Mizzou Football

Mizzou tries to protect Drew Lock in the present tense and prepare him for the future

Here are today's Mizzou Links.

By Bill Connelly@SBN_BillC Oct 7, 2015, 4:55am CDT

What's on

Twenty-five years later, Charles Johnson still didn't score.

Post-Dispatch: From our archives: Buffs take five, beat MU

25 years later: If you ever wondered what the Fifth Down looks like in the play-by-play... pic.twitter.com/H9NlaNquAQ
— Mizzou Athletics (@MizzouAthletics) October 6, 2015

Protecting Drew

ESPN.com: Planning for Success; Missouri Tigers need to protect QB Drew Lock

"You’ve got all these ideas you want to do, but you’ve got a young quarterback and you’ve got to execute," Missouri coach Gary Pinkel told reporters at his Monday press conference. "You’ve got to decide what he can handle and what he can’t handle, which increases his chances for success."

Lock hardly looked like an out-of-place rookie against South Carolina, completing 21 of 28 passes for 136 yards and two touchdowns in place of suspended veteran Maty Mauk. Granted, South Carolina’s defense is not in Florida’s class, but Lock seemed smooth and composed in leading Mizzou’s offense to one of its better performances of the season -- even if he understandably felt some butterflies beforehand.

"Hopefully I can be a little more settled," Lock said. "I think, like I mentioned before, having the series in the other games helped me out a lot. I was a little nervous. I wanted to get a win for the university and the state and everything."

PowerMizzou: Tuesday's Top Tigers: SC
PowerMizzou: Novel times

Henson went back-and-forth on whether the first-half play calling, in which Lock went 16-of-19 for 108 yards, was to protect a young quarterback or just how the game played out. He went back-and-forth, in fact, in a span of two sentences:

"In the first half, i just wanted to let him get his feet wet," Henson started, "get going and get some completions, get some things going and get his confidence going. It wasn't by design, it was just kind of the way it turned out."

Perhaps that quote best shows these novel times in mid-Missouri. For a program that's been spoiled with established, consistent two or three year starters at quarterback, the Tigers have gone from the ultimate wild card in Maty Mauk to a different kind of wild card in Drew Lock.

The Missourian (from before the season): It's Evan Boehm's moment

Evan thinks this ability to adapt is responsible for much of his success: the All-Southeastern Conference honors, the captain status, the fact he's started every game of his college career thus far.

He locks in to earn teammates respect. He fools around to earn their friendship.

"It's a delicate thing because some guys can't do it," Missouri left tackle Connor McGovern said. "Some guys can't go from laughing and then two seconds later strap on their helmet.

"I think it's definitely a genetic thing."

But here's the other side to that narrative, which is equally important: Growing up with "Coach Dad" can be difficult. During his Missouri career, Evan has relished success separate from the judgments he faced in Lee's Summit.

Post-Dispatch: Mizzou notes: Resurgent running game starts up front

Post-Dispatch: Tiger Takeaways: MU braced for 'swarming' Gator defense