****Official 2019 Missouri Tigers Football Thread****

['Hamas' Jenkins]

The 2019 season brings uncertainty, as the protracted appeal over a ridiculous "scandal" with a single actor still has not been resolved. On the field, Mizzou faces what appears to be a much easier schedule than in years' past. The early season is loaded with home games before a protracted road stretch from mid-October through November.


Schedule:

Spoiler!

8/31 @ Wyoming
9/7 vs. West Virginia
9/14 vs. SEMO
9/21 vs. South Carolina
10/5 vs. Troy
10/12 vs. Ole Miss
10/19 @ Vandy
10/26 @ Kentucky
11/9 @ Georgia
11/16 vs. Florida
11/23 vs. Tennessee
11/29 @ Arkansas

Recruiting:

Spoiler!

Commits:

Jalen St. John, OG: **** 5.8 RR, St. Louis, MO
Brady Cook, QB: *** 5.7 RR, St. Louis, MO
Jay Maclin, WR: *** 5.7 RR, Kirkwood, MO
Mitchell Walters, OL: *** 5.7 RR, St. Louis, MO
Kevon Billingsley, DE: *** 5.7 RR, East St. Louis, IL
Robert Wooten, DE: *** 5.7 RR, Stafford, TX
Drake Heismeyer, OL: *** 5.6 RR, St. Charles, MO
Elijah Young, RB: *** 5.6 RR, Knoxville, TN
Cooper Davis, DE: *** 5.6 RR, Melbourne, FL
Will Norris, LB: *** 5.6 RR, Columbia MO
Dominique Johnson, RB: *** 5.6 RR, Crowley, TX
Ray Curry, OL: *** 5.5 RR, Memphis, TN
Harris Mevis, K: Unranked, Warsaw, IN
Javian Hester, WR: **** 5.8 RR, Tulsa, OK
Jalen Logan Redding, DE *** 5.6 RR, Columbia, MO

In-state talent is noticeably better than 2019, but the depth is not as impressive as the 2018 class that Missouri missed badly on. There are 7 4+* recruits per rivals, and as per usual, Ohio State has poached one of the two best in-state recruits, with Notre Dame taking the first 5* prospect in several years, Jordan Johnson. The program has de-invested in Georgia after making inroads in and around Gwinnett, and has dug further into Texas to compensate. Whether or not this is a good strategy is yet to be borne out.

The previous best recruit, Antonio Doyle, an ILB from St. Louis, decommitted on Thursday

The Class Rankings are in the low 50s from Rivals and 24/7 and again near the bottom of the SEC.

Hamas' Crystal ball sees a lot of variance. I could see this team winning as few as 7 and as many as 10 games. Georgia is the only certain loss. Florida is likely still overrated by name, but time will tell.

Official prediction: 9-3. Recruiting prediction: slightly disappointing

FIRE ODOM. NOW

[Titty Meat]

Javian Hester set to visit Lincoln in a couple of weeks.

Thank you Mizzou

[Sassy Squatch]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

I'm not saying that Sterk has handled this brilliantly, but when a coach goes out and starts telling assistants, players, and recruits that he's been fired before that decision has been made, it's not exactly an easy situation to deal with.

Odom has a hand in this too, and not only for the piss poor product he put on the field.

That's my point. Odom ****ing sucked, and the fact that he didn't get fired on his own 'merit', but because he ran his mouth privately is ****ing embarrassing for Sterk.

[ChiefsCountry]

If you like Clawson, I would go for his protege in Will Healy. Future coaching superstar IMO. I liked him alot at Austin Peay.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

Those aren’t special recruiting classes at either of those schools.

At Mizzou, he’d recruit at Pinkel’s level - bouncing between 25-40 - but wouldn’t have the development program and long-term relationship work with HS coaches to prop the rankings up.

They're pretty good given that he was dealing with severe sanctions left over from Pete Carroll

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Can't really speak to any of that, but if it's true then you're probably right. He probably gave the program little choice.

That said...may I ask what difference a 'vote of confidence' truly makes? If Sterk really gave a shit, he could've made some non-committal response rather than tell Odom to **** himself. And if he really told Odom that he's not going to back him, don't you think the writing was on the wall either way?

Odom's not wrong - lame duck status in CFB is as bad as being fired. It's really just a slow march down death row at that point. Recruiting falls to hell, enthusiasm craters. If there was any chance that Sterk was going to keep Odom, he really did have to give that 'vote of confidence' even if it didn't mean anything.

And it NEVER means anything.

Yeah, Odom isn't necessarily blameless either, but that doesn't mean that Sterk's actions haven't put this program in a really damn tough spot.

I do like the point that Duncan made, though - Heupel's role in this is forgotten. The QB room is the cause of Odom's demise, IMO. He's here for another couple of years if they have ANYTHING in the pipe that could've stepped in after Lock and not made us scrap the entire offense and turn it into something that Dooley and crew clearly weren't up for. But Heupel's performance there yieled us Taylor Powell and a dude who made a greater impact at WR than at QB (Micah Wilson).

You can trace a lot back to Heupel's seeming awareness that he'd be long gone by the time Lock needed to be replaced so he just mailed that task in.

Here's the deal, though. Odom wanted the vote, and it was the BOC that refused to give it d/t the NCAA sanctions. Busby mentioned it on Saturday. When Sterk told Odom that, that's when he started scorching the earth. And if I'm Sterk, I don't know if I'm going to tie myself that closely to Barry Odom given that I didn't hire him and that he sucked massively this year. I realize that votes of confidence are largely meaningless, but if they are that meaningless, then there's also no reason for Odom to request one in the first place, and no real reason for Sterk to issue one and look like a liar when the program just lit into the NCAA (using their transparency and honesty in the process as the thrust of their argument) if he fires him two weeks later.

And yeah, Heupel sucking is on Heupel to a large degree, but that also means that Odom went 1/4 with coordinators at best (assuming you believe in Ryan Walters)

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Here's the deal, though. Odom wanted the vote, and it was the BOC that refused to give it d/t the NCAA sanctions. Busby mentioned it on Saturday. When Sterk told Odom that, that's when he started scorching the earth. And if I'm Sterk, I don't know if I'm going to tie myself that closely to Barry Odom given that I didn't hire him and that he sucked massively this year. I realize that votes of confidence are largely meaningless, but if they are that meaningless, then there's also no reason for Odom to request one in the first place, and no real reason for Sterk to issue one and look like a liar when the program just lit into the NCAA (using their transparency and honesty in the process as the thrust of their argument) if he fires him two weeks later.

And yeah, Heupel sucking is on Heupel to a large degree, but that also means that Odom went 1/4 with coordinators at best (assuming you believe in Ryan Walters)

I kinda think I'd like to find a way to hold onto Walters.

May not be even remotely realistic given that we're almost certainly going far afield for the HC hire and he'll want to hand-select his entire staff. But I hope he doesn't ignore Walters just because he's here already. I kinda feel like he might be a good one.

but your overarching point regarding coordinators is a good one - especially if you think Cross was Odom's call (and I'm not sure if he was).

[DJ's left nut]

So evidently they're circling around some 17 year old kid who parlayed a stellar 5-6 season in the Ohio Valley to a job at Charlotte where he promptly went 7-5 in CUSA.

So yeah - this is happening. We've reached the "Y'know, maybe we can pry Doug Wojcik away from Tulsa..." stage of grief already.

Awesome.

[Jerm]

Will Healy is the name this morning...

Boy if they go this route this is going to be end spectacularly, good or bad...Sterk will look like a genius or it'll cost him his job. No in between.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

So evidently they're circling around some 17 year old kid who parlayed a stellar 5-6 season in the Ohio Valley to a job at Charlotte where he promptly went 7-5 in CUSA.

So yeah - this is happening. We've reached the "Y'know, maybe we can pry Doug Wojcik away from Tulsa..." stage of grief already.

Awesome.

It’s a really bold move by Sterk if he makes it. Huge boom/bust.

His work at Austin Peavy and Charlotte is teansformative for those programs - AP was 1-34 or something like that in the 3-4 seasons before he got there and he won coach of the year honors.

Charlotte is a practically brand new program that has never been to a bowl before Healy.

But he’s 34. There’s not much track record there. Lot of ways for that to fail.

He shouldn’t be the top candidate over Harsin, but he’s a hell of a lot more intriguing that Jeff Monken or Troy Calhoun or Skippy Holtz.

[Jerm]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

It’s a really bold move by Sterk if he makes it. Huge boom/bust.

His work at Austin Peavy and Charlotte is teansformative for those programs - AP was 1-34 or something like that in the 3-4 seasons before he got there and he won coach of the year honors.

Charlotte is a practically brand new program that has never been to a bowl before Healy.

But he’s 34. There’s not much track record there. Lot of ways for that to fail.

He shouldn’t be the top candidate over Harsin, but he’s a hell of a lot more intriguing that Jeff Monken or Troy Calhoun or Skippy Holtz.

I def. agree with the last part...much rather take a chance on Healy rather than a service coach or Holt, Fritz, etc.

Still holding out hope for Harsin...

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

It’s a really bold move by Sterk if he makes it. Huge boom/bust.

His work at Austin Peavy and Charlotte is teansformative for those programs - AP was 1-34 or something like that in the 3-4 seasons before he got there and he won coach of the year honors.

Charlotte is a practically brand new program that has never been to a bowl before Healy.

But he’s 34. There’s not much track record there. Lot of ways for that to fail.

He shouldn’t be the top candidate over Harsin, but he’s a hell of a lot more intriguing that Jeff Monken or Troy Calhoun or Skippy Holtz.

Well...yeah.

But Christ - that's not much of a bar to clear.

I just don't understand how Mizzou, with its new facilities and money as an SEC program, has to resort to giving CUSA coaches their 'big break'. How did this become a stepping stone program for mid-major kids?

Weren't we supposed to be beyond this by now? If not a true destination program, then at least a program that can get a return call from guys like Campbell and Harsin?

Suddenly Mizzou is sub-Vandy and sub-Kentucky in desirability? Sounds like we'd lose a showdown with Arkansas?!?

I mean...how the !@#$ did this happen? One mediocre coach (not even a terrible one) and a season's worth of sanctions that won't matter in 18 months and THIS is where we are?

I just do not understand it.

[Jerm]

Guy over at PM that is pretty plugged in is saying Monken is the clear #1....**** me.

Sterk should start looking for a new job if that's the hire.

[BryanBusby]

Monken? Shut the whole ****ing thing down.

[Sully]

If he brought the double-wing option stuff, it'd be a win/lose for me.

Sure, I love to watch that offense, and it would be entertaining as hell. There is nothing in football more fun (imo) to watch and more poetic than a well run option offense. But he would never win a lot. We would become Georgia Tech pretty quickly.

[Spott]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Well...yeah.

But Christ - that's not much of a bar to clear.

I just don't understand how Mizzou, with its new facilities and money as an SEC program, has to resort to giving CUSA coaches their 'big break'. How did this become a stepping stone program for mid-major kids?

Isn’t that how they got Pinkel?