No. 22 Missouri: Tigers shoot for 3rd-straight SEC East crown
Dr. Saturday will unveil its preseason Top 25 team-by-team during the next 25 days. This list is based on returning starters, schedule and prospects. However, we all know that once the games begin, things can change very quickly. Still, we thought we’d give our best guess heading into the 2015 season.
No. 22 Missouri
2014 record: 11-3, 7-1 in SEC
Returning starters: 6 offense, 5 defense
2015 Outlook: Can the Tigers become the third team in SEC history to win three consecutive division championships?
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Only Florida (1992-1996) and Alabama (1992-1994) have been to the SEC Championship Game three-straight times. After winning the East in 2013 and 2014 Missouri can join the two SEC blue-bloods. But to do that, the following things have to happen.
• Quarterback Maty Mauk has to be one of the better quarterbacks in the SEC. Mauk shows flashes of greatness at times. He’s mobile and has a strong arm. However, those flashes are overshadowed by moments where Tiger fans wonder what in the world is going on as Mauk tries to force a throw into a non-existent window.
Mauk hasn’t shown great anticipation in his two-year career. He’s a quarterback who sees the open receiver and then fires it to him. The anticipation needs to exist in 2015. Missouri can’t go another year making up for a sub-60 percent completion percentage.
• Missouri needs to find a go-to receiver (or two) again. After losing Dorial Green-Beckham, Marcus Lucas and L’Damian Washington (perhaps the best trio of receivers in the SEC) following the 2013 season, Bud Sasser became a first-team All-SEC player with 77 catches for 1,003 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Sasser is gone. So are Jimmie Hunt and Darius White. And RB Marcus Murphy, too. They were Missouri’s four leading receivers in 2014. TE Sean Culkin is the top returning receiver for the Tigers and he had 20 catches for 174 yards in 2014. Receivers Nate Brown, Wesley Leftwich and J’Mon Moore, Mizzou’s three possible starters at WR, had a combined 10 catches. Who is going to become defenses’ main focal point?
• The Tigers have to reload along the defensive line too. When DEs Michael Sam and Kony Ealy departed after the 2013 season, Markus Golden and Shane Ray were there to keep Missouri’s line as the best in the SEC. Now Golden and Ray are gone and there’s also a hole to fill in the middle of Missouri’s defensive line.
According to many around the Missouri program, DT Harold Brantley was poised to be one of the best players in the SEC in 2015. But after suffering multiple leg injuries (in addition to others) in a June car crash, he’s out for the year.
Brantley, Golden and Ray had 29.5 of Missouri’s 44 sacks in 2014. Who’s going to fill the pass-rush void? Sophomore DE Charles Harris (2 sacks in 2014) and junior-college transfer DE Marcell Frazier (a four-star recruit) are the likely starters. DT Josh Augusta will be counted on to be the mainstay up the middle and top recruit Terry Beckner Jr. will also likely see significant playing time.
Player to watch: Russell Hansbrough, RB
While Missouri’s passing game has questions entering the season, the run game is in good shape. Hansbrough ran for 1,084 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2014 while splitting time with Murphy, who ran for 973 yards.
The Tigers return four starters on the offensive line, including All-SEC C Evan Boehm, so Hansbrough should have ample running lanes again. Assuming, of course, that opposing defenses have to respect the passing game.
Missouri will rotate carries among Hansbrough, Ish Witter, Morgan Steward and Chase Abbington, but Hansbrough will likely receive the bulk of the workload. Don’t be surprised if he improves his 2014 statistics significantly.
Breakout player: Terry Beckner Jr., DT
You’ve likely heard about Beckner already. A four-star recruit in the class of 2015, Beckner was the highest-rated member of Missouri’s recruiting class.
Ideally, Missouri would have been able to slowly work Beckner into the defensive line rotation throughout the 2015 season. But with Brantley’s absence, Beckner could be a vital piece of Missouri’s defense as a freshman.
The Tigers have had success with St. Louis-area defensive tackles before. Sheldon Richardson was a highly-touted recruit when he arrived at Mizzou in 2011. But Richardson had spent two years at a junior college before arriving at Missouri. Beckner is jumping in straight from high school. Missouri coach Gary Pinkel realizes that Beckner is seen as Brantley’s replacement, even if he won’t immediately start in 2015.
“Certainly with Harold’s injury, Terry’s name has come up quite a bit, as far as being able to come in and play right away,” Pinkel said at SEC media days. “… He was one the top defensive lineman in the nation last year out of East St. Louis High School. One thing about him, he doesn’t get caught up in a lot of stuff. It’s kind of nice. The shining light is not really him. I think he’s a little bit shy that way. I just think we have to get him to focus on becoming a better player and keep his priorities right. I think you always try to do that. You try to help kids. Priorities and humility is hugely important for success, and those are things we try to instill in our players.”
Miss one of our Top 25? No. 23 Stanford, No. 24 Boise State, No. 25 Wisconsin.
For more Missouri news, visit PowerMizzou.com.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
