Aug. 18, 2000
MEXICO, Mo.- Coach Larry Smith cut the afternoon session down by 30 minutes on Thursday, but for the players, it must have felt like they were out there an extra hour. The Missouri Tigers went through an intense second practice at Missouri Military Academy in Mexico, Mo. on Thursday afternoon. The first half of the practice was spent on individual position drills before the team came together for a red zone scrimmage.
The Missouri defensive unit was impressive, allowing the offense just two touchdowns and forcing one turnover. Junior nose tackle Chris Ryan highlighted the defensive attack with two big hits. One of those hits came on an inside hand off to the offensive motion man Travis Garvin. As Garvin hit the hole, Ryan came from the right side and landed a crushing blow to the sophomore wide receiver.
The first offensive score occured when Darius Outlaw connected with 6-5 wide-out Justin Gage on a fade pattern in the corner of the end zone. Gage went up over both Terrence Curry and Julian Jones to pull down the TD reception. The other offensive score came on a two-yard touchdown run by Zack Abron. Abron, who bruised his hand in the morning session, had a strong scrimmage, using his bowling ball-type body to break tackles and seemingly fell forward every time for extra yardage.
The one negative of the scrimmage came when sophomore full back T.J. Leon injured an ankle. The ankle is believed to be broken and it is not known how long the injury will sideline Leon.
INJURY REPORT: Besides Leon, sophomore safety Gary Anthony was diagnosed with a high ankle sprain. As of Thursday afternoon, the goal was to get Anthony back on the field by Tuesday. The secondary has grown extremelly thin with the injury to Anthony and with Antoine Duncan hobbling again. Duncan has battled a knee problem since this time last season and the knee has again begun to bother him. Newcomers Kendall Good (hamstring), Keith Wright (hamstring) and Henry Sweat (hamstring) were out of uniform on Thursday. Quarterback Jim Dougherty (elbow) and wide receiver Darren Baldwin were both in uniform and are slowly working their way back.
SENATOR BOND ADDRESSES TEAM: Senator Kit Bond, a native of Mexico, Mo., addressed the team following Thursday afternoon's practice. Senator Bond was a guest of Mike Kelly on Tiger Talk following practice and joined the Missouri staff along with the Missouri Extra Point Club and members of the Tigers Big Wheel Club for dinner.