Rock M Digest: Volume 9

Welcome back, Tiger fans, to another edition of Rock M Digest, a weekly column where I, Madame Editor, share with you my must-read picks from the past week at Rock M Nation. These stories made me think (sometimes too much), laugh, smile, cry... you get the picture. Since I have the distinct pleasure of reading everything on this wonderful website — I love reading it all, I swear — I want you, the readers, to know what you should be checking out if you don’t have time to read all the content.

At the bottom, I’ve gathered up my favorite quotes of the week and presented them with no context.

FYI: There are links to the stories in both the recommendations & the quotes so you can reference it if you so choose.

Let’s begin.

Study Hall: Missouri 79, Arkansas 76

By Matt Harris, whose work has been mentioned on SEC Network

Wins are fun, guys. While this is likely Matthew J Harris’ last study hall of the season — Sam’s back from his adventures abroad— he did a GREAT job with this one. He got into so much detail about the Tigers’ down-10 comeback, I felt like I was there re-living it.

Matt also broke down how the Tigers won this one, though given their offensive woes and lack of rebounding, it’s actually pretty incredible how they were able to pull it off. We saw the re-emergence of Isiaih Mosley (welcome back, Zay!), an improved Mo Diarra (he made a three!), and nice play from Aidan Shaw (he made two threes!). Make sure you check this one out. It’s a good time.

The Verdict: A Sidebar

By Matt Watkins

The Verdict is back! But in a different iteration, because when The Boss goes out of the country, it requires others to fill his basketball duties. With Harris manning the aforementioned Study Hall duty, he’s not able to also cut film, meaning, we have a new and different look to this week’s Verdict.

Watkins looks at how the shortened rotation Gates has been employing in the past month as the Tigers have faced better competition has put a strain on some of the players and has taken a toll on their performance. As his excellent charts show, even by Watkins’ best estimates, players like D’Moi Hodge and Nick Honor are far outplaying his preseason expectations. And also, there’s the Isiaih factor. While the Tigers surely miss the sharpshooter’s offense, they also miss his playing time, which would take some of the minutes logging off of his teammates. I cannot recommend reading this enough.

Recruiting Reset: Is Jake Garcia going to be the Missouri’s starting QB in 2023?

By Brandon Kiley

Looks like Missouri will have an interesting quarterback competition on its hands in fall camp, as Miami’s Jake Garcia, a former Top-50 recruit in the 2021 class, joins the Tigers (it’s official now).

For this piece, and probably because he just loves college football, BK looked at tape on Garcia from three different games. While he ultimately found mixed results — Miami was kinda a mess — there’s definitely things to like about Garcia, and it will be fun to see how he works in the new Kirby Smith-led offense. It’s a good quick read, and good news for Tiger fans who have been pining for a non-Brady Cook QB. I’m sure there will be plenty more coverage about the edition to come as well, so consider this a “starter” piece on Mr. Garcia.

PREVIEW: No. 12 Mizzou heads to Baton Rouge to take on No. 13 LSU Gymnastics

By Karen Steger

Why yes, I am taking time to point out my own work this week. After attending my first Mizzou Gymnastics meet a few weeks ago and loving every second of it, I’ve decided to expand (or start, in this case) coverage of the no. 12 Missouri Tigers as they

I envision this (and the subsequent pieces that will follow) to be part-preview, part-primer, and it is my hope it will provide enough interesting information that Mizzou fans can follow along with the team whether they’re watching them on tv or in person. You can use my potential match up data to figure out who to keep an eye on as well as see how the Tigers can get that W!

Out of Context Quotes of the Week

[reminder: the title of the article links to its location for easy accessibility]

“Lots of people can look like geniuses when half your schedule is against crumbling wannabes or teams in the middle of a hard reset.” —Nate Edwards, Kirby Moore Offense

“Alabama, the nation’s fourth-ranked team, stymied that upset attempt, however, capitalizing on its opportunities when it mattered most to take down Mizzou.” —Brandon Haynes, Mizzou-Alabama recap

“It’s like driving until your gas gauge is on “E,” and you try to coast into the nearest filling station.” —Matt Watkins, The Verdict

“Is an Eli Drinkwitz running back naturally talented or does the scheme elevate his production? And to that question I’d answer: it’s the running back.” -Nate Edwards, Running Back Postmortem

“But when the Tigers needed it most, they drew upon the tenacity that helped them to wins over Wichita State and UCF.” — Matt Harris, Study Hall: Arkansas

“On Wednesday, the Tigers scraped together enough money and left the store with the win. Six weeks from now, the evaluators in Indy won’t ask about how it was financed.“ — Matt Harris, Study Hall: Arkansas

Best Quote by a non-Rock M writer: