Best Mizzou Duos: A connection that lives on to this day...

During his time at Missouri, Drew Lock had a couple of guys who he seemed to always look for when the going got tough. If he needed to stretch a defense downfield, he seemed to always look in the direction of Emmanuel Hall. Pretty much anything else? He was looking in the direction of Albert Okwuegbunam.

Drew and Albert O played just 22 games together at Mizzou, but in those 22 games... They were electric. 72 catches, 881 yards and 17(!!) TDs.

It seemed like at least half of the touchdowns were scored on this play:

It’s a simple RPO that pulls the LB up just enough so that Albert O can sneak right by him, into the seam, and (usually) into the end zone. This was a staple play for the Mizzou offense and one where it helps having a tight end who runs a 4.4 and a QB who can rifle it in there.

Albert O benefitted greatly from having Drew Lock under center, too. He played more games in 2019 than he did in ‘18 (2 more), but had fewer catches, yards and the same amount of touchdowns with the Kelly Bryant/Taylor Powell duo at QB. He was still the physically imposing tight end that we always knew; he just didn’t quite have the QB talent that he did with Drew.

Photo by Billie Weiss/Getty Images

Fast forward to 2021, and you can find both ends of this dynamic duo in Denver, playing for the Broncos. Albert O was drafted in the 4th round, and had a solid rookie year when he was able to be on the field. In four games, he was able to log 11 catches on 15 targets for 121 yards and a touchdown. All of that was with only 86 snaps all season. Unfortunately, his rookie season was ended prematurely with a torn ACL. He should be back in time for the start of the 2021 season, and should make an impact as one of the two freak athletes playing at tight end for Denver.

Lock, who was drafted in the second round, has had an up and down start to his pro career. In only 18 career games, Lock has 3,953 yards, and a 23 TDs to 18 INT’son 59% completion. There are certainly a lot of positives to his game (arm strength, ability to play off schedule), but he has struggled a little bit with injuries and turnovers.

Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images

These two are two of my favorite players in Mizzou history. They gave their teams some swag and energy when at Mizzou. They also are both arguably the best players in Mizzou history at their respective positions. (yeah, I said it.)

Now they’ve got a chance to ball out in Denver, and it’s all because of the bond that started in Columbia.

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