More Awards!

It’s preseason awards time! Everybody get excited! On Thursday afternoon, the Coaches All-SEC preseason football team was released, and YAY! Some Mizzou guys made the cut!

First Team: Nick Bolton, LB

Second Team: Kobie Whiteside, DT & Tyree Gillespie, S

Third Team: Larry Three-Sticks, RB

Speaking of Mr. First Teamer, Nick Bolton, Joe Cox of Saturday Down South put together 10 things we should know about Mr. Bolton. Here’s some of the most interesting tidbits, but please do check out Joe’s post.

• As a child, he dominated his school’s points-based reading reward system. As a former teacher, I really love to see this.
• He may have gotten his love of the game from his dad, but he plays for his sister. From the post:

When Bolton was 9 years old, his sister, Jazmine Dunn, was an outstanding high school athlete, contemplating a future as a college athlete in basketball and/or softball… until she was sidelined by a brain tumor. Dunn survived, but she sustained a visual disability that prevented her from playing. Young Nick decided he’d play sports for his sister.

• He’s a road game warrior.. Last year, according to the article, he averaged 10.8 tackles per game on the road vs 7.6 at home.

On to the links! Happy Friday to all.

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Yesterday at Rock M

• BK took care of the next 20 for 20 entry. # 5 stars Brad Smith in the 2005 Independence Bowl!
• Aaron wrote about the Tigers’ pass rush... committee?
• Dive cuts was back with a new episode from our resident hoops savants, Matthew J Harris and Sam T Snelling. In this ep, they talked about Mizzou’s newest commits and had words about a poorly researched Cuonzo recruiting piece done by 247 Sports.
• Coming up: The 20 for 20 continues, and is almost done! And a new roundtable!

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More Links:

Football/SEC/CFB Landscape

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: In a new ep of the Eye on the Tigers pod, Dave and BenFred discussed the Big Ten’s return to playing CFB, and team’s recent Covid struggles.
• KC Star: Souichi wrote about how the Tigers are coping with their depleted O-Line.
• Saturday Down South: Adam Spencer detailed 5 numbers he’d like to see the offense reach this season, while Connor O’Garo predicted the results of every Mizzou game.
• PowerMizzou (free): Gabe & Mitchell were back with new hot taeks in their Blowing Smoke Presented by Weston Tobacco series,

Other Mizzou Sports

• Associated Press (via Columbia Tribune): From Eric Olson, it’s official. Men’s and women’s hoops will start Thanksgiving Eve. Who’s excited?!?

• The Maneater: Their recruiting staff put together a new “This Week in Mizzouting”, covering the family atmosphere of the basketball programs, which have helped to draw in commits.
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Dave was back with a new weekly chat covering Mizzou sports. I haven’t read it yet, and I’m really hoping his chatters weren’t so ridiculous this time around. Stu Durando looked at the impact of later start date on local teams like SLU and Mizzou.
• Mizzou Baseball is back today!

• The newest Rivals 150 for 2022 is out! Matt Harris pointed out on the twitterverse where Mizzou targets have surfaced and what changes he saw since the last list.

Interesting/Mizzou in the Pros 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!

• Porter’s Nuggets are ready for their Western Conference Finals, according to a post by Columbia Missourian/Wire staff. Drew Lock is hoping to be a virtual fan!

• Because Thursday was Pat Mahomes’ 25th birthday, Vahe Gregorian of the KC Star gave us 25 reasons to appreciate him. (as if we needed an excuse to appreciate Mahomes)
• Jemele Hill wrote about the return of Big 10 football, saying that for them, the money was just too tempting.
• Brian McCollum of USA Today wrote about how LeBron’s brainchild, More than a Vote, is working with Live Nation to utilize their empty music venues for voting. Love to see this!
• Kevin Love continues to speak up about mental health, and the update he wrote for The Players Tribune (he used that platform to first reveal his mental health struggles a few years ago) is phenomenal. Read it.
• In a VERY powerful piece for The Players Tribune, Chris Bosh penned (typed?) a piece called “Let Them Vote.” Highly recommend.
• Speaking of Chris Bosh, he was on The Old Man and Three pod recently with JJ Redick & Tommy Alter, and was a fantastic guest. They do some random draft at the end of each episode and Bosh’s picks are... fantastic, haha. You can tell that was the year he was drafted and where his mind was at... in the club!

• Checking back in with WNBA MVP and Jeff City native, Maya Moore, who helped free Jeremy Irons from prison for his wrongful conviction. According to this article by Katie Barnes of ESPN, her recent announcement of her marriage to Irons doesn’t diminish the work she put in.
• 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.**)