Team Missouri Offensive Line: Justin Britt

Ever wondered what a Mizzou team that was comprised of only Missouri kids would look like? Or wonder how good an only-Texan Mizzou squad would do? Well, you’re in luck! This offseason, the Rock M Masthead is assembling the best team of Mizzou players by state that they graduated high school from. We compiled a list of the significant starters on every team from the year 2000 on and voted on the best players at their position group in order to create three “All-State” Mizzou squads: Team Missouri, Team Texas, and Team USA. Over the next nine weeks you’ll read about these Mizzou Greats that hailed from the respective regions and, hopefully, come away impressed with just how good these fictional teams could actually be.

Missouri’s best teams of the past 20 years always happened when they fielded an elite offensive line. This week we honor the gigantic, quiet contributors to the offensive points-machines we love so much.

Justin Britt got over half of the votes, but Rob Droege was an all conference guard in his own right and deserves some sort of consideration. Evan Boehm also received a lone vote and started every game of his career (52) at Mizzou. Britt however, is the clear cut choice here.

Justin Britt is an prime example of how Gary Pinkel managed to make Missouri an above average school, without necessarily dominating the recruiting rankings. Grab a big kid from your home state who wants to be there, and develop him into a player that can play at a high level for you. Britt had a two star ranking from Rivals, and had no listed offers.

He came into the program at the end of the Chase Daniel era and redshirted his freshman season in 2009. He was a sturdy backup behind Austin Wuebbels in 2010 and took over the left tackle role after an injury to Elvis Fisher in 2011. From 2011 through 2013 Britt was a staple across the Mizzou offensive line starting 35 games in three seasons. Oh, and he sandwiched in an ACL tear in there at the end of 2012. Britt’s career at Mizzou was a winding road that had good stretches like helping break Mizzou into the SEC and eventually winning a division title, some bad stretches like the 2012 season from hell where he finished it with a torn ACL. He truly got a full experience at Mizzou.

Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

He individually stood out the most in 2013, where Mizzou had one of it’s most dominant offensive lines and one of the best teams in history. He was voted a first team All SEC lineman at the end of the year by the AP, which was a great note to end on for the Lebanon, MO native. It helped propel him into the NFL as a second round pick for the Seattle Seahawks where he started for them in Super Bowl 49. He went on to get a second contract, and is currently a member of the Houston Texans.

Not bad for a two-star.

This team Missouri list is getting scarier and scarier by the week. We only have one guy for the offensive line, so I’m just imagining 5 Justin Britt’s and if that’s the case I feel bad for the opposition.

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