Mizzou Football

The Drew Lock era, or at least a sneak preview of it, begins on Saturday

Here are today's Mizzou Links.

By Bill Connelly@SBN_BillC Sep 30, 2015, 5:14am CDT

What's On

Locktoberfest

Drew Lock Must Reads

Film Room: Drew Lock vs. Kentucky

kacc56

The true freshman QB started off hot, but stalled in scoring position. What went well and what went wrong?

Fine, I'm in. Lock should start.

Bill C.

"I'm not writing this post because of the future tense. I'm writing it because Drew Lock is probably the best option in the present tense."

Drew Lock Must Reads

Film Room: Drew Lock vs. Kentucky Fine, I'm in. Lock should start.

When you've got a backup quarterback with mounds of potential, it can create some awkward situations. I think for a lot of us, our initial response to last night's news was some variation of "The Lock era begins!" But this could just be a sneak preview. There's a good chance that Maty Mauk is given the starting job back before the Florida game.

That said, this is clearly an opportunity for Lock. If Mizzou goes out and scores 35 points on South Carolina (which I very much do not expect), it's hard to imagine him not starting the next game, too. This offense needs life, and I can't imagine he'd have to provide much of it to convince Gary Pinkel and the staff to give him starter reps in the proceeding future. Here's to hoping they are reacting to a great performance four days from now.

Post-Dispatch: MU's Mauk suspended for one game, could be out longer

Mizzou suspended starter Maty Mauk for at least Saturday’s game against South Carolina for disciplinary reasons related to a violation of undisclosed team policies, MU announced Tuesday night.

Mauk, 17-5 as a starter the last three seasons, will not play against the Gamecocks and could be out longer, along with backup left tackle Malik Cuellar, who is also suspended. The team will evaluate their status after Saturday’s game against the Gamecocks, MU said in its statement.

Mauk’s suspension is not related to a legal matter, a source with knowledge of the situation told the Post-Dispatch.

KC Star: Maty Mauk suspended for Missouri's game vs. South Carolina

Cuellar is a junior-college transfer from the City College of San Francisco. He started the year as the Tigers’ backup right tackle, and he is now the backup left tackle.

With sophomore Nate Crawford, the normal starting right tackle, sidelined with a sprained ankle, senior Taylor Chappell shifted from the left guard back to the outside.

Chappell started 10 games at right tackle last season. Redshirt freshman Paul Adams is listed as his backup.

The Trib: Mauk, Cuellar suspended; Lock in line to start vs. South Carolina

The 6-4, 205-pound Lock has led seven series on the season. They have resulted in a touchdown, a field goal, a missed field goal, an interception, a punt and two turnovers on downs.

Sophomore Eddie Printz and redshirt freshman Marvin Zanders are listed as co-third stringers on the Tigers' depth chart.

PowerMizzou: Ready or not

"I think he feels bad that Maty was in this situation," Drew's father, Andy Lock, said over the phone on Tuesday night. "I think he's grown, I wouldn't necessarily say close to Maty, but they've become friends over the course of time. I think he's concerned about Maty a little bit.

"But he's got to flip that pretty quick, and become just laser-focused on what he has to do Saturday. He's super-excited about it. He's really upbeat about his opportunity when he talked to me about it on the phone."