Mizzou Sports Email

Official Sports Report for February 20, 2008

Defensive Outlook For Spring Football
by OSR Staff
Columbia, MO. - While the Mizzou offense garnered most of the headlines with its record-setting play in 2007, it was perhaps the emergence of the Tiger defense as one of the Big 12's best that made the difference in MU's magical 12-2 season.  A young unit to begin the year, with just five starters returning from 2006, once the defense found its rhythm toward the middle of the season, it proved to be a very good one.

In 2007, Mizzou ranked in the top four in the Big 12 in three major defensive categories, including scoring defense (3rd - 23.29 ppg), rushing defense (4th - 122.07 ypg) and pass efficiency defense (4th - 120.48 rating).  The Tigers also ranked 5th in the league in total defense (378.93 ypg) and were very opportunistic, forcing 29 total turnovers (up from 26 in 2006) and scoring four TD's (2 INT returns, 2 fumble returns), while racking up a pair of safeties.

The good news in 2008 is that Mizzou's defense should be just as good, if not better.  That's because the Tigers return 10 players who started in the Cotton Bowl - and 22 letter winners in all.  The sole loss among starters is noseguard Lorenzo Williams, who was a mainstay on the line for years, and whose infectious personality and outstanding leadership will definitely be tough to replace.  The only other key losses include safety Pig Brown and cornerback Darnell Terrell, who both started during parts of their careers.

Returning starters for the Tigers in the trenches in 2008 include a trio of senior linemen in DE Stryker Sulak, DT Ziggy Hood and DE Tommy Chavis.  Sulak emerged as a play-maker in 2007, and earned 2nd-team All-Big 12 honors after leading the team in tackles for loss (11 for 71 yds.), forced fumbles (4), and ranking second in QB sacks (6 for 62 yds.) and fifth in tackles (60).  Hood and Chavis both earned honorable mention All-Big 12 recognition for their play, which included 49 tackles, 8 TFL's, 5 QB sacks, and 3 forced fumbles for Hood, with Chavis adding 48 stops, 7 TFL's, 4.5 QB sacks and 2 forced fumbles.  Junior Jaron Baston (14 games, 13 tackles in 2007) and sophomore Tyler Crane (11 games, 2 tackles) are likely the front runners to step into Williams' departed spot.

At the linebacker level, all three starters return, giving the Tigers one of the most experienced and proven linebacker groups in the Big 12.  Leading the way is junior WLB Sean Weatherspoon, who exploded on the scene as a super sophomore, as he led the Tigers with 130 tackles, including 9.5 TFL's, 3 QB sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 8 pass break ups and 1 recovered fumble.  "Spoon," as he's known by everyone, earned 1st-Team All-Big 12 honors in 2007 for his play.  Joining him in senior MB Brock Christopher, who had a career-best 106 tackles in 2007 (7.5 TFL's, 1.5 QB sacks), and was named to the Big 12's honorable mention all-league squad.  Fellow senior Van Alexander also returns at the strongside linebacker spot after his best season to date included 60 tackles in 14 games. 

Sophomore Luke Lambert (32 tackles in 14 games in 2007), junior Connell Davis (13 tackles in 12 games) sophomore Andrew Gachkar (16 tackles, 1 forced fumble in 14 games) and senior Steve Redmond (9 stops in 14 games) give Mizzou talent and quality depth at this level.

The Tiger secondary looks to be teeming with proven play-makers in 2008, and all the hopes start with the return of All-American free safety William Moore.  Moore established himself as one of the top safeties in the nation a year ago, as he amassed 117 tackles, and tied for the most interceptions in the country, with an MU single-season record 8 picks.  He was named a 1st-Team All-American by Rivals, and earned 2nd-Team All-American accolades by the Associated Press.

Joining Moore in the secondary as returning starters include senior strong safety Justin Garrett (51 tackles and 2 INT's in 14 games in 2007), sophomore CB Carl Gettis (49 tackles, 1 INT in 14 games) and senior CB Castine Bridges (50 tackles, 1 INT in 14 games).  Gettis was named a 2nd-Team freshman All-American, and also won honorable mention All-Big 12 honors for his play in 2007 as a true freshman.  Senior CB Tremane Vaughns and junior safety Hardy Ricks (converted from CB a year ago), will also lend quality depth here.

The spring depth chart will look a little different from the outlook above this year, as five Tiger regulars will be out, recovering from various injuries.  Moore and Ricks will both sit out the spring after having off-season surgery to repair torn labrum in a shoulder, while Redmond had minor work done to clean up a knee injury.  Gachkar had blood clot issues after the season, and he's expected to sit out spring drills to deal with that health issue, and senior reserve safety Mack Breed broke both wrists recently in winter conditioning drills, forcing him out until the summer.

Here are Coach Pinkel's thoughts on the Tiger defense...

PINKEL:  "I think when you look back at our defense last year, one thing that really stood out to me is at the beginning of the season I said we had some really good athletes, but we were inexperienced.  There’s no question we were an entirely different defense at the end of the year, as our guys got the experience and got things figured out.  If you look at the Big 12 statistics for the year, we ended in the top four in the league in almost every category."

"We lost one starter in Lorenzo Williams, who was an all-conference guy and an unbelievable leader for the defense and for the entire team.  But we’ve got a lot of players coming back, probably some of the best as a group that we've had here."