The Missouri Tigers Legends Draft: Round XIX

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

Round XII (this has the halfway point breakdown and links to rounds 1-11)

Round XIII

Round XIV

Round XV

Round XVI

Round XVII

Round XVIII

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 reasoning/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 XIX, Pick 37: BK selects CB Kevin Rutland

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Mizzou hasn’t had many fantastic corners over the years, but Rutland is right near the top of that list. Rutland was a two-year starter and a team captain with ball skills and a willingness to make the big hit. He also happened to be part of a senior class that - at the time he graduated - left Mizzou as the winningest class in the history of Missouri football. That’ll play.

But more importantly, he was part of a huge defensive turnaround that led to Mizzou’s memorable 2010 season. The Tigers finished ‘10 with a 10-2 record in part because the defense limited opponents to just 15.2 points per game, the sixth best mark in the country. MU also doubled its previous season’s interception total to 16. Rutland led the team that season with three interceptions.

Round XIX, Pick 38: Nate selects C Adam Spieker

Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Seamlessly replaced a legend at his position? Check. Started all four years? Check. Freshman All-American? Check. Academic All-American and Honorable Mention All-American? Check. Webb City product that was a successful starting center at the University of Missouri? Check.

Adam Spieker is everything you would want from a Missouri kid. Hard working, hard fighting, team captain that is the unquestioned leader of an offensive line that gave up the fewest sacks in a 4-year period. Spieker is an underrated star from an overlooked position group that was able to play in the spread-style effectively and help set offensive records.

If a kid comes from Webb City, chances are he’ll be a great offensive linemen (Trystan Colon-Castillo nods approvingly).