Some Random Mizzou Things for Sunday

I don’t have much to add on the news that Eli Drinkwitz continues his recruiting tear. I said in my tweet of the story yesterday that it really says something about your recruiting streak when you land a 4-star linebacker who DROPS the average recruiting rating on 247sports composite. Before Xavier Simmons, Mizzou’s average 247 rank was 0.8992, after his commitment it dropped to 0.8984. Which is pretty remarkable.

And also take into account that once the Bat Signal went up, there were a LOT of fans who thought it might be 5-star Wide Receiver Luther Burden... and there were similarly a lot of disappointed fans it wasn’t Burden. Imagine being disappointed when the player who flips is only a 4-star out of state linebacker, and not a 5-star in-state Wide Receiver. So not only is Drinkwitz changing hearts and minds when it comes to Mizzou Football Recruiting, he’s already changed the landscape to where that’s even a thing.

Wild.

Next random thing, Drew Lock:

I will probably go to my grave as a Drew Lock defender. When Brad Smith or Chase Daniel or Blaine Gabbert or James Franklin didn’t become All-Pro level Quarterbacks I got it. So did you. And I realize there are a segment of any fanbase who always hate QB1. But I’ve always felt Lock had everything you needed to be an elite Pro QB. And as a well known NFL hater, one of the league’s biggest issues over the most recent years is a complete lack of patience with younger players. The impatience leads front offices to changes coaches, and coordinators and swap out more experienced veterans for cheaper younger guys... and that tends to make teams bad.

Drew Lock has been a victim of circumstances in Denver, and I fear when players are thrown into the fire too early and are unprepared, and aren’t consistent resources around them, they’re likely to fail. When your Offensive Line is weak, and you’re forced to learn new offensive systems on an annual basis, and play before you’re ready.... it’s amazing why so many Quarterbacks are considered busts.

So watching Lock’s beautiful deep ball again reminds you that there’s hope for him yet. And Denver would be better served to build up their Offensive Line and give Lock some guys who can help him, before they bury him on the depth chart and move on.

Next thing, Nick Bolton:

Bolton is still awesome, and got the start for Kansas City last night. He was good, at least according to Harold Kuntz (and others, really). Bolton is just a guy who can ball, and sometimes your defense can stand having guys who can ball like Nick Bolton can ball.

Last Thing, Mizzou Night at the K was pretty cool because of Denmoney:

Yes, that’s Cuonzo Martin in the white, and Marcus Denmon in the KC Jersey. One, it’s cool to see Martin and Denmon connecting on something good like this, but it’s also fun to see Marcus back in the community. One area where Missouri could do a little better is making sure their formers players are staying connected to the program. Obviously that means you’ll want more of them finishing with the program but it’s all the little steps like this which can help.