The Missouri Tigers Legends Draft: Round XXII

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

Round XIX

Round XX

Round XXI

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 XXII, Pick 43: Nate selects OG “Mad” Max Copeland

The below video is required to be playing as loud as possible for the entire duration of this entry.

If you like to gamble I tell you I’m your man

You win some, you lose some, it’s all the same to me

When the 2010 Black & Gold game came around, there wasn’t a whole lot of question as to who the starters were going to be. But one thing that stood out to me as I watched was an unusual amount of screaming, particularly from the backup offensive linemen group. There was a skinny kid with long blond hair who was jumping up and down and yelling constantly. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but that moment always stood out to me.

The pleasure is to play, makes no difference what you say

When 2012 came around and Missouri was gearing up to start its first year in the SEC, I knew it was going to be a tough haul, especially with all the injuries suffered in camp. The lack of depth on the offensive line meant that freshman Evan Boehm was pressed into service, the first true freshman to start for Pinkel’s staff. The other guard? Some walk-on named Max Copeland. The scream-y underweight kid who had bulked up and worked his way to the second-string in spring ball.

I don’t share your greed, the only card I need is the ace of spades

That hard work was so much more than learning the playbook. Copeland famously woke himself up at 2am every day to eat a whole freaking chicken breast. He stayed long after practice was done hitting bags and working on his technique. He never cut the hair, grew a beard, embraced his oddity and continued to scream metal lyrics and paint an ace of spades on his wrist tape. He was a pungent Viking metal god, working hard and playing maniacally to provide a second quality guard to the greatest offensive line at Missouri.

Not only did this walk-on step up to provide an SEC-caliber guard, his personality and quotability was though the roof. Every time Copeland was asked about the team, his quarterback, his coach, the SEC...everything he said was memorable and awesome, citing mythology, history, and quirky insights that no player has been able to capture since him.

He might be in my “Mr. Irrelevant” slot, but I say this without any sarcasm or insincerity: Max Copeland is my favorite Missouri player of all time. His story was impressive, his work ethic tenacious, his personality the size of Mt. Everest, and a ferocity on the field matched only by the epic warriors of lore he was able to channel every game day.

Welcome to Valhalla, noble King Copeland,, your sword is reddened with the gore of your foes; we, worthy of your service, thank you.

Round XXII, Pick 44: BK selects OT Rob Droege

Photo by Elsa/Getty Images

Mizzou has had two offensive tackles win first-team All-Conference honors in the last 20 years: Justin Britt in 2013 and Rob Droege in 2003.

Droege was a massive human being. Droege stood 6-foot-6 and weighed in at 305 pounds. His play on the field was as impressive as his presence off of it. He played out of position his first two years at Missouri as an oversized guard, but immediately became a dominant presence upon moving outside to tackle, finishing his career as a two-time first-team All-Big 12 selection.

Droege was also named a preseason second-team All-American selection and was on multiple watch lists, including for the Lombardi and Outland trophies. A heck of a player who drove open some massive holes for Brad Smith on those early 2000s Mizzou squads is the final addition in what has been an incredible project.