Rock M Digest: Volume 8

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.

2022 Position Review: QB

By Nate Edwards

In what will be the first of the site’s many position postmortems, Nate breaks down the 2022 quarterback play. He reminds us that the narrative for 98% of the season was that Brady Cook was not good enough and someone else needed to wrestle QB1 away from him. But then we found out that — surprise! — maybe he wasn’t good enough because he was throwing with a torn labrum!

But trotting out a “broken” QB without an adequate backup system in place, be it Sam Horn, Jack Abraham, or Tyler Macon, continues to be a Mizzou problem, Nate tells us, as Gary Pinkel had the same problem. He asks us to remember back when Drew Lock was thrown into the mix when Maty Mauk was suspended.

Nate finishes off his history lesson by breaking the QB roster into parts (I would imagine he’ll do something similar for each position postmortem): The Departed, The Returners, and the Freshman. It’s a fun post written in Nate’s great conversational tone, and a worthwhile read for sure.

Rock M Bracket Racket: Projecting The At-Large Field

By Matt Watkins

In this data-filled piece by Matt Watkins, he shares his mad scientist vision of trying to figure out how the selection committee puts together NCAA team sheets before revealing he’s come up with a predictive formula that will show us which teams may be included in the NCAA Tournament field as well as where they will be seeded.

In this first iteration, Matt will be taking a look at potential at-large teams and where they slot in the “S-Curve.” His model is retrospective, as opposed to taking a look at predictive results. No predictions here, friends! This is the real stuff!

Commitment-apalooza

By Sammy Stava, Nate Edwards, Josh Matejka

Saturday, while decidedly NOT a great day for the Missouri Tigers basketball team, WAS a great day for Mizzou Football and the transfer portal, as the Tigers picked up not one, not two, but THREE transfer additions and the re-commitment of a needed piece to stay another season.

Kicking off the Day o’ Commits was SEC WR transfer, Ole Miss’ Dannis Jackson. According to Sammy’s piece (he really did the lord’s work for the site on Saturday), Jackson, a former three-star, spent three seasons at Ole Miss but didn’t play last season. In 2021, however, he had 12 receptions for 244 yards and two touchdowns.

The second commitment, written by Nate, brought St. Louis native and Mizzou legacy DE Joe Moore III back to the Show Me State from Arizona State. Per Nate’s article, the former blue-chipper played for a sinking ship at ASU, so his stats may not be great. However, Nate did say he was akin to the production of Trajan Jeffcoat.

In the final commitment post of the day from Sammy, Florida State defensive back Sidney Wiliams, cousin of Kris Abrams-Draine, announced his intent to transfer to Mizzou. The former three-star played three seasons with the Noles, recording 66 total tackles, an interception, four pass deflections, and a fumble recovery.

Finally, came the announcement by Javon Foster that he’s returning to Mizzou for another season. This is big news for the Tigers, as Josh tells us Foster seems destined to play on Sundays. He’ll be joined by recent grad transfer Marcellus Johnson and freshman Logan Reichert.

How worrisome is Mizzou’s defense as it pushes toward March?

By Matt Harris

In this interesting and well-done piece by Matt, he examines Mizzou’s defensive issues (they’re 201st in adjusted defensive efficiency as of Thursday), which seem to have become even more glaring given their recent struggles offensively. In typical Matt Harris fashion, he has a bunch of statistics, charts and video to back up his information, and it’s very.... eye-opening.

There may be a reprieve coming though, as Harris points out. If MU goes .500 over the next two weeks, the Tigers enter a stretch where eight of their 11 games come against teams presently rated lower than 100th in adjusted efficiency. Another good thing about those teams? Their offenses aren’t exactly potent.

Out of Context Quotes of the Week

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

“Suddenly, those weak/floaty throws to the sideline made much more sense. Suddenly, the notable lack of accuracy on deep balls was understandable.” —Nate Edwards, QB Position Postmortem

“On Saturday, Vanderbilt’s theoretical time of death arrived with 13:18 left in the second half.” —Matt Harris, Missouri Defensive Woes

“Momentum is a serious thing, and Texas A&M will be ready to make it five consecutive wins at home. Buckle up, Tiger fans. This’ll be a bumpy ride.” —Brandon Haynes, A&M Preview

“Missouri has to adjust to life being the hunted rather than the hunters. They did not seem to be comfortable in that role on Wednesday when Texas A&M, a team in a similar situation to Florida, gave them their best shot.” — Parker Gillam, Florida Preview