March 8, 2011
Columbia, Mo. -
The Missouri Tigers opened their 2011 spring camp with a 2 1/2 –hour practice inside the Dan Devine Pavilion Tuesday afternoon. Per NCAA rules, the first three practices of camp have to be conducted without pads, so the Tigers took to the field in helmets and shorts, with a vast majority of the work concentrating on individual drills.
Head Coach Gary Pinkel was pleased with what he saw on Tuesday.
“I think overall it was a good practice, a lot of enthusiasm,” Pinkel said. “That's what we talk to our leadership about a lot in the offseason, that we play a whole lot better when we play with great enthusiasm, so I was excited about that. You're limited without pads, you have a lot of individual periods and work on fundamentals, overall I thought it was a good effort by our football team and hopefully we can learn from mistakes tomorrow and then come out Thursday and continue to improve,” he said.
Naturally, with the loss of quarterback Blaine Gabbert to the NFL, the popular topic among most observers revolves around who will step in as the next signal caller in Mizzou's proud lineage of quarterbacks. Sophomore James Franklin, who played in 10 games last year as a true freshman understudy, opens spring with the No. 1 spot on the depth chart. But as Coach Pinkel preaches every year, every job is open, and he expects sophomore Ashton Glaser (No. 2 on the depth chart currently) and redshirt freshman Tyler Gabbert (No. 3), to make it a very interesting race.
“It's about competition,” Pinkel said of the quarterback battle. “For any one of the three that are competing for it, you've got to manage the game, you've got to be able to make good decisions, you've got to be able to obviously make big plays and do good quarterbacking – that's not throwing interceptions, not taking tackles for loss, all those things that we teach them – that's how the competition goes. We probably have more competition now than we've ever had (at quarterback) just because we've been able to recruit better, so we've got three good quarterbacks that are very competitive. We're going to let it sort itself out, it always takes care of itself, but I think it's very healthy, I think it's good for us,” he said.
The Tigers will next practice Thursday afternoon, and that will be the first of three straight days of workouts. They'll follow with a Friday afternoon session, and then will put on full pads for the first time on Saturday morning.
Injury Report
As is typical this time of the year, several veterans are being held out of practice, as they're continuing to recover from injuries and off-season surgeries related to last year. Among those who are not able to practice initially this spring include senior returning starters Elvis Fisher (LT – shoulder), Will Ebner (LB – foot) and Dominique Hamilton (DT – foot). Also being held out were veterans Luke Lambert (LB – knee), Beau Brinkley (TE/DS – shoulder), Marcus Malbrough (DE – knee) and Corey Sudhoff (DT – shoulder). Coach Pinkel also confirmed to media after practice that LB Adam Burton was not going to play football anymore, but that he would remain part of the program on a medical hardship. Burton has had tough luck with injuries throughout his brief time on campus, and has had to undergo three knee surgeries in his three years. Pinkel said that Burton plans to assist the Tiger Strength and Conditioning staff and hopes someday to parlay that experience into becoming a physical therapist.
In addition, newcomer Derrion Thomas, who is the son of the late former Kansas City Chief great Derrick Thomas, has joined the team but is out with a knee injury. There is no timetable for when any of them might be able to get on the practice field, so stay tuned to mutigers.com for continuing updates throughout the spring.