Mizzou Sports Email

Official Sports Report for March 12, 2008

Spring Has Sprung!
by OSR Staff
Columbia, MO - The Missouri Tiger football team kicked off its 2008 spring practice period Tuesday with a 2 1/2 hour session on Faurot Field.  Finally getting a break from cold winter weather, the practice was held under sunny skies and temperatures that hovered around 60 degrees most of the afternoon.

Head Coach Gary Pinkel was pleased with the initial effort by his team, which has 13 more practices prior to the 2008 Black and Gold Game, set for 1 p.m. on April 19th.

"Overall, I thought the effort was good, obviously you have a long way to go as you always do," he said.  "On the first practice like this, we do very little team-type drills, most of them are just fundamental work by position.  Then later on, we get a lot more competition between the offense and defense and different type of group drills," he said.

The team competed Tuesday in shorts, as NCAA rules prohibit teams from wearing full pads and conducting full-contact drills until the third practice.  With little hitting going on, most of the action Tuesday was of the individual drill variety, so there wasn't much tangible to report on.

Pinkel said after practice that one thing he was focusing on was the team's mental mindset and how they handle themselves after coming off one of the best years in school history.

"When you have a year like we did, there's lingering effects," he said.  "Anywhere you go, people start congratulating you three months after the season is over.  I think the best way to attack complacency is through working hard.  Whether that's me working as hard as I've ever worked, or our football staff, or all of our players, how are they lifting weights?  How are they practicing?  We see that great work ethic, and I think that's how you battle complacency.  We accomplished a lot last year but we didn't accomplish the ultimate goal, so we still have a lot to improve," he said.

With 10 starters returning on the defensive side of the ball, Pinkel said Tuesday that he feels good about the potential of that group for the 2008 season.

"I think we should have a chance to have a real good defense, and that's exciting," he said.  "I think the offense has to come along a little bit, we have a lot of the key players back which is good.  The offensive line has got some issues.  The depth on defense is where we're constantly looking at and working to improve, and then offensively the offensive line is probably the biggest question mark at this time.  You're always going to have some of those, but you also have some players on offense in key positions that are there," Pinkel added.

A sign of Mizzou's growing respect nationally was evident Tuesday, as a group of coaches from the staffs at Ohio State and the University of Washington were on hand all day long to hang out with the Tiger coaching staff and to observe how they run their program and how they practice.  Jim Haecock, who is Ohio State's defensive coordinator, and who edged MU Assistant Dave Christensen in the Frank Broyles assistant coach of the year award in 2007, was on hand representing the Buckeyes (he coached with Pinkel for one year at Bowling Green and then for several more at UW under Don James). 

Injury-wise, several top-line players were either out or limited in what they could do, as previously reported on the Mizzou OSR.  Tight end Chase Coffman was not at practice Tuesday due to a class conflict (along with #1 tailback Jimmy Jackson - the pair will miss each Tuesday practice during spring ball because of the class), but when Coffman is back, Pinkel said he should be able to participate in most everything after having his ankle cleaned up in the off-season.

Free safety William Moore will not participate in any contact drills this spring after having surgery to repair an injured shoulder after the Cotton Bowl, but he'll be 100 percent for the fall.

Free safety Hardy Ricks had a similar procedure done as Moore, and he will have a chance to do some light contact work after spring break, perhaps, if all goes well.  

Wideout Danario Alexander, who required surgery after injuring a knee against Oklahoma in December, is close to being back, and recently ran a 4.52 40-yard dash while still rehabbing the injury.  Pinkel said he might be able to start practicing in April if all continues to go well.

Pinkel later touched on the leadership of his team, and what it would take to equal the outstanding leadership from the departed 2007 senior class.

"You have to have the right leadership, and that starts with me, and the new group of seniors and everything else," he said.  "Those are things you have to watch out for, responsibly I have to look out for those things.  But I would really think having one high-level year, doesn't define you in any way, that's one good year.  Can we have another high-level year two years in a row?  We haven't done that yet, you know, so stay tuned.  You look back to work ethic, and every day if every player is doing the right things in every drill, and academically he's doing the right things, he's doing the right things in the weight room, he's doing the right things in meetings and paying attention, those are the things you look at, and behavior generally tells you what is going on mentally with a player.  I really like our senior class, they had a great group last year they got to witness how they led, and hopefully that will carry over and be a positive for us this year," he added.

Mizzou will next practice Thursday at 3:30 p.m., followed by a Saturday 9 a.m. session.  Stay tuned to the Mizzou OSR for details and commentary.