Missouri’s seniors have been through a lot. Here’s how they hope to be remembered
Drew Lock can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but for now he prefers not to look that direction
The Missouri quarterback and 18 fellow seniors will play their final home game at Faurot Field Friday when the Tigers take on Arkansas.
Lock said the feeling of playing on Faurot for the last time won’t set in until the fourth quarter, when the situation will determine what is asked of him for the final time in Columbia. Will it be a two-minute drill? A come-from-behind victory? Just enough field time to ice the game? Milk the clock? Or something else?
“It will all hit me right then stepping on the field and actually being able to produce,” he said.
Lock said he won’t reflect on the journey that he and his fellow upperclassmen have been through since coming to town as freshmen. Not until next week.
When former head coach Gary Pinkel was recruiting Missouri’s 2015 class, the Tigers were coming off consecutive Southeastern Conference division titles and were a quarter of a game away from playing for the national championship in 2013. Some current seniors were redshirting the year Missouri won the Citrus Bowl in 2015. The program was trending upward, and the incoming 2015 class was considered to be one that could raise the bar further still, with Pinkel landing local blue chips like Lock, a Lee’s Summit native, and Terry Beckner Jr., the nation’s top recruit from East St. Louis.
But the Tigers’ trajectory began to change in 2015 when starting quarterback Maty Mauk was suspended indefinitely. Lock was thrust into the starting role as a true freshman and struggled after having success during his first start against South Carolina.
Then, in November, the team threatened to boycott its game in Kansas City against Brigham Young until system president Tim Wolfe resigned during on-campus racial protests that thrust the team into the national spotlight. Missouri played the game at Arrowhead Stadium, and won, but Pinkel announced he would step down at the end of the season. Missouri finished 5-7 that season and turned down a bowl opportunity because of its losing record.
Barry Odom, Pinkel’s replacement, struggled during his first year and a half on the job before orchestrating a six-game winning streak last season that started to turn the program around.
“I don’t think a program in the country has gone through what those guys have gone through,” defensive coordinator Ryan Walters said.
Missouri senior lineman Paul Adams said some players had a late-night chat recently to reflect on their careers. And they all came to the same understanding: “We’ve been through a lot.”
They’ve also stuck together — the ones who stayed, at least. Of the 53 players who signed with Missouri in 2014 and 2015, 25 left the team for a variety of reasons, including medical decisions, dismissals and transfers. Those two classes were part of what Odom inherited when he took the job — and that exodus is one reason he struggled initially.
“They’ve been able to hold tight together,” Odom said.
While Missouri struggled its first 18 games under Odom, going just 5-13, the seniors said the team’s recent upset of No. 13 Florida showed them that the program was turning a corner.
Lock said the win meant a lot to him, and his class, because it showed Mizzou was indeed moving on to better things. Like beating ranked opponents.
“That was one strike that they had against (Lock),” junior offensive lineman Tre’Vour Simms said. “It shows we’re taking this program in the right direction. The future is looking bright for the Missouri Tigers.”
While these MU seniors might not be remembered for taking the program to new heights, they could go out as the group that laid the foundation for Odom’s program. The Tigers return a lot of talent next year in Damarea Crockett, Larry Rountree and freshman stars Kam Scott and Jalen Knox and. They’re also a contender for former Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant. Bryant, who would be immediately eligible as a graduate transfer, could change the course of next season if he commits next Tuesday.
The defense will return pass rushers Tre Williams and Chris Turner as well as linebacker Cale Garrett and some other young players that seem promising.
Lock would rather talk about the future than the present, though. He thinks his class has shown the underclassmen how to handle whatever is thrown at them.
“Winning every single game and not going through any tough adversity, that would have been really awesome,” he said. “But then that at the end can easily really tear you apart because you guys went through nothing. You went through no hard times together.”
The underclassmen can thank them for that.
Alex Schiffer
Alex Schiffer covers University of Missouri athletics for The Star.
