Aug. 19, 2004
Columbia, Mo. - The Missouri Tigers continued preparations for the 2004 season with a morning practice in full pads at Memorial Stadium Thursday. Head Coach Gary Pinkel was pleased with his team's effort, calling the practice 'pretty good.' Here were just a few of the highlights... In early 7-on-7 scrimmaging, Brad Smith and Sean Coffey hooked up for a 75-yard TD pass... Alex Woodley returned a kickoff for 50 yards... Damien Nash broke off several nice runs early in full scrimmaging situations... QB Mack Breed completed a nice 20-yard pass to WR Adam Maxwell... PK Alex Pettersen made a 35-yard field goal, as did fellow kicker Joe Tantarelli. Tantarelli later connected from 45 yards out... The #1 offense squared off against the #1 defense briefly, and for the second straight day, had some solid success. In a brief span, TB Marcus Woods rushed for TDs of 10 yards and 2 yards, and Brad Smith hit WR Jason Ray for a gain of 15 yards in redzone scrimmaging... QB Brandon Coleman hit WR Andrew Hoskins for a 15-yard pass completion, and QB Chase Patton later completed a pass to WR Chris Crosby that went for 15 yards and a TD. Patton later connected with fellow freshman WR Will Franklin on a big gainer... DL Elgin Childress and LB Alex Hu combined to lay a big hit to blow up a play over the middle... Safety Quincy Wade had an impressive sequence where he made a nice 1-on-1 tackle in the flat and followed with a QB sack on the very next play... LB James Kinney and DL Zach Ville continued their solid play with a pair of pass break ups, and DB Alex Woodley grabbed an interception off a deflected pass late in the practice... In other news and notes, the women's soccer and men's basketball teams from nearby Westminster College started installing the chairbacks in the stands at Memorial Stadium, for those who have ordered them this year. The teams were doing this as a fundraiser for their respective programs... ESPN The Magazine has informed the Media Relations Office that the feature on QB Brad Smitht that they are working on will run in the Sept. 15th issue. Also, Brad's New York Times piece that was mentioned previously on this site is slated to run Aug. 29th... Brad Smith was named today as one of 40 "players to watch" for the prestigious Walter Camp Football Foundation 2004 Player of the Year... Congratulations are in order for former Tiger great Kellen Winslow. It was announced today that Winslow has been named Director of Planning and New Event Development for Disney Sports Attractions. According to the release, Winslow will be responsible for new events and initiatives involving the Sports & Recreation division at Walt Disney World Resort, including Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex, Disney's five championship golf courses, two water parks and recreational programs that include Disney's growing bass fishing operations... Practice continues Friday with two practices, be sure to stay tuned to www.mutigers.com for a report on the details...