****Official 2014 Missouri Tigers Football Thread****

['Hamas' Jenkins]

None of this matters. Fire Pinkel.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by siberian khatru

BREAKING: Missouri DE Michael Sam, SEC co-Defensive Player of the Year, says he is gay; could become first openly gay NFL player.

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 10, 2014

Good for him. And great for Mizzou that this was an absolute non-issue in terms of negative connotations, as it should be.

I hope he becomes a strong voice for equality based on sexual orientation.

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by siberian khatru

BREAKING: Missouri DE Michael Sam, SEC co-Defensive Player of the Year, says he is gay; could become first openly gay NFL player.

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 10, 2014

Welp, if he plays for a federal football team he'll have coverage.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

I've never been more proud to be a Tiger fan. These press releases are wonderful:

The University of Missouri released statements from Athletic Director Mike Alden and football coach Gary Pinkel in the wake of Sam's coming out. Here are those statements in their entirety:

Pinkel: "We're really happy for Michael that he's made the decision to announce this, and we're proud of him and how he represents Mizzou. Michael is a great example of just how important it is to be respectful of others, he's taught a lot of people here first-hand that it doesn't matter what your background is, or your personal orientation, we're all on the same team and we all support each other. If Michael doesn't have the support of his teammates like he did this past year, I don't think there's any way he has the type of season he put together.

We talk all the time here in our program about how one of our core values is to respect the cultural differences of others, and this certainly applies. We view ourselves as one big family that has a very diverse collection of people from all walks of life, and if you're part of our family, we support you.

Looking back, I take great pride in how Michael and everyone in our program handled his situation. This past August, Michael was very direct with the team when he decided to let everyone know that he is gay. We discussed how to deal with that from a public standpoint, and ultimately Michael decided that he didn't want that to be the focal point of the season. He wanted to focus on football and not do anything to add pressure for him or for his teammates, and I think that's a great example of the kind of person he is. We left it that whenever he felt the time was right, however he wanted to make the announcement, that we had his back and we'd be right there with him.

We're very proud of Michael and the courage he has displayed for coming out. We look forward to following his career, and the success he's going to have."

Alden: "We are so proud of Michael for what he has accomplished at Mizzou academically, socially and competitively. This is a young man who earned his degree from MU, was a unanimous All-American on the football field and now he's being a leader in his personal life. He continues to display great character, courage and compassion. We are proud of him on every level.

We work very hard at the University of Missouri to provide an environment that is respectful and inclusive of all people. We're pleased with the strides we've made over the years with our student-athletes, coaches and staff about respecting and celebrating our differences. We continue to grow every day. We talk all the time about our core value of respect, and we emphasize that in a number of ways, whether it's through individual actions, team settings, public efforts such as our 'If You Can Play, You Can Play' video, and even our Men-for-Men and Women-for-Women programs.

The University's theme is called 'One Mizzou.' What that theme represents is that we are all family, we are all Tigers, and we should all respect and appreciate each other.


We wish Michael all the best in all that he does." - See more at: http://missouri.rivals.com/content.a....nomdVQdM.dpuf

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by Mr_Tomahawk

Wow.

Good for him.

KU fans have been very supportive. Kudos to them as well.

[KChiefs1]

Hope this helps with recruiting.

[KChiefs1]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

The other notable in-state miss was Roderick Johnson, at OT from St. Louis who went to Florida State. Missouri was never really in the picture there.

There was a kid from Blue Springs, Kaleb Prewett, they pursued hard. But he and two teammates committed to KSU early. Mizzou did not pursue the other two (RB Dalvin Warmack and DE Elijah Lee) very hard and missed them all. Kind of a package deal.

QB Rafe Peavey is from an Arkansas family and was never going anywhere else. He also didn't fit exactly what Missouri wanted at QB in this class - a versatile guy who could play multiple positions.

ATH Monte Harrison is another big miss, though he probably is playing pro baseball out of HS. He went to Nebraska instead, largely because of baseball. Darrin Erstad is Nebraska's coach. Tim Jamieson is Missouri's (and a giant a-hole).

The other guy who Missouri really pursued was St. Louis RB Markel Smith, who committed, decommitted because he thought he was going to get more big offers, didn't, tried to crawl back and found his spot had been filled. He ended up at Iowa, I think. As a fallback.

I think Wallace is the only one who really is an impact player at the college player. Warmack and Prewett will probably have nice careers at KSU, too.

Didn't know about Jamieson.

[GloryDayz]

Good for Michael. I wish him the best in the NFL...

[BlackHelicopters]

Best of luck in the NFL. Could be a tweener

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by KChiefs1

Didn't know about Jamieson.

He's not popular amongst a lot of circles in MO baseball. Not sure what it is, just get the impression that many think he is an a-hole.

[duncan_idaho]

Hamas -

AJ Harris (Blue Valley West) is another guy you might want to add to the out-of-state list. Former teammates of Clay Rhodes, 4-star OT. Attending JR day at Mizzou.

BTW, Alec Murphy will also be there. Not sure how high he'll be on Missouri's target list.

Naterace Strong is No. 1 from what it looks like, and they already have a commitment from Chase Abbington (who supposedly is coming in at RB).

There's also a kid from St. Louis, Sutton Smith, who might get a look at RB. 6-1, 210, 4.46 according to his measurements at a Rivals Elite Event. Believe he goes to Hazelwood Central.

[greatgooglymoogly]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

Hamas -

AJ Harris (Blue Valley West) is another guy you might want to add to the out-of-state list. Former teammates of Clay Rhodes, 4-star OT. Attending JR day at Mizzou.

BTW, Alec Murphy will also be there. Not sure how high he'll be on Missouri's target list.

Naterace Strong is No. 1 from what it looks like, and they already have a commitment from Chase Abbington (who supposedly is coming in at RB).

There's also a kid from St. Louis, Sutton Smith, who might get a look at RB. 6-1, 210, 4.46 according to his measurements at a Rivals Elite Event. Believe he goes to Hazelwood Central.

I can't remember a time when this region had so many good RBs. Murphy just visited Mississippi State, and some recruiting sites have him down as a Bulldogs lean:



I doubt he is on the Tigers radar ATM, but he could pop up fast if others go elsewhere.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by greatgooglymoogly

I can't remember a time when this region had so many good RBs. Murphy just visited Mississippi State, and some recruiting sites have him down as a Bulldogs lean:



I doubt he is on the Tigers radar ATM, but he could pop up fast if others go elsewhere.

He's coming to JR day but is not a top target at RB for Mizzou. Sounds like Miss. State has some familial pull (and he's moving to Mississippi, potentially, for family reasons).

[KcMizzou]

This is a good read.

The news is not that Missouri All-American defensive end Michael Sam is gay. The news is that when he told his teammates in August, it so tore apart the locker room that the Tigers won the SEC East.

That's always been one of the arguments. A gay teammate would be unwelcome in the locker room and definitely in the showers. A gay teammate would cause division, make teammates feel uncomfortable.

Except that Sam didn't. An openly gay player at Missouri turned out to be a bonfire in want of a spark. His teammates nodded, and they moved on. There really was nothing to see here.

[+] EnlargeGary Pinkel, Michael Sam
AP Photo/Tim SharpMissouri coach Gary Pinkel preaches acceptance in his program.

That alone speaks to the power of generational change. Missouri, the flagship public university in a red state, made itself hospitable to an openly gay football player. In 1973, the University of Missouri Board of Curators decided not to recognize a student group, Gay Lib, that proposed to serve as a forum for homosexuality. The board appointed a well-respected attorney to establish the facts of the case. Among those "facts":

• Homosexuality is a compulsive type of behavior.
• What happens to a latent or potential homosexual from the standpoint of his environment can cause him to become or not to become a homosexual.
• That homosexuality is an illness and should and can be treated as such and is clearly abnormal behavior.

The university denied recognition. Four years later, a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the university must recognize Gay Lib on First Amendment grounds.

"Apparently," Prof. Darrell Napton of South Dakota State, a plaintiff in the case, said Sunday night, "there has been a lot of change in the last few decades. That has been true all over the country."

Napton couldn't speak to what gay life was like at Missouri four decades ago. He isn't gay. He signed onto the case on First Amendment grounds. But really, we've read this story before. Gays will foment problems in the locker room, as African-Americans would before them, as Jews would in country clubs, as Catholics would if elected to office. The "facts" that back up such assertions wilt when exposed to sunlight.

The baseball team in St. Louis, Missouri's second-largest city, allegedly wanted to boycott the National League rather than play against Jackie Robinson. Less than two decades later, led by future Hall of Famers Bob Gibson and Lou Brock, the Cardinals won the World Series. It is ancient history now, but the barriers in the locker room didn't come down easily.

We live in a different time. The Missouri players already knew Michael Sam, and respected him, and loved him the way that teammates can love one another. What revolution he fomented in coming out to his teammates and coaches occurred from within.

Sam attended a Missouri that has changed. Nearly four decades after the Gay Lib case, the Missouri athletic director reminded everyone Sunday night that the university theme is "One Mizzou." Gary Pinkel, the head coach, said, "We talk all the time here in our program about how one of our core values is to respect the cultural differences of others, and this certainly applies."

[+] EnlargeMichael Sam
Matthew Visinsky/Icon SMIMichael Sam won SEC defensive player of the year honors, helping Missouri win the SEC East title.

Not every transition will proceed as smoothly as at Missouri last season, when 105 players and an entire staff kept their mouths shut and huddled together to protect one of their own. Sam responded with a season worthy of being named the SEC Defensive Player of the Year. Surely the peace of mind he found among teammates who accepted him contributed to his play.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I have a hunch Missouri isn't out of the norm. Tolerance is taught in public schools across the country, and it turns out that the students are paying attention. The rest of us are coming along, too. Missouri associate athletic director Chad Moller said he received perhaps a half-dozen media inquiries about Sam's sexual orientation. None of the outlets wanted to expose Sam. Everyone wanted the story.

"It was all very respectful," Moller said.

The NFL scouts and executives who asked if Sam had a girlfriend grew up in a different time. While there have been NFL players who have spoken out against sharing a locker room with a gay teammate, they will say a lot less once it's clear that their attitude is not socially acceptable.

The Missouri Tigers proved last season that a gay man can play football, and attend meetings, and lift weights, and, yes, even shower, with his teammates and no one will be the worse for wear. The revolution isn't coming. It's already here. As it turns out, it's not that big of a deal.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/...ers-acceptance

[duncan_idaho]

LS West RB Ryan Williams has committed to Missouri.

This likely means Naterace Strong is probably the only RB who still could find room at Mizzou in this class.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

LS West RB Ryan Williams has committed to Missouri.

This likely means Naterace Strong is probably the only RB who still could find room at Mizzou in this class.

Just saw that. Nice pickup.