Sept. 13, 2003

Editor's Note: This story ran in the Sept. 13 edition of the Mizzou football gameday program.

by Kyle Parrish

A Mizzou football practice is one of the most intense in college football. Players run from the huddle to the line. In a flash, the ball snaps. Grass churns up behind cleats. Collisions between pads and helmets crack through the thick Missouri air until whistles shriek to signal their end. The players hustle back to their huddles as another huddle breaks and starts the tumult over again.

Through the gritty din of a Missouri Tiger practice, players receive an effective preparation for the week's opponent. Preparation is the key that gives Mizzou its edge every Saturday and few players work harder to prepare the team than linebacker Ryan Binkholder.

Binkholder, a 6-foot, 220-pound native of New Florence, Missouri, is a member of the scout team defense. He doesn't play much on Saturdays, and rarely gets a mention in the final stats. The days leading up to Saturday, however, are vital for players like Binkholder.

As a scout-teamer, Binkholder's job is to emulate the opposition's defense. He and his teammates give the first-team offense a full-speed look and feel of what to expect on game day. It's not an easy job, considering that before 2003 ends for the Tigers, "Bink", as his teammates call him, will have played in at least 12 different defensive schemes.

"In a few weeks, I'll get to be Teddy Lehman." Binkholder says, referring to Oklahoma's All-American defender.

While Binkholder may not possess the dazzling size and speed of OU's vaunted run-stuffer, he was certainly accustomed to All-American level success before walking on at Mizzou two years ago.

At Division III Westminster College in Fulton, Binkholder was a three-year starter with outstanding numbers. He compiled 239 tackles and 13 sacks in his three years as a Titan and was named All-American in 2000. He earned All-President's Athletic Conference honors twice and was the team's defensive MVP in 2001.

After being a team captain in 2001, Binkholder had high prospects for his senior campaign at Westminster, but instead chose to transfer to Missouri.

"I knew from the beginning that I would have to eventually transfer," says Binkholder. "Westminster didn't have the major I wanted."

So, with an outstanding football career on the line, Binkholder left Westminster and enrolled at Mizzou to begin work on a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He thought his football days were over.

The passion to play, however, proved too strong for Binkholder. So in the spring of 2002, he joined the Tiger football program.

"I missed football too much," Binkholder says. "I would've regretted just letting things end that way."

The transition from Division III to Division I was a tough one for the All-American. It started with 6 a.m. work-outs throughout the winter of 2002.

Says Binkholder, "I'm not a morning person, and we never had to wake up that early at Westminster. I had a tough time adjusting to that. I also wasn't used to going to bed as early as I had to!"

Most difficult was leaving behind the foundations he had laid back in Fulton.

"It's rough to just pull up root and take off like that," he says. "Even though, I knew it was what I wanted to do, I missed my friends."

When spring practices began, Binkholder found himself adjusting to yet another aspect of Division I football: the speed.

"I was a little awe-struck by the speed here. It was unbelievable," remembers Binkholder. "You see the same plays in Division I as in Division III, but things happen ten times faster."

As time passed, however, Binkholder adjusted and positioned himself on the depth-chart behind playmakers like James Kinney. He's now more comfortable with his ability to contribute to the team.

"It was a rough change," says Binkholder. "Playing at Westminster was so much fun. But I have a role here and I do what's best for the team."

Doing what's best for the team is perhaps Binkholder's most admirable quality. Whether it's making 98 tackles in a season at Westminster or raising the level of his teammates' play at Mizzou, he keeps wise perspective on his contributions.

"I still get to play a game every week," Binkholder says. "When we go full pads against the first team it's like our game. We approach it with the same intensity and hopefully make everyone better by doing it that way."

The results show. For every success on Saturday, the offense can thank Binkholder and his teammates for working it all out in practice on Tuesday.

Academically, Binkholder's college days have been very much the opposite of his playing career. The three years at Westminster, in effect, prepared him for Mechanical Engineering at Mizzou.

"Westminster didn't have a whole lot of Mechanical Engineering courses," says Binkholder, who discovered his academic aspirations in a drafting class at Hermann High School. "But I got a lot of exposure to things that prepared me for whatever comes my way here at Mizzou."

Binkholder plans to graduate in May. His dream is to design aircraft, but he will be qualified to work in any number of engineering fields. For all the hard work he has put into football, it is apparent that academics are top priority for this model student-athlete.

"I have my parents to thank for drilling that into me," says Binkholder. "They made it clear that college was about getting a degree and that will always come first."

Football, however, is no afterthought for Binkholder. He says that his gridiron experiences have carried over into everything he does.

"I think that's what being a student-athlete is all about," says Binkholder. "I take my football competitiveness into every situation and I think it helps me succeed."

There is no doubt that Binkholder is on the path to success. His college years have educated him well both on and off the field. From playmaker to role player, Ryan Binkholder knows that senior leadership comes in all forms. It is this reason that the future aircraft engineer will be flying high in the game of life.