Former Missouri football safety Ian Simon made an appearance on the ESPN Daily Podcast with ESPN’s Mina Kimes to discuss the Mizzou Football boycott he led during the 2015 season from the campus protests, and how things have changed since then five years later.

He was asked about the current Mizzou football players who took part in a protest march to the courthouse last week in response to George Floyd’s death, and it was really cool to hear him so supportive about the whole situation.

Here’s what Simon had to say:

“It’s awesome. In the grand scheme on things, it hasn’t been that long. To see how well they were received, that was awesome. That made me super proud to be an alumni of the school. It made me very proud to be a part of that program, and be a part of that foundation. That made me feel really good, to kind of warm my heart. Those are young men who are going to make an impact in the future and continue to set the tone for what it means to be a Missouri Football player, on the field and off the field. That was super, super empowering and super heart-warming to see.”

You love to hear it. And this was a very good listen, so you can hear the full conversation with Ian Simon and Mina Kimes on ESPN Daily’s Apple Podcast.

And as we inch closer and closer to the 2020 College Football season, we’ve got some good news and bad news. The bad news is that the SEC Media Days won’t be held in Atlanta this year due to COVID-19 (and understandably so). Missouri and Eli Drinkwitz were originally scheduled to be the first day in Atlanta on July 13th with LSU and Florida.

The good news, however, is that the event it will still be going on virtually for the first time ever, the conference announced in a release on Wednesday. The SEC Network team is still planning to do their usual coverage of the event, but the dates and times have not been announced yet.

Also, be sure to watch rounds 2-5 on the MLB Draft on Thursday on ESPN2 or MLB Network to see where Ian Bedell could potentially land.

That’s it for now...onto the links!

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Yesterday at Rock M

• In the latest edition of the Film Room, Tim Bussen looks at the Cover 0 Blitzes in the Defense 2020 Part Seven
• Ryan Herrera writes on Martez Manuel and Ryan Walters discussing Mizzou football protests

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More Links:

(PowerMizzou)

• Mitchell Forde writes about the best defensive players that appear on Mizzou’s schedule this season
• ($$) Read up on Gabe DeArmond’s latest edition of the Macadoodle’s Mailbag
• Mizzou exercising caution as players return to workouts, writes Mitchell Forde

(STLToday)

• Mizzou’s Bedell waits along with others, writes Steve Overbey

(KC Star)

• Souichi Terada writes that another Eliah Drinkwitz debut has been postponed with 2020 SEC Media Days going virtual

(The Athletic)

• ($$) In his latest mailbag, Peter Baugh discussed what would be a reasonable win total for Drinkwitz’s first season

(Columbia Missourian)

• From the staff, SEC to have virtual football media days

(Columbia Daily Tribune)

• MU notebook: SEC Media Days to be held virtually, writes Eric Blum
• From Rudi Keller, UM System athletic leaders assure safe return

(Miscellaneous/Tweets)

• Mizzou and the UM Board of Curators have officially announced that in-person classes will begin on August 24th. (More info here from the Office of the Chancellor)

• Congrats to Mizzou Gymnastics on setting a program record with a 3.76 spring GPA (there’s been a lot of these all around the athletic department!)

• Another one....congrats to the Mizzou Soccer team on setting a program record 3.60 spring semester GPA!

• And congrats to Mizzou Women’s Golf with a 3.61 spring semester GPA, setting another program record!

• A terrific honor for former Mizzou Women’s Basketball player Jordan Roundtree, who was named the winner of the John McLendon Minority Postgraduate Scholarship Award. Congrats, Jordan!

• Cameron Ball, a three-star offensive and defensive lineman from East Point, Georgia has received an offer from Mizzou

• Cuonzo Martin will be on KMOX Sports Thursday night at 5:30 p.m. CT with Tom Ackerman (along with a star-studded line-up)!

• Wallpaper Wednesdays with Mizzou Football! Some sweet pictures for your phone.

• James Franklin spending some time in COMO with his family!

• Athlon Sports has released their 2020 SEC Football All-Conference team, and four Missouri players have made the list
• From ABC17’s Andrew Kauffman, Mizzou’s Manuel and Walters lead athletic department in peaceful march
• ABC17’s Nathalie Jones has a newscast on the uncertainty of fans for this upcoming season

• If you’re looking to sign up for ESPN+, Rock M Nation now has an affiliate link: click Here for ESPN+ Now! (** RockMNation has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though RockMNation may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.**)