Aug. 14, 2009

Columbia, Mo. -

The Missouri Tiger football team held a crisp two-and-a-half hour practice session Friday morning on the Kadlec Athletic Fields behind the Mizzou Athletic Training Complex, as it continued preparations for the 2009 season opener on Sept. 5th against Illinois.  Coach Gary Pinkel's squad worked out Friday in shoulder pads and shorts, as the contact was kept to a minimum to keep people fresh for Saturday's big scrimmage - the first of fall camp.

One day after getting bested by the defense, the Tiger offense was in near top form Friday morning.  Here were some highlights of the day...

• In two-minute drill work, each of the top two quarterbacks found success.  First, Jimmy Costello was a perfect 7-for-7 in one series, and capped it with a touchdown pass covering about 10 yards to WR Jerrell Jackson.  Next, Blaine Gabbert was down to a 4th-down in his two-minute situation, but he found WR Jared Perry on a quick hitter for a first down, and Perry made a move to break free, and sprinted some 50 yards for a touchdown...
• When the play went to 11-on-11 scrimmaging, the #2 offense and #2 defense squared off initially.  DL Jimmy Burge had a highlight play when he plugged a hole to wrap up a running back for a loss...
• When the #1 units matched up next, WR Jerrell Jackson took a handoff for a nice gain around end, and that was followed by TB Derrick Washington finding some nice running room behind the right side of OL Kurtis Gregory and OL Dan Hoch for a gain of 7-8 yards.  Then, it was time for Gabbert to take over.  His first pass attempt fell incomplete as he avoided pressure by DE Brian Coulter, and stepped up in the pocket to launch a pass some 50 yards downfield, but he couldn't connect with WR Jared Perry.  On the very next play, Gabbert lofted a beautiful go route pass down the right side to WR Rolandis Woodland, who beat his man and caught the ball near the goalline for a pretty score.  On the next play, Gabbert looked to pass, but was flushed out of the pocket with pressure coming from the defensive line.  He rolled right and four TE Andrew Jones sitting in a pocket, and he fired a bullet into Jones' chest for a gain of around 12 yards.  Gabbert closed the series out with a completion to Perry on a nicely-timed out route...
• When the #1 defense and #2 offense hooked up, DE Aldon Smith and LB Sean Weatherspoon combined for a big stop of a run play for a loss...
• Practice closed with the ones squaring off again for a few plays, with highlights coming from a Gabbert-to-Jones pass on the sideline that was a nicely-placed ball amidst traffic, and Jones did some nice toe-tapping to stay in bounds for the completion.  Lastly, DB Kevin Rutland drew praise from his coach Cornell Ford when he blew up an attempted screen pass by fighting off a few blockers to make the stop for little to no gain...

On the injury front, senior DL Jaron Baston (hamstring) was held out of practice today, but is hoping to be available for scrimmaging tomorrow, while freshman Tavon Bolden (hamstring) did not practice either, and his status for tomorrow is doubtful.  LB Zaviar Gooden returned to practice in limited fashion, as did FS Kenji Jackson and WR T.J. Moe.

Stay tuned to mutigers.com for continuing coverage of Tiger Training Camp, and Mizzou's scrimmage tomorrow at Faurot Field.  We'll have a rundown of highlights and stats from the day.