Extended camp leads to lulls in... everything.

Normal camp lasts about 30 days, and teams are permitted to cram 25 practices into those 30 days. However, with camp extended to 40 days with the first game being pushed back, there’s a lot more time off, which isn’t necessarily a good thing when you’ve got new everything.... staff, players, positions, injuries, virus concerns, schemes, playbooks, etc. Instead of getting into any sort of rhythm, it’s all starting and stopping all the time. Think of it like one of those drivers — you all know one, or maybe you are one — that hits the brakes way too often and you just never get going. How annoying is it?

Souichi Terada delved into this further in his recent piece for the Kansas City Star.

“Football is one of those games where it requires some consistency,” Drinkwitz said after Tuesday’s practice. “I don’t necessarily like the fact that we practiced Saturday and we don’t get to go again till Tuesday. We gotta take a Thursday off (every week).”

This becomes even more difficult and annoying when, as Souichi said in his piece, they had a scrimmage on Saturday, and afterwards coaches reviewed film and made notes, but then the team didn’t practice again until Tuesday. How much good are those notes they made when and they can’t do anything to address the issues until several days later?

From Drink:

“There’s some frustration in the fact that you can’t go out there and string good days together. And you watch practice like three or four days ago and you’re going back to correct it,” Drinkwitz said. “Are you moving on? Are you working on the same thing? It’s interesting for sure.”

Anyway, be sure to check out the article. Souichi does great work for the KC Star, and he’s got a lot more info included than what I shared!

One last thing... I’d be remiss if I didn’t shout out a big ol’ HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dad, who’s super cool, and very encouraging of this here sports writing job of mine.

On to the links!

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Yesterday at Rock M

• Sammy identified three keys to success for this year’s D-Line.
• In case you missed it: Do check out Matt’s extensive work on the newest Mizzou commits, Trevon Brazile and Yaya Keita.
• Coming up: The 20 for 20 continues! And a new roundtable!

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More Links:

Football/SEC/CFB Landscape

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Dave looked at what the Tigers are getting with the addition of Rutgers’ Mike Marietta and Martez Manuel’s new role at safety. while Hochman wrote a great piece titled, “College football is special to Americans, but 2020 puts the sport in a precarious spot.” Dave’s new chat will be up at 11 on Friday, so be sure to check it out.
• PowerMizzou (free): Gabe & Mitchell were back with new hot taeks in their Blowing Smoke Presented by Weston Tobacco series, covering mostly college football. (Side note: I miss Gabe on Twitter. Even curmudgeonly Gabe was enjoyable to me)
• Mizzou Football on social media:

• AL.com: Alabama has suspended 33 students, with 600 total facing sanctions for violating Covid policies. Big yikes for the SEC school.
• Wall Street Journal: Laine Higgins wrote about how the surest way to get a coronavirus test is to play college football. Something is not right about that statement...
• Big Ten schools continue to fight their conference’s decisions. This time... it’s Ohio State coach Ryan Day. SMH...

Other Mizzou Sports

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Matter wrote about Mizzou’s recent recruiting surge with the addition of DeSmet big man, Yaya Keita.
• Columbia Tribune: Eric Blum wrote about Mizzou’s soccer team, who is grateful to get to play this season and is ready to get started.
• PowerMizzou ($$): Gabe looked at what’s left of Cuonzo’s 2021 recruiting class.
• The Maneater: Their recruiting staff covered the commitments of 5 Tigers across 3 different sports in a piece about Mizzouting (haha): Kyran Montgomery (football, 2021), Kaleb Brown & Sean Durugordon (hoops, 2021), Hannah Boughton & Jessica Larson (soccer, 2022).
• Mizzou legend Marcus Denmon has signed with a professional team in Shanghai! Congrats, Marcus!
• Mizzou Hoops target Legend Geeter will be announcing his college decision on Friday at 1:30. Rock M’s Matthew J Harris said if you’re a Friars fan, you should feel good.

• Well, this is interesting.... (please don’t take away kU and Braggin Rights. PLEASE).

Interesting/Non-Mizzou News

These are some of the best stories & tidbits I found regarding some goings-on in sports and the world— Enjoy! A lot of it is Chiefs-related this week!

• Jason Reid of The Undefeated (I LOVE this site) wrote about Pat Mahomes, Deshaun Watson, and the new NFL era of the Black Quarterback. Cool story.
• Jerry Bembry of The Undefeated covered the t-shirt and message NFL players will be displaying during Week 1.
• From Deadline, there’s a new documentary series coming out on Netflix 9/22 from The Spring Hill Co (LeBron’s production company), “The Playbook: A Coach’s Rules for Life.” It gives insights into the rules great coaches live by to achieve success in sports and in life. Can’t wait to check it out!
• The WNBA Players would like to remind you to take part in the census. Seriously, it’s super quick, AND it’s super important.

• Michael Brice-Saddler of the Washington Post wrote that St. Louis native Bradley Beal will vote in his first election this fall, and he’s encouraging you to do the same.
• Looks like another Forde family member has a way with words. Brooke Forde (Mitchell’s sister and daughter of Pat Forde), is a swimmer at Stanford and has something thoughts on the wildfires and climate change, saying ‘2020 is Not Cursed, it’s the Result of Our Actions.’ (via Swimming World Magazine)
• You really hate to see it. Minnesota’s athletic department has announced some tough cuts due to Covid and not having a steady stream of revenue to help things out. (crosses fingers that we don’t see sports cut at Mizzou)
• Good on you, Miami Dolphins!

• In the newest For Pete’s Sakes in the KC Star, writer Pete Grathoff talked about the disgusted reactions of fans and reporters upon hearing the boos during the unity moment in KC. It’s honestly not surprising it happened because people suck (sorry), but come on.... COME ON.
• We are so lucky to have Vahe Gregorian of the KC Star as a regional journalist. His piece, titled “Chiefs’ opening win tarnished by ugliness of some fans booing during moment of silence” is just fantastic.
• In strange animal news (bet you didn’t see that phrase coming), the St. Louis Zoo is investigating how exactly a python laid 7 eggs without being near a male python for at least TWO DECADES. (via Associated Press)
• And finally, LOVE these shirts.

• 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.**)