Four Mizzou football players earn preseason All-SEC honors

The Missouri football team didn’t receive much love from the media in preseason All-Southeastern Conference voting, but the conference’s coaches offered a different opinion Wednesday of the Tigers’ returning talent.

Four Mizzou players landed on the coaches’ preseason All-SEC team, including a pair of second-team selections on offense in senior wide receiver J’Mon Moore and junior right tackle Paul Adams. They were joined by a pair of third-team picks, senior defensive end Marcell Frazier and junior defensive tackle Terry Beckner Jr.

Moore (second team) and Frazier (third team) were the Tigers’ only preseason picks by the reporters last month during SEC Media Days in Hoover, Ala.

Moore, a native of Missouri City, Texas, is the SEC’s top returning pass-catcher statistically after finishing with 62 receptions for 1,012 yards and eight touchdowns. He became only the eighth 1,000-yard receiver in MU history and can join Jeremy Maclin on the only player with two such seasons in program history in 2017.

Adams, a native of Franklin, Tenn., started all 12 games last season for an offensive line that ranked first nationally in fewest tackles for a loss allowed and also led the SEC in fewest sacks allowed. He was chosen Tuesday as one of four team captains for MU in 2017.

Beckner, an East St. Louis (Ill.) graduate and former Freshman All-American, has had his first two college seasons cut short by knee injuries. Despite tearing the ACL in both knees, he’s amassed 51 tackles, including 10 for a loss with three sacks, in fewer than 16 career games.

Frazier, who was chosen Monday for the Ted Hendricks Award watch list as the nation’s top defensive end, finished second on the Tigers last season with 7 1/2 sacks and 8  1/2 tackles for a loss. He also had 33 tackles with a team-high two fumble recoveries and started five games.

Auburn senior right tackle Braden Smith, an Olathe South graduate, was an All-SEC first-team pick by the coaches and Tennessee senior Evan Berry, who is the younger brother of Chiefs safety Eric Berry, was a second-team pick at return specialist.

This story was originally published August 23, 2017 at 3:31 PM with the headline "Four Mizzou football players earn preseason All-SEC honors."