

However, despite the invisible-man-workman-like nature of Tiger offensive lines, the one star that stands out on his own would have to be Justin Britt. The skinny tall kid from Lebanon, MO came to Columbia as a project for former o-line coach Bruce Walker to develop... and it worked. Dr. Pat Ivey packed 50 pounds of muscle on him and Walker slotted Britt in at guard for the dominant 2010 line. He then took over the left tackle spot in 2011 and manned it with aplomb for the next 3 years, minus the games missed in 2012 with a knee injury.

If you’ve read my work for any stretch of time you know my absurd levels of love for the 2013 offensive line, and Britt was one of four of those gentlemen who currently play in the NFL. He earned all-american honors in his senior season and was a second-round pick in the NFL draft.

He’s also the subject of one of my favorite GIFs of all time. OF ALL TIME.

Britt is another classic Pinkel recruit: underrated, scouted poorly, developed over the years to fit Pinkel’s system and set up to succeed at both the college and professional ranks. It’s an honor for Team Nate to field one of the best left tackles of the past 20 years.

Round X, Pick 20: BK selects Center Evan Boehm

Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images

Nate is absolutely correct— we’ve gone too long without some hog mollies, and it’s time to right that wrong. Any successful offense needs a quality center. It’s one of the most overlooked positions on the offense, and it shouldn’t be. Boehm was the heart and soul of those dominant offensive lines in 2013-2014.

Boehm came in as one of the most highly touted recruits to commit to Missouri in Gary Pinkel’s tenure. A 4-star prospect out of Lee’s Summit North, he was a Tiger through & through. From the day he arrived on campus, the kid bled black and gold.

And he was a heck of a player, too.

We don’t have “stats” for offensive linemen, so we tend to judge them by virtue of their ability to grind through starts. Nobody was better at doing so than Boehm. He’s the all-time Mizzou football record holder for most consecutive starts (52). He’s one of just three Mizzou offensive linemen to finish their respective careers as a four-year starter, and the only one to ever start all 12 games as a true freshman.

If you can gain Pinkel’s trust as a freshman, you’ve done something special. Boehm did exactly that.

I’ll place my trust in Boehm to anchor my offensive line, too.

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

Round 9: LB Kentrell Brothers

Round 10: C Evan Boehm