April 4, 2002

COLUMBIA, Mo.- The Missouri Tigers took advantage of the sunshine and a pair of practice fields that are in outstanding shape on Thursday afternoon. The Tigers split time on Thursday between the running and passing game, and finished practice with a red zone scrimmage.

The Tigers were crisp both offensively and defensively. Missouri quarterbacks Kirk Farmer, Brad Smith and Santino Riccio all had good days throwing the football. Helping the Tiger quarterbacks were the wide receivers who dropped very few balls on Thursday. It was a physical practice between the wide outs and the Missouri defensive backs. Just ask junior wide receiver Darren Baldwin who was hit hard three times crossing the middle of the Mizzou defense. Senior cornerback Antoine Duncan crushed Baldwin once, while senior outside safety Gary Anthony nailed him twice. Baldwin won the battle though, holding on to all three passes.

The offense wasn't able to keep every ball in their clutches. The new and improved hard-hitting Mizzou defensive backfield forced four fumbles on the day, recovering all four. The Missouri defense has made "takeaways" a point of emphasis this spring, and the takeaways continue to mount.

In the team portion of practice, Missouri wide receivers Shirdonya Mitchell and Chris Crosby both had the offense buzzing. Mitchell caught a slant from Kirk Farmer and raced through three defenders for a touchdown, showing why he is the fastest player on the team. Crosby later caught a similar pass from Brad Smith. After making one reverse pivot, Crosby was off to the races down the sidelines for an impressive touchdown.

The Tigers will hold a light practice tomorrow afternoon before a lengthy scrimmage this Saturday on Faurot Field.