COLUMBIA | The question is not whether Jeremy Maclin is a marked man but when he became so.</p><p>Many of his Missouri football teammates contend it took only the second half of the Illinois game last year. That&#8217;s when Maclin came on for Danario Alexander, who suffered a broken wrist.</p><p>Maclin, a redshirt freshman, caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Chase Daniel and returned a punt 66 yards for a touchdown in less than 4 minutes.</p><p>When Maclin&#8217;s debut game in his hometown of St. Louis was finished, Maclin had contributed 227 all-purpose yards to Mizzou&#8217;s 40-34 victory.</p><p>And <em>then</em>, Maclin theorized, he could feel the special attention mounting, his name suddenly underlined in red on scouting reports.</p><p>&#8220;Ole Miss,&#8221; Maclin said of Mizzou&#8217;s second game, where he first saw double and triple teams. But Maclin rang up 181 all-purpose yards on the Rebels in a 38-25 MU victory.</p><p>By the time his redshirt freshman season at Missouri was done, Maclin was a consensus All-American, the owner of the NCAA single-season freshman record for all-purpose yards (2,776), and the only player in the nation to score touchdowns on receptions, rushes, punt returns and kickoff returns.</p><p>Certainly by now Maclin is a marked man as sixth-ranked Missouri prepares to open the season against No. 20 Illinois on Saturday night, once again in St. Louis.</p><p>&#8220;It means a great deal,&#8221; Maclin said. &#8220;Start off the season in your hometown, where you were born. More importantly, it&#8217;s just a good way to set the stage for this season.&#8221;</p><p>Come what may in the Illinois defensive game plan, Maclin will play an important role in what happens this second time around.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re smart enough to find ways around that,&#8221; Maclin said. &#8220;Every (potential receiver) on our team can line up at every position on the field.&#8221;</p><p>So to defend Maclin, first the Illini will have to find him at any one of five receiving positions, or lined up in the backfield as running back or even quarterback. He played all those roles a year ago.</p><p>Or Illinois might try everything to stop Maclin and the MU receivers, as Arkansas did in the Cotton Bowl.</p><p>That is the game Maclin defines as the most difficult for him in terms of his contribution being limited.</p><p>&#8220;They tried to stop the passing game as a whole,&#8221; Maclin noted. &#8220;But they gave up 300 yards on the ground.</p><p>&#8220;You can do that if you want to, but we&#8217;ll hurt you in a different kind of way.&#8221;</p><p>Maclin totaled only 63 all-purpose yards in the Cotton Bowl. But tailback Tony Temple set MU bowl and Cotton Bowl records with 281 yards rushing and four touchdowns in the Tigers&#8217; 38-7 win.</p><p>So see, if Maclin doesn&#8217;t get you, he still gets you.</p><p>&#8220;A lot of people have done a real good job of putting two or three different people on him,&#8221; MU coach Gary Pinkel said. &#8220;Our offensive staff is very creative.</p><p>&#8220;The beauty of our offense, we can put him anywhere on that field we want to. He can be at any spot of five different spots on that field and six if you count the backfield.&#8221;</p><p>Daniel expanded on that theme.</p><p>&#8220;They&#8217;re going to have to double- and triple-team guys like that,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We saw that. We still somehow get him the ball.&#8221;</p><p>Maclin&#8217;s career at Missouri nearly ended before it began. In a 2006 summer workout, a ligament snapped in a knee. Doctors put in a replacement ligament from a cadaver. Maclin worked hard at rehab. By the spring 2007, Maclin was back on the field.