Football Odds n Ends

I apologize, dear readers, for that is a boring title. However, that’s exactly what the news up top the links is focusing on this morning— borders, podcastin’, crootin’, and draft week...

First up, Coach Drinkwitz and his staff continue their #NewZOUtour, and have made progress at locking down the borders. They’re up to 197 schools now, apparently. Impressive... I DO wish that graphic was a bit bigger, because who the hell can read that?!?

Speaking of Coach Drink, he made an appearance on 101 ESPN’s Stalter & Rivers show Tuesday afternoon, of which Rock M’s own Mr. Brandon Kiley serves as a producer. Do check it out!

In recruiting news...

Travion Ford, HUGE 2021 Mizzou target, according to 247 Sports, might be a Mizzou lean, if you are to believe their Director of Football Recruiting, Steve Wiltfong and recent Rivals’ predictions. I mean, let’s just go with it, shall we?

And finally, in case you needed reminding, the NFL Draft begins on Thursday. Souichi Terada at the KC Star looked at where the Tigers have polled in mock drafts.

Reminder: If you have not caught up on Nate the Great and BK’s draft profiles, now is as good a time as any!

On to the links!

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Yesterday at Rock M

• Nate the Great wrote a draft profile on Trystan Colon-Castillo.
• Site Manager Sam detailed some new transfers on Mizzou’s radar. I just want to see a Zo sipping coffee gif. Is that too much to ask?!?
• IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Sam’s final Study Hall installment analyzed when Mizzou turned the corner. Don’t be obtuse, y’all... They DID turn a corner.
• COMING UP!!! Round 6,902 of the Mizzou Tiger Legends Draft (kidding)... it’s Round 10 will be up this morning, as well as another NFL draft hopeful preview— CALE!!!!

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More Links:

Football

• PowerMizzou (free): Mitchell Forde wrote about new coach Charlie Harbison, who got his start coaching Arena and Minor League football! Check it out! I Also, Gabe and Mitchell’s new ZOUMCast featured Lorenzo Williams, who apparently knew so little about Mizzou that he showed up to Missouri State for his OV, ha! Watch the video!
• PowerMizzou/Rivals ($$): Sean Williams looked at new offers, 2021 in-state targets Taj Butts and Tyler Hibbler.
• Saturday Down South: Adam Spencer wrote about how the Broncos’ GM John Elway is not drafting a QB and confirmed that they are, in fact, building around Drew.
• Football’s twitter page continues to spotlight former #Lou2TheZou student-athletes with some awesome graphics. Check ‘em out!

• The Athletic ($$): Peter Baugh did a Q&A with THE Chase Daniel, featuring his input on Mizzou hiring Coach Drink, among other things. Additionally, Stewart Mandel tackled (sorry) how teams could feasibly play a college football season during the winter, and we could end up with a (screams) COMBO FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL FINAL FOUR WEEKEND.

Don’t forget you can sign up for The Athletic’s free 90-day trial!!!

Hoops

• PowerMizzou (free): Corey Evans, Rivals Basketball Analyst, took a look at Evansville transfer DeAndre Williams, who’s got a hefty list of suitors since announcing his intention to bolt. Hey, I think there’s a school that has an Evansville transfer already on the roster who might be looking for some help?
• Columbia Tribune: Eric Blum wrote about how Robin Pingeton has been busy during an unusual offseason (from 4/20).
• Former hooper Jordan Frericks is back from her second pro season in Germany, and she joined 93.9 The Eagle for a chat.
• Great, great news for a great human and former basketball player, Cullen Van Leer. He was named the head boys basketball coach at Owensville High School (Mo.). Congrats, CVL!

• Jontay’s got a uniform number! Cannot wait to watch him play (one day)!

• A little flashback to November 1982, when Jon Sunvold and Steve Stipanovich, among others, beat Michael Jordan’s Tarheels.

Assorted Mizzou Sports News

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Matter continued his Best of Mizzou countdown with #6— the GOAT (a term I do not use often), our favorite heterochromatic-eyed LEGEND... Mighty Mizzou Max Scherzer!! How’s that for an intro?
• Continuing with the Mighty Max coverage, Dr. Pat Ivey (now of Pat Ivey Performance), highlighted him on his site, and he will be a featured guest on his podcast Friday! Be on the lookout, as I’m sure it will be awesome.

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch (more): In a late submission Tuesday evening, Matter continued his Best of Mizzou countdown with #5— the best female athlete Mizzou has ever had— Karissa Schweizer. Hell, our girl should be in the running for one of the best Mizzou athletes EVER- male OR female.
• J’den Cox, Mizzou & Columbia’s gift to sport/USA/the world, was named USA Wrestling’s Freestyle Wrestler of the Year on Monday. WOW. More info at MUTigers.com and TeamUSA.org. So incredibly happy for this amazingly wonderful and talented young man...

• On Monday night, Mizzou Athletics hosted a virtual ceremony of their annual awards banquet, the ROARS. Check it out on the MizzouMade twitter account for the winners and below for the highlight film. Good stuff!

• Eric Blum of the Columbia Tribune detailed how Joshua Taylor and his volleyball squad are staying prepared for an eventual return to the court.
• Larissa Anderson’s softball Tigers are counting down their 10 best memories of the shortened season! At No. 4 is Megan Moll’s first career homer against Virginia Tech. More info at MUTigers.com.

• Ed Lampitt, former Mizzou wrestler and member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Mizzou Athletics HOF passed away. More info on his legendary career at MUTigers.com.

Interesting/Non-specific Sports News

These are a few of the best stories & tidbits I found regarding some goings-on in sports and beyond that I enjoyed.

• Benjamin Hochman (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) said that without sports, leisurely walks bring out the football players in all of us. I highly recommend everything this guy writes, and this is no exception.
• The Missourian’s FIRST PITCHES series continued with legendary writer Vahe Gregorian (now of the KC Star) detailing his most memorable story—covering Rock Bridge High School’s Girls Basketball in the late 80s. MUST READ.
• The WNBA delivered their most-watched draft in 16 years when it was televised on ESPN. Man... Kobe would have been so proud to see this, y’all (tear). From Bleacher Report writer Ari Chambers:

• MJ fans will appreciate this. Meredith Minkow, who runs social media for Bleacher Report, shared some awesome shots of on-court photography during the Jordan Era. It is AWESOME.

• With more MJ news, the KTRS 550 Big Sports Show’s Brendan Wiese chatted with one of my favorite former Billikens, Larry Hughes, about playing against Jordan. (side note: my fam used to have Bills’ season tickets so I used to watch Larry Hughes quite a bit)
• Prince died four years ago Tuesday. Rolling Stone put a list together of the artist’s 25 best songs.
• Interested in Spike Jonze’s Beastie Boys documentary? It was originally supposed to screen at IMAX theaters, but now will premiere on Friday, April 24 on Apple TV+ if you’ve got it!
• The Washington Post reported that the NCAA saved its money in case of a canceled March Madness, but.... ummm.... it’s been spent. (sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh)
• In extremely sobering news that no one should be surprised to see given how long COVID continues, the Chronicle of Higher Education says that the impact on University budgets could be catastrophic and must be planned for. Furthermore, the Wall Street Journal is wondering if there will be a fall semester on campus. (thanks to my friend Sara for the shares)
• And I’ll leave you with this... from New York Times columnist, Farhad Manjoo, whose children have waged war on “the parents” in a hilarious way.

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