The Missouri Tigers Legends Draft: Round IV

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

Round I

Round II

Round III

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 IV...Team Nate is on the clock...

Round IV, Pick 7: Nate selects FS William Moore

Ever been to Hayti, MO? If you said yes, I don’t believe you. But Hayti’s (possibly) greatest son doubles as one of Missouri’s greatest safeties. Are you a fan of four-year starters? Moore cracked the starting lineup way back in his freshman year of ‘05. Do you like ball hawkers? Willy Mo grabbed 11 interceptions in his career, setting the school’s single season interceptions record with 8 in that magical ‘07 run. Do you like a physical safety that can play the line? Moore logged 280 tackles, 17 of those for loss and 3 of which were sacks. Do you like Freestyle Fridays? Willy Mo has you covered (ha! football pun).

The safety position is really only noticed when they give up a huge play. William Moore made everyone pay attention and, for that alone, is a legend. And now he’s suiting up in my secondary. Good, good...

Round IV, Pick 8: BK selects DE Aldon Smith

Mike Ransdell/Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

D-Line U began with Justin Smith. But it was made famous by Aldon Smith. The former Raytown standout immediately made his presence felt during his redshirt freshman season with 60 tackles and 11 sacks. He finished that season in 2009 as a first-team freshman All-American, won the Big 12’s Defensive Freshman of the Year award, and was named second-team All-Big 12.

He may not have posted the same numbers as Shane Ray or Michael Sam, but he also didn’t have the same guys along the defensive line as Ray or Sam did. Smith’s dominance shouldn’t go overlooked. For me, he’s the top defensive end on the board.

When you think about the modern defensive end, you should think about Aldon Smith. He’s long, he’s strong and he’s athletic as hell.

Unfortunately, the Aldon Smith story can’t be told without also including the off-field issues. He recently signed with the Cowboys and reportedly has his life back on track. I sincerely hope that’s true. Aldon Smith is one of the most dominant defensive players I’ve seen at Mizzou in my time watching the Tigers. And now he joins Sean Weatherspoon as the cornerstones on my defense.

My picks:

Round 1: QB Chase Daniel

Round 2: LB Sean Weatherspoon

Round 3: WR Jeremy Maclin

Round 4: DE Aldon Smith