Barry Odom is making this change to Mizzou practices to avoid another slow start

Missouri linebacker Terez Hall recently gathered his fellow defenders into a meeting room, where the senior leader had organized a players-only viewing party. The Tigers were going to watch an old game, their 2017 season opener against Missouri State.

Mizzou inexplicably gave up 43 points in that contest and showed signs of the defensive flaws that would aid the Tigers’ eventual 1-5 start to the season. The game was so ugly that while viewing the replay of the game senior defensive tackle Terry Beckner Jr. asked to “cut this off.” Safety Cam Hilton said every player who watched himself on the screen “had a couple plays where we just wanted to hide.”

And that was Hall’s point. As the Tigers broke down the film and players called out their defensive responsibilities on each snap, Hall wanted his teammates to feel embarrassed.

“You’ve got to see where you’re at at your lowest point,” Hall said on Friday, after the first of Missouri’s 17 training-camp practices. “Guys were all out of place. Guys weren’t physical and stuff. Guys couldn’t tackle. You have to see how bad you were to see where you’re going to go.”

With kickoff less than a month away, the Tigers are carrying memories of last season’s stumble with them. They know they must approach each day with greater urgency and precision than they did last year. They cannot repeat a 2017 training camp that Hilton, a senior fighting for a starting spot, characterized as “chaotic.”

That chaos only bred more chaos. Head coach Barry Odom fired defensive coordinator DeMontie Cross after the Tigers’ second game.

“(You take a) long hard look at all that stuff, at the reasons why,” Odom said Friday when asked how his staff has altered its training-camp plan in order to avoid another slow start. “You point back to your philosophy, on what you believe in and not wanting to change the structure of your program — but also, it’s a very strong fact, we played not anywhere close to good football or winning football early last year.”

Odom said he plans to devote more preseason practice time to 11-on-11 sessions. He believes the Tigers did a “decent job” of implementing these live action periods in last year’s camp, but the third-year head coach admitted the sessions “dropped off maybe a little too quick.”

The Tigers won’t hold as many players out from these periods as they did a year ago, quarterback Drew Lock said, and he thinks that will help “make everyone go full steam ahead” into the season.

In just a few years, the number of preseason practices has dramatically shrunk. MU offensive analyst Austyn Carta-Samuels, a former Vanderbilt quarterback, told Lock he had 32 practices per training camp when he was a player. This is the second year that the NCAA has not allowed two-a-day practices.

“It’s important for us to identify early who our best 11 (on each side of the ball) are,” defensive coordinator Ryan Walters said. “Get them on the field, get them adjusted.”

Walters has sensed an urgency from the Tigers since the start of the summer, when they have had to organize workouts and film sessions on their own.

Hall was one of the leaders of those summer workout sessions, and he said his coaches can only provide the Tigers with the tools to avoid another slow start. It is up to the MU players to execute.

Whether they do so will become clear soon enough.

“I can tell it’ll be a lot more 11-on-11,” Hall said after Friday’s practice. “I was out there 10, 12 plays straight. I was like, man. The heat wasn’t playing today either.”

WR not with team

Junior college transfer Harry Ballard was absent from Friday’s practice. Odom said the 6-foot-3 wide receiver is dealing with a personal matter.

“I’m hoping that we can get him back in camp quick,” Odom said.

His absence creates an opportunity for the four freshmen wideouts who participated in their first practice Friday — Jalen Knox, Khamari Thompson, Chritauski Dove and Kam Scott — to earn more reps with a unit that lacked depth during the spring.

“Terminology-wise they’re on the same page already,” Odom said of his wide receivers. “Drew and the quarterbacks have run the workouts this summer with 7-on-7 and the things they’ve done, so the timing is starting to get there. We’ve got a whole group of guys that are really skilled at a high level at that position, now we’ve got to find the right spots to get them incorporated in.”

Ballard, who originally committed to Missouri in 2016, attended junior college before enrolling at MU in January. He participated in spring practices.

In addition to the four freshmen receivers who practiced for the first time on Friday, Mizzou also has Oregon transfer Alex Ofodile and Raytown grad Dominic Gicinto, a freshman who enrolled in January and participated in spring practices. Gicinto is currently the only true freshman listed on the two-deep depth chart.

Other departures

Offensive lineman A.J. Harris, a Blue Valley grad, decided to medically retire in the spring after suffering a serious knee injury during a Texas Bowl practice in December.

Wide receiver signee Danny Gray did not academically qualify and is not with the team.

Defensive tackle Caleb Sampson has decided to transfer to be closer to home. Sampson, who is from Covington, La., redshirted last season.

No captains yet

Missouri has yet to elect team captains for the upcoming season. Odom said the team will wait until its further into fall camp before deciding them.

Analyst addition

Odom recently hired former Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Ted Monachino to his staff as an analyst. Monachino played at Missouri and won a Super Bowl as the linebackers coach for the Baltimore Ravens in 2013.

Analysts can’t participate in on-the-field drills with players, but are able to assist in game planning, staff meetings and recruiting.

This story was originally published August 3, 2018 at 6:33 PM.